rmatthews's blog

As economy rebounds, companies worry about talent exodus,...

Tue, 18 May 2010 13:43:39 -0500

As the recession eases and companies begin to add to strained staffs, employers are also taking action to retain existing top talent at their organizations,... http://bit.ly/aaeZaa

How to Tell if It’s Dead-End Job (Or, Top 10 Reasons to RUN for the Door!)

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:35:24 -0500

To make sure you don't accept a dead-end job, be cautious if the position has been vacant a long time, there are only "vague generalizations" about future company growth plans and there has been no evolution of the job over the years,... http://bit.ly/18NuRb

Little change coming for fourth-quarter hiring: CFOs

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:18:16 -0500

Saw this on the subway this a.m.,.... "Most financial executives plan to maintain their current accounting and finance staff levels in the fourth quarter, according to the Robert Half International Financial Hiring Index."

How McDonald's helped Four Seasons

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 08:26:59 -0500

Read this really cool article around ”Treating employees the way we expect them to treat our customers”. Interesting how the message started at the top. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090414.wfourseasons_two0414/EmailBNStory/globebooks/home

The correction in the market!

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:47:58 -0500

In my last blog, I spoke about “available talent”. A few weeks have gone by and I’m seeing another trend in the market,… Recruiting Contractor rates decreasing.

Most importantly I want to say that I am not talking about retribution or promoting an unacceptable rate schedule due to supply and demand, but, I’ve heard for years from organizations that they are forced to pay too much due to circumstances (another Blog all together).

Look at all the recruiters!!

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:35:42 -0600

An interesting thing is happening in the Recruiter “talent” market right now,… there are a lot of them available. For those of you looking to hire recruiters, don’t think for a second that your job has become easier. I said there are “a lot recruiters available”, not a lot of “good’ recruiters.

The new challenge is finding the right talent from this bigger pool. Ask yourself (and the recruiter across the interview table) why are they out of work, what happened in their previous organization, how many recs were left on the table at the time of their dismissal?,… now you have those answers, what does your gut tell you?

Managing Hiring leader expectation

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:38:00 -0600

I want to paraphrase a recent conversation I had with an “anti-Recruitment” Hiring leader who was going on about how the talent he sees is “crap” and it takes forever to get anything done “on time”.

Me – can you outline the situation you’re referring to
HL – I had someone quit and I needed to fill the role because the longer that role stays open the more revenue it costs us.

Talent and Economy

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 13:10:49 -0600

I was at a conference a few weeks back and met up with someone and we began to discuss “Talent” (who isn’t these days) and the person I was speaking with said that the buzzword “War for Talent” needs to be updated to the “War for Good Talent”. I had nothing to say so I thought I’d go on an adventure to see what other people are saying about this.

Recruiting is a process, Talent is a skill

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:26:48 -0600

We have all seen the recruitment life cycle time and time again, but, how many people are actually stepping outside of this cycled process and take a serious look at “Talent” and what that actually means?

Time to hire – 5 days,… good for you! Fast forward 1 year,… is this person still there, are they productive, are they exceeding expectations. If the answers are not positive, then you’ve wasted 5 days, you may never get back and cost the company a ton of money.

"What does a recruiter do"? - by Mr./Mrs. Business leader

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:43:56 -0500

Exhausted by the over use of “War for Talent”, all the talk about the “shifting demographic” and how recruiting is going to play a pivotal roll in the success of an organization, I wanted to ask the Business leaders where their heads are at as we enter into the “War for Talent during this shifting demographic”.

,….we send a job requisition down to the recruiter, who posts it on the boards, surfs a few “key word” resumes, they call a couple of vendors (to do their job), then it’s off to lunch or some “Recruiter Think tank” to discuss issues that “corporate Canada” is well aware of and waiting for answers!,… This is a snipit from a conversation that I had with a senior executive from a large Fortune 500 company here in Canada. This comes from experience as he spent 1 year in the organizations HR department as part of his rotation. I’m a little unclear as to what he’s saying,… are any of you in the same boat?

Sourcing

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:17:14 -0500

Come on People! What are recruiters doing to attract talent?

I’ve sat in circles with all levels of recruitment and, inevitably when we start talking about sourcing, the topic of “job boards” comes up. The general consensus is that the value is dwindling, some recruiters will still say “they are a necessary evil”. But more staggering then that,… this is where the SOURCING conversation phizzles out?

What are YOU doing about the Impending Labour Shortage?

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 07:32:22 -0500

As a preface to my blog,…I read an article from 1994,… “In about 15 years, the Canadian labour market is expected to experience a serious shortage of about a million workers. This problem is compounded by the fact that there are significant challenges in hiring for technical and skilled jobs, and in retaining existing key talent. The dilemma is also amplified by a number of long-term trends in the marketplace, including the impending retirement of baby boomers, slower population growth and global competition for jobs. Are Canadian companies ready for this labour gap?”

Sales and Marketing is HR and Recruiting next?

Fri, 26 May 2006 13:53:28 -0500

I’m not old enough to remember when Marketing became a separate function rather then a component Sales. I am old enough to know that in most offices today, they are two very distinct functions, usually on the same floor and both reporting to the VP of sales and Marketing.

I think we could be on the cusp of that evolution when talking about HR and Recruiting. Sure, in larger organizations today there are Centralized specialist that focus on recruitment within the organization, but here’s the question,….are we doing everything we can to distinguish ourselves as a value add to the overall corporate vision, a function within itself?

Be the Candidate

Tue, 21 Mar 2006 16:46:32 -0600

I was recently talking to a friend and was amazed to hear the tale of her referral candidate and the hiring practice of her organization.

We have all heard the statistics about employee referrals and the value they bring to an organization. The last I heard was 54% of all hires are referrals. That being said and further to the article written by Simon Parkin that goes over the importance of a good employee referral program,... should these candidates not be handled differently then others, or better yet, should all candidates not be handled with the utmost sense of importance. Treat the candidate as if they add value to your process and they'll be engaged, trust me.