Understandably, gender bias has long been topic that most people would rather not discuss. Most of us prefer to focus on the positive, because sexism, like any other kind of ism, is such a bummer. Besides, people get all squirmy and uncomfortable in much the same way people don't like to talk about race, which is why President Obama rarely goes there. However, the bias now appears to be getting turned on its head. Whatever was working against women now appears to be working for us as a gender. More important, it appears to be working for our society as a whole. It isn't that women benefit: we all benefit.
If "I don't know" is the first answer that springs to mind in response to most of the above questions, then you and your searches are at risk. Quite simply, they lack due diligence. In fact, when I think the words "I don't know" in my head, I hear Bill Cosby's voice impersonating a young child as he lampoons his children's frequent use of the phrase.
Oscar Wilde noted more than a century ago that "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life". And thus, it should come as no surprise that there are lessons to be learned about executive search when viewed through the lens of the burlesque. Burlesque is defined as humorous theatrical entertainment involving parody, grotesque exaggeration -- and, yes, even striptease. So what is a discussion about burlesque doing in a blog about recruiting? Stay with me.
When a musician plays an incorrect note -- much like mispronouncing a name -- it is referred to as hitting a "clam". When they play several wrong notes in a row, it becomes a "clam bake."
A brilliant technique that an advertising executive used to land a job at Young & Rubicam also can be used by recruiters to land star talent. If you suspect a luminary executive that you'd like to recruit might Google himself...
When I was first became a recruiter a little more than a decade ago, it struck me as odd that reference checking generally consisted of calling names given you by the candidate. Unless the candidate was an absolute idiot (and...
In the wake of our financial crisis, retained search firms have had a comeuppance for charging too much and delivering too little. Score one for the good guys.
Downed trees blocked egress on virtually every major and minor thoroughfare. We were without power, cable, television, and phones for a week . . . In retrospect, it seems a fitting metaphor for our financial crisis, and, in turn, for the crisis experienced by retained search firms. The massive trees felled on our property serve as testimony to how swiftly the mighty have fallen.
Retained search firms frequently provide guidance to prospective clients on how to select a search firm. But a number of their assertions have gone unchallenged, much to the detriment of employers that have been hoodwinked into paying far too much for too little in return.
