Employer Newsletter

• How to Successfully Recruit and Hire Veterinarians in 2025

  

  It might go without saying, but the Veterinary profession continues to evolve, influenced by technological advancements, shifting workforce dynamics (including a talent shortage), and changing societal needs. As a result, successfully recruiting and hiring...

• Will You Be Aggressive and Proactive in Hiring Veterinarians in 2025?

  

  Believe it or not, we’re nearing the end of 2024 and a new year is almost upon us. It seems like yesterday that we were watching the ball drop in Times Square to usher in a new year. Before you know it, we’ll be doing the same to welcome 2025 into our lives. With that...

• Results of The VET Recruiter’s 2024 Workplace/Workforce Survey

  

  This past summer, The VET Recruiter conducted its annual Workplace/Workforce Survey of professionals in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The results of the survey were insightful. Some of the results were expected, others were not and still others...

• The Importance of Making Candidates and Employees Feel Wanted

  

  In the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession, attracting and retaining top talent is more challenging than ever, especially in the Veterinary profession. For employers, it’s not enough to merely offer a job; they must ensure that candidates feel genuinely...

• The Overwhelming Importance of Team Appreciation in a Veterinary Clinic

  

  Retention is a hot-button topic within the Veterinary profession, but then again, so is hiring. However, it could be argued that the retention of veterinarians is even more important because of all the time and effort a practice invested into the process of hiring the...

• Conducting a ‘Culture Check’ as an Animal Health or Veterinary Employer

  

  Creating and maintaining a healthy culture is important for all employers, including those in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. Without a healthy culture, not only is it more difficult to retain your current employees (especially your top...

• ‘Building Bridges’ in the Workplace: How to Confront Others with Grace

  

  Conflict is an inevitable part of any workplace environment, including within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. Whether it arises from differences in opinion, misunderstandings, or varying work styles, how conflicts are managed can significantly...

• The Pitfalls of Fixating on Long-Term Commitments in Hiring

  

  I work with Animal Health and Veterinary employers on a daily basis to help them with their talent acquisition needs, and of course, that includes the recruiting and hiring of veterinarians. As a result, I “have my finger on the pulse” of what is happening in the job...

• The Implications of the FTC’s Ban on Non-Compete Clauses

  

  The possible banning of non-compete clauses by the Federal Trade Commission is a story which I’ve been following for quite some time. In fact, I wrote an article about it for The VET Recruiters last year (“The Banning of Non-Compete Clauses for Animal Health and...

• 10 Common Signs of a Bad Hire (and How to Prevent It)

  

  In today’s job market, the only thing worse than not being able to hire the person you want to hire for an important position at your organization is hiring the wrong person. Unfortunately, it happens more frequently than you might realize. In fact, it’s possible that...

• Do Not Create Barriers for Passive Candidates During the Recruiting Process

  

  It is safe to say that hiring top talent in today’s job market is tough enough, and that includes hiring within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. Since that is the case, you would think that the last thing you would want to do is make the process...

• Engagement and Empowerment in Animal Health and Veterinary Recruiting and Hiring

  

  It may be an understatement to say that successful recruiting, hiring, and retention in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession are challenging right now, especially in the latter. However, there are keys to enjoying success in all of these areas, and...

• A Comprehensive Blueprint for Recruiting Veterinarians in 2024

  

  However, before you can successfully hire veterinarians in the new year, you must first successfully recruit them. The recruiting process involves everything up until you make an offer of employment to a job candidate. The job offer is the “moment of truth.” If the...

• How to Accelerate the Hiring Process to Hire Veterinarians in 2024

  

  As I’ve stated previously in my articles and blog posts, when an employer’s position remains open for an extended period of time, it can be costly for that employer. The sooner that you can fill a position (especially an important, high-level position), the better....

• 10 Steps for Maximizing Employee Engagement for Better Retention

  

  Not only is it difficult to recruit and hire in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession right now, but it’s also more difficult to retain valuable employees. However, the good news is that hiring, and retention are “two sides of the same coin.” This means...

• Results from The VET Recruiter’s Survey of Animal Health and Veterinary Professionals

  

  This past summer, The VET Recruiter sent a survey to professionals working in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The goal of this survey was to collect data that would allow us to gauge the state of both, with an eye toward predicting what the...

• Is Recruiting Top Talent #1 at Your Organization . . . or Not?

  

  Many of you have probably heard the phrase, “People are our #1 asset.” It’s a common sentiment in business, but let’s consider the implications. If talent is indeed the most valuable asset, then are you taking the necessary steps to maximize and protect...

• Survey Results Confirm Hiring and Retention Challenges for Employers

  

  If there is one thing that is perhaps undebatable, it’s that it has become more difficult to both hire top job candidates and retain current employees in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession during the past several years. And while some, if not most,...

• The Major Factors That Help Attract Talent and Retain Top Employees

  

  While it has become exceedingly difficult to both attract talent and retain valuable employees during the past couple of years, there is a silver lining in the challenges that face Animal Health and Veterinary employers. That silver lining is that the same factors...

• Career Pathing: a Win-Win Initiative for Organizations and Their Employees

  

  The only thing more important than hiring for employers is retention, including those within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. I have often referred to hiring and retention as “two sides of the same coin.” That is because they are interrelated to...

• Why Hiring the Best Candidate Available Could Reap Hidden Benefits

  

  Hiring is a tough business these days, and that includes within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. In fact, it’s especially the case within the Veterinary profession, specifically in terms of hiring veterinarians. That’s because, as has been well...

• The Important Difference Between Orientation and Onboarding

  

  The time between when a candidate accepts an offer of employment and when they officially start work is arguably the most important time period in the lifecycle of an employee. The reason: that is when they are most at risk to accept an offer from another employer,...

• Could We Actually Be Underestimating the Veterinarian Shortage?

  

  Many questions have arisen during the past few years regarding the shortage of veterinarians within the profession, questions such as: What is causing the shortage? How bad will the shortage get? What can we do to combat the shortage? What effect is it having on the...

• How to Make a Lasting Impression as an Employer in the Hiring Process

  

  In the current job market, it’s difficult to attract candidates and convince them to enter your organization’s recruiting and hiring process. Conversely, it’s easy to lose them during the process and watch them drop out of it or disappear altogether for one reason or...

• What is Executive Search and When Should You Use It?

  

  Hiring successfully is perhaps more difficult now than at any time in the history of the United States job market. With the National Unemployment Rate recently at a 53-year low, there is certainly evidence to support such a claim. And hiring is even more difficult in...

• How to Combat ‘Quiet Quitting’ and ‘Quick Quitting’ in a Tight Job Market

  

  It seems as though there’s a new trend in the employment marketplace every time you turn around. First, there was “quiet quitting.” Now there’s “quick quitting.” Successfully hiring qualified candidates and retaining employees is difficult enough without new trends...

• The Banning of Non-Compete Clauses for Animal Health and Veterinary Employers

  

  In case you haven’t heard yet, non-compete clauses could be a thing of the past in a little more than a month’s time. And if that’s the case, then it could have an impact on employers, including those in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. How did...

• 10 Ways to Show Love and Appreciation to Your Employees

  

  In a recent blog post, we explored the topic of how to prevent veterinarian burnout in 2023 so that you can retain more employees. Stress and burnout are prevalent in the Veterinary profession, and as a result, it’s one of the top issues facing hiring managers....

• How to Prevent Burnout in 2023 and Retain More Veterinarians

  

  The hiring and retention of veterinarians was one of the top priorities of Veterinary employers in 2022. And as we enter a new year, it should once again be a top priority of employers in 2023—if not the number-one priority. It’s been well documented that there is a...

• The Keys to Building a Great Company Culture in Your Veterinary Practice

  

  Much has been written about building a great company culture during the past several years, including within the Veterinary profession. That’s because company culture has become more important, especially in light of an ongoing talent shortage and the tremendous...

• Animal Health and Veterinary Recruiting Trends and Tips for 2023

  

  This past year was a tough one in terms of recruiting and hiring in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession, and that was especially the case within the latter, as the veterinarian shortage continued to serve as a major obstacle for employers. Now that...

• How to Hire Veterinarians in 2023

  

  It is perhaps more difficult to hire veterinarians right now than at any other time in the history of the profession. That’s because the shortage of veterinarians is as severe as it has ever been, and chances are good that it’s going to become even more severe in...

• Gen Z and the Future of Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring

  

  The members of Generation Z are changing the nature of the employment marketplace and the workforce, just as the Millennial Generation did. At the moment, there are more Millennials in the employment marketplace than any other generation. However, Gen Zers are...

• Veterinarian Shortage About to Become More Severe: Recent BLS Data

  

  The last few years have been challenging for Veterinary employers, and one of the reasons is that there is a veterinarian shortage in the job market. Demand for Veterinary products and services has continued to rise (driven in part by the pandemic), but there has not...

• Veterinary Hiring: What It Takes to Hire Veterinarians in This Job Market

  

  It would be an understatement to say that it takes a great deal to successfully hire veterinarians in this current job market. It would also be an obvious statement, one to which many hiring managers and Veterinary practice owners would agree. However, what...

• Forget the Headlines, the Veterinary Job Market is Still Red-Hot

  

  There has been a considerable amount of debate during the last couple of months as to whether or not the country is in a recession. My approach to such an issue is to state that if you need to have a debate about whether you’re in a recession, you’re probably not in...

• Why Animal Health and Veterinary Employers Should Not ‘Ghost’

  

  I’ve addressed the topic of “ghosting” on multiple occasions during the past few years. However, in discussing the topic, I’ve addressed the topic as it pertains to job seekers and candidate “ghosting” Animal Health and Veterinary employers during the recruiting and...

• Employers: Why ‘Job Hopping’ is Considered the New Normal

  

  Remember when anyone who didn’t stay at a job for at least five years was considered a “job hopper”? That is no longer the case today. That’s because the job market and employment marketplace has undergone a radical change since those days. It’s been so radical, in...

• 7 Steps for More Effective Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring

  

  Every employer in the job market is trying to gain a competitive edge. That’s because there is a severe shortage of workers and talent in the employment marketplace and just about every employer has a need to hire more employees. The situation is just as severe in the...

• The #1 Skill That an Animal Health or Veterinary Recruiter Should Possess

  

  Now, more than ever, employers need recruiters and search consultants to help them find and hire the talent they need to stay competitive in the marketplace. This, of course, includes employers in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. But what is the...

• Why the Top Candidate You Just Hired is Going to Receive a Counteroffer

  

  There are many things about the current job market that are unique. As an executive search consultant and Veterinary recruiter for 25 years, I have seen many things including counteroffers being made to candidates who resign in order to entice them to day....

• Putting into Focus the Current (and Future) Veterinarian Shortage

  

  As a nation, we are deep in the midst of a veterinarian shortage, one which presents a number of challenges for organizations, employers, and veterinary practices. And there are also a number of questions associated with this shortage, including the following: Exactly...

• Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring in This Market is About Preparation

  

  Last month, we addressed “How to Get Candidates (and Employees) to Love Working for You,” which made sense since it was February, a month associated with feelings of love. March, on the other hand, is associated with luck, due in large part to the St. Patrick’s Day...

• How to Get Candidates (and Employees) to Love Working for You

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® I certainly don’t have to tell you that we are deep into a worker and talent shortage and that we’re in a candidate-driven market. And I also don’t have to tell you that this shortage is quite possibly even more severe in...

• Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring for 2022: Always Be Recruiting!

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® In our previous article for employers, we posed this question: “What is Your Animal Health or Veterinary Recruiting Plan for 2022?” In helping readers answer that question, we shared five essential components of such a...

• What is Your Animal Health or Veterinary Recruiting Plan for 2022?

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® There have been a couple of prevalent themes in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession during the past year, especially concerning the latter. Those themes are as follows: 1. Many people have been quitting...

• Steps for Turning the ‘Great Resignation’ into the ‘Great Retention’

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® Last month, I published an article about the “Great Resignation.” Specifically, I published an article about “How to Retain Your Best Employees During the ‘Great Resignation.’” In that article, I explored retention...

• How to Retain Your Best Employees During the ‘Great Resignation’

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® By all accounts, the past several months have represented the biggest quitting spree by American workers in the history of this country. This, of course, is why this trend has been dubbed “The Great Resignation” by members...

• Why HOW You Hire is Just as Important as WHO You Hire

  

  Hiring well and doing so on a consistent basis requires a tremendous amount of time, energy, and effort, and that is especially the case within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession in this current market. There are many aspects associated with a...

• The #1 Factor in the Long-Term Success of Your Organization

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® While it’s true that there are a number of factors that are involved in the success of any company or organization, including within the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession, there is one factor that stands out...

• Why Higher Wages and Bigger Bonuses are Inevitable in This Market

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® I have broached the subject of making competitive and compelling offers of employment to Animal Health and Veterinary candidates in the past. In fact, I even addressed the topic relatively recently with the article, “If...

• The Top Reasons a Company is Not Considered an Employer of Choice

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® In today’s competitive hiring environment—especially in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession—organizations must stand out from the competition. That’s because if you don’t stand out, then you reduce the...

• If Your Job Offers Are Being Rejected, Then You’re Not Making the Best Offers

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® The marketplace for hiring in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession is as tight as I’ve ever seen it, in my 23 years as an Animal Health executive recruiter. Even though we’re in the midst of a pandemic and...

• Why Your New Hires Are Failing (and What You Can Do About It)

  

  By Stacy Pursell, CPC/CERS The VET Recruiter® It’s tough enough to find qualified job candidates in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. Then it’s tough enough to effectively engage them and hire them. So the last thing you want is for your new hire...

• 3 Top Priorities for Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring in 2021

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® I probably don’t have to tell you that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot about the employment marketplace during the past year. This includes, of course, hiring, and it also includes Animal Health and Veterinary...

• The Difference Between an Employment Agency and an Executive Search Firm

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® The VET Recruiter is an executive search firm and professional recruitment firm operating in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. The VET Recruiter is not an employment agency. There is a difference. That...

• Conveying Your Animal Health or Veterinary Company Culture in a Pandemic

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Last year was filled with more than its fair share of obstacles and challenges, both for professionals and for employers in the employment marketplace. And this includes in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary...

• The Most Successful Animal Health and Veterinary Employers Focus on Two Things

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® As an Animal Health executive recruiter and Veterinary recruiter for more than 20 years, I have worked with many Animal Health companies as well as Veterinary practices. As you might imagine, some of these organizations...

• Better Hiring Starts with a Different Perspective

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® I am going to assume that you want to experience more hiring success within your Animal Health company or Veterinary practice. That would make sense. Hiring the best candidates and investing in top talent is a way to...

• Why You’re Not Just Competing Against Other Employers for Animal Health and Veterinary Talent

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® For the past several years, it was a candidates’ job market in this country. This means there were plenty of employment opportunities, and by and large, a lack of qualify job candidates to fill those positions. Then the...

• What’s Happening with Veterinary Jobs in the Midst of the Pandemic?

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® These are definitely uncertain and often tumultuous times, both in the United States and around the world. It is sometimes difficult to know what exactly is happening, and that includes within the employment marketplace...

• Why You MUST Be an Animal Health or Veterinary Technology Organization

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® There is much that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed about the current employment marketplace and job market. However, there is also a lot that the pandemic has NOT changed, and this includes for Animal Health companies...

• The #1 Key to Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring Success During COVID-19

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® There are many factors that ultimately contribute to Animal Health and Veterinary hiring success. This is the case regardless of market conditions or whether we’re experiencing a recovering economy or a recessionary one....

• Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring- Offering the job Without Meeting the Candidate

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® If you are an Animal Health company or Veterinary practice and you are looking to hire right now, there is certainly a market for you to do so. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. However, where some...

• Ostriches Do NOT Bury their Heads in the Sand . . . and Neither Should You

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® In the current COVID-19 pandemic, interviewing and hiring may not be at the top of your to do list, but it should still be considered a vital and necessary activity. It’s human nature to avoid danger. Actually, it’s not...

• How to Conduct Top-Notch Animal Health and Veterinary Video Interviews

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® The Coronavirus or Covid-19 is affecting the lives of nearly everyone living in the country right now in addition to those living around the world. Its effect has stretched to the employment marketplace and organizations’...

• Employer Branding: the Key to Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® There are a number of keys to Animal Health and Veterinary hiring. And when I say hiring, I mean the successful identification, recruiting, and then hiring of top talent in the employment marketplace. (Hiring goes well...

• The Percentage of Animal Health Jobs and Veterinary Jobs NOT Posted Online

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Not all of the open Animal Health jobs and Veterinary jobs in the employment marketplace are posted online. For those of you who grew up during the Internet age, this might seem implausible. I assure you, however, that it...

• How to Improve Company Culture for Better Animal Health and Veterinary Hiring

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® “Company culture” has become a popular catch-phrase or buzzword during the past several years. The current candidate-driven market has contributed to this evolving trend. The logic is simple: in order to attract, hire,...

• The Employee Experience is Critical for Animal Health and Veterinary Talent

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® What you want as an Animal Health and Veterinary employer is simple. You want to hire the top talent in the employment marketplace, and you want that talent to help grow your organization and your business. You also want...

• Veterinary Excellence and Our Commitment to Help YOU in the New Year

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® For some professionals, it is customary for them to select a word or theme at the outset of each year. This word is typically one they plan to stress in the New Year in the pursuit of providing more value and growing. And...

• What is the Difference Between an Applicant and a Candidate?

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® In a previous article, I answered the question, “Why Are There No Animal Health or Veterinary Applicants for My Job?” In that article, I discussed the low unemployment rate in this country, especially within the...

• AVMA Census: Veterinary Profession Facing Greater Personnel Shortages

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® I’ve shared a number of interesting statistics with readers during the past year, and I have more to share in this article. However, I’d like to recap some of the information from previous articles and blog posts. For...

• The Right Way for Employers to Treat Executive-Level Candidates

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® I’m going to start this article with a bold and true statement: Some Animal Health and Veterinary organizations are losing executive-level candidates because they’re not treating them the right way during the interviewing...

• People Want to Do Good Work for Good Organizations Making a Difference

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® The best candidates in the marketplace do not care about money the most. Sure, money and compensation are important. However, for the majority of today’s candidates, that is not their top consideration when they’re...

• How an Organization Tells a Candidate to Decline Its Offer of Employment

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Workplace/Workforce expert for the Animal Health Industry and Veterinary Profession You might have read the title of this article and thought to yourself, “What are you talking about? Why would an organization tell a...

• The Reasons Why Candidates “Ghost” During the Hiring Process

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® During the past year or so, “ghosting” has become a popular topic in the employment marketplace. Perhaps “popular” isn’t exactly the correct word, though, especially when it comes to employers. That’s because I’m sure...

• Is it Illegal for Recruiters to Poach Professionals from Employers?

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Last month, I broached the subject of whether it’s illegal and/or unethical for a recruiter to contact professionals while they’re at work. If you read the article, then you know that the answer to that question is an...

• The #1 Reason Why You Should Interview a Candidate without a Resume

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® There are things that Animal Health employers and Veterinary employers must do in the marketplace right now that might seem counterintuitive at first. One of them is interviewing a candidate who does not have a current...

• Collaboration Between Internal and External Recruiters = Better Hiring

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® As an Animal Health recruiter and Veterinary recruiter for more than 20 years, I’ve built some great relationships with hiring managers, HR personnel, internal recruiters and business owners. To that end, I’ve partnered...

• Why the Demand for Veterinary Professionals is So Urgent Right Now

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® In a recent newsletter article, I discussed how pet ownership is increasing in the United States. I also touched upon the fact that pet owners are spending more on Veterinary care. In fact, the American Pet Products...

• Just Because They’re a Candidate Does NOT Mean They’re Job Hunting

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Some things that I see happen puzzle me in my job as an Animal Health recruiter and Veterinary recruiter. Sometimes, these things are surprising, but sometimes they are not. And the reason they’re not surprising is that I...

• How to Hire More Women in the Animal Health Industry

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Gender equality in the workplace is a huge topic in today’s employment marketplace. In addition, March is a big month for women. For example, March is Women’s History Month. Not only that, but March 8 was also...

• How the Hiring Process is Like Dating (and Why It’s Important)

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Perhaps you’ve never heard of this analogy before, although some of you may have heard it. Regardless, the Valentine’s Day holiday this week—and this current candidates’ market—make this an excellent time to discuss it....

• 10 Tips for Building (and Maintaining) Great Employees in 2019

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® If there’s one thing that every Animal Health and Veterinary employer wants to do in 2019, it’s to have a dynamic workforce. At the very least, they want to have a more dynamic and impactful workforce this year than in...

• Hiring Strategies and Techniques for More Success in the New Year

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® As an Animal Health employer or Veterinary employer, you want to experience more hiring success in 2019 than you did in 2018. That only makes sense. However, there are challenges aplenty that exist in the current...

• THIS is How Much It Costs When You Don’t Hire the Veterinarians (or other professionals) You Need

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® I’ve mentioned before about how costly it is when an employer leaves a position open for too long. In fact, there have been numerous studies conducted and articles and reports written about the topic. However, the...

• The Best Tactics for Hiring (and Keeping) Top Talent in This Job Market

  

  by Stacy Pursell, CPC, CERS The VET Recruiter® Make no mistake about it: there is a competition happening right now. That competition is between Animal Health and Veterinary employers that are looking to hire the best candidates in the employment marketplace. What...

• An Employer’s Biggest Challenge: How It Handles People

  

  by Stacy Pursell, The VET Recruiter® Employers in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession face plenty of challenges. They face all of the challenges that every employer faces, and then they face the challenges that are unique to the profession in which...

• The Hiring Value That Technology and Social Media Can NOT Duplicate

  

  by Stacy Pursell, The VET Recruiter® The process of finding and hiring candidates has changed quite a bit over the past few decades. After all, the Internet has not always existed. And it’s not just the Internet, either. Perhaps you’re old enough to remember fax...

• Just HOW Tight is the Marketplace for Talent Right Now?

  

  by Stacy Pursell, The VET Recruiter® If you’re an employer in the Animal Health Industry or Veterinary Profession, you are probably of the opinion that the marketplace is tight when it comes to talent right now. In fact, you probably think this is especially the case...

• How to Combat No-Show Candidates in This Market

  

  by Stacy Pursell, The VET Recruiter ® I’ve been teaching the same message to employers for the last several years: just because you have a job opening doesn’t mean that qualified candidates are going to come running. In some cases, they don’t even come walking. In...

• The #1 Key to Hiring Top Talent in This Current Market

  

  Stacy Pursell The VET Recruiter ® If someone were to ask you, “What’s the #1 key to hiring top talent in this current market?” you probably would have a litany of answers ready for them. “An attractive salary and benefits package.” “A great company culture.” “A great...

• The Team with the Best Players Usually Wins

  

  Stacy Pursell The VET Recruiter ® Even if you’re a casual sports fan (and I suspect that some of you are more than casual fans), you know the truth of the above headline. It doesn’t matter if your sport of choice is football . . . or basketball . . . or soccer . . ....

• 5 Potentially Costly (But Fixable) Interview Mistakes for Employers

  

  Stacy Pursell The VET Recruiter ® I’ve written before about the fact that the margin of error in the current marketplace is small for Animal Health and Veterinary employers. (See “Why Hiring Mistakes Are Magnified Under Current Market Conditions.”) Since I wrote that...

• 6 Traits of A-Level Candidates (and Great Employees)

  

  Every Animal Health and Veterinary organization wants to hire A-level candidates. They also want to have great employees. As you can imagine, the two go hand-in-hand. If you routinely hire A-level candidates, then you’re  likely going to have great employees. But as...

• Why the “Burden of Proof” Ultimately Rests with the Employer

  

  Every once in a while, even though I’m not a television watcher, I like to watch a good court drama, regardless of whether it’s a television show or a movie. One of the phrases that’s usually mentioned during a show such as this is “burden of proof.” What is that? To...

• The Simple Question That Shows What a Recruiter Really Does

  

  As an Animal Health Industry Recruiter and Veterinary Recruiter, I talk with people all the time. I talk with job seekers, I talk with candidates, and I talk with hiring managers. I talk with scores of people every day, hundreds of people every week, and thousands...

• Want to Hire Top Candidates? Then THIS is How You Should Think

  

  Times have changed. They’ve changed not only in the past 20 years, but they’ve also changed in the past 10 and even five years. In fact, it seems as though times keep changing more rapidly as we go along. As a result, the rules that once applied to the employment...

• The Real Reason Recruiters Beat LinkedIn When Filling Critical Positions

  

  I wrote an article recently about the fact that when organizations hire a Veterinary Recruiter or Animal Health Recruiter, what they’re paying for is influence, not just a stack of resumes. However, the value that a good search consultant or recruiter provides extends...

• How to Know if a Candidate is Lying on Their Resume

  

  Top talent is in great demand in the marketplace, and the best candidates are not easy to find. While a sense of urgency and a commitment to the process are both crucial to the success of the hiring process, so is being prudent and thorough during that process. Let’s...

• Why the Best Employees Will Quit Your Company

  

  We’ve written a number of times previously about how hiring in this current market requires an intensive effort. However, what is also true is that retaining your very best employees in this current market also requires an intensive effort. Once again, that’s because...

• Why Hiring is More Difficult (and What You Can Do About It)

  

  While hiring is not an exact science, there are general rules that govern the employment marketplace. Those organizations that are not aware of these rules and do not follow them typically do not hire as well as organizations that are aware and that do follow them....

• Why Am I Not Getting Any Job Applicants for My Open Position?

  

  The title of this article might be a question that you’ve asked yourself from time to time. Based upon my more than 20 years of experience as a search consultant and recruiter in the employment marketplace, I’ll be attempting to answer this question. First, however,...

• 5 Iron-Clad Ways to Keep a Candidate Engaged in the Hiring Process

  

  I probably do not have to tell you that it’s difficult to successfully hire top candidates in today’s marketplace. It’s been tough for a while now, and it doesn’t appear that this hiring environment is going to change anytime soon. One of the reasons that it’s so...

• Why You Can NOT Keep Rescheduling Interviews with Candidates

  

  Since we are deep within the throes of a candidates’ job market, there are many things that employers can not afford to do. I’ve addressed some of these things within my newsletter articles and blog posts. They include the following: Not communicating enough during...

• Employers, When You Hire a Recruiter, THIS is What You’re Paying For!

  

  There are many misconceptions and misunderstandings in the employment marketplace regarding search consultants (also known as recruiters). One of those misunderstandings involves what exactly it is that they do for their clients. Now, I’ve covered this topic before at...

• What the Skills Gap Means in Today’s Employment Marketplace

  

  Nine years later, the Great Recession seems like a distant memory for many people. One of the best illustrations of this is that job openings in the United States recently hit an all-time high. According to data released by the Department of Labor, there were 6...

• Tips for Connecting with Millennials to Both Hire and Retain Them

  

  Are Millennials tougher to deal with in the employment marketplace? Both as employees and also as candidates? The answer to that question: it depends on who you ask. Some managers and company officials apparently have difficulty, while others do not. Let’s face it:...

• 6 Ways to Set Your New Star Employee Up for Immediate Success

  

  There is no doubt that identifying, recruiting, and hiring the best candidates in the marketplace is not easy. Even if you’re able to accomplish that, it is no guarantee that those candidates will become immediately successful as employees. Sure, they’re ambitious....

• Why Candidates Are Rejecting Your Offer (and What to Do About It)

  

  As an organization, you spend a tremendous amount of time, energy, and effort to bring a candidate all the way to the offer stage of the hiring process. The very last thing you want to happen is to make an offer to your top pick . . . and then that person rejects your...

• The Most Overlooked Aspect of the Interview Stage for Employers

  

  The interview stage of the hiring process is perhaps the most important part of the process (with the possible exception of the offer stage). However, it’s critical to remember that it’s important not just for the candidates, but also for the employer. Because while...

• THIS is Why It’s Called “Posting and Praying”

  

  Some organizations in the employment marketplace advertise their job openings through online advertisements. There are many opportunities available which help them to accomplish this task. There’s nothing inherently wrong with posting online job advertisements. They...

• Is Your Hiring Process Actually Screening Out Good Candidates?

  

  Almost all of the articles that I write are based, at least in part, on the experience that I’ve accumulated as an executive search consultant and recruiter. This article is no exception. As a search consultant for 20 years, I’ve worked with numerous organizations of...

• Face It: Top Candidates Are in a Position of Power . . . Now What?

  

  If you’ve been trying to hire top talent in this current marketplace for any length of time, you should have already come to an unmistakable conclusion. That conclusion is this: top candidates are in a position of power. The reason for this is quite simple. Top...

• The #1 Factor in Enticing a Superstar Candidate to Change Jobs

  

  Superstar candidates are game changers. That’s why almost every organization would like to hire as many of them as they possibly can. However, superstars are NOT like other candidates. That makes sense. As a result, organizations should not treat superstar candidates...

• Why Simply Pitching to a Job to Top Candidates Rarely Works

  

  There are some tactics, strategies, and techniques that employers try in the marketplace right now that simply do not work. And one of the main reasons they do not work is because it’s currently a candidates’ market. One of those tactics is pitching a job. Some hiring...

• Baby Boomer Retirements and Your Company’s Hiring Future

  

  Regardless of whatever is happening in the employment marketplace, there’s one thing that will definitely happen during the next 15 years. Most of the Baby Boomers in the United States will be phased out of the workforce. The numbers are fairly startling. According to...

• Are You a Super Bowl Organization . . . or are You “Tanking”?

  

  This coming weekend, the Super Bowl is going to be played. The two best teams in the National Football League are going to battle one another, and the winner will be declared the best team in the entire league. In fact, they’ll largely be considered the best team in...

• The Critical Difference Between Hiring a Boss and Hiring a Leader

  

  There are countless nuances involved in the hiring process. That’s why it can appear to be such a complicated and complex endeavor. It sounds easy to hire great candidates who become top employees, but it’s much more difficult to actually do it. The key to hiring well...

• Why Hiring Mistakes Are Magnified Under Current Market Conditions

  

  Most everybody is familiar with the phrase “margin of error.” This phrase can be applied to just about anything. Below is the official Webster’s Dictionary definition for the phrase: Margin of error (noun)—An index indicating the amount beyond the minimum necessary....

• 3 Steps to Better Hiring and a Better Workforce in the New Year

  

  Every organization wants to hire in a better fashion than it did the year before. Every organization also wants to continually improve the quality of its employees and its workforce year after year. But how can these things be accomplished? Well, the steps for doing...

• Discuss Your Employees’ Future to Retain Them

  

  Turnover of your employees can be difficult to stop completely. However, success can be measured by degrees. After all, retaining 90% of your employees is certainly better than retaining 50% of them. We’ve discussed the subject of retention before in this blog,...

• Case Study: How Leaving a Position Open Hurts Your Company

  

  One of the advantages of being a search consultant is the opportunity to be “in the trenches” on a daily basis. This allows me to see on a first-hand basis what happens in the employment marketplace, both on the employer side and on the candidate side. It also affords...

• Do NOT Do These Things When Making an Offer to a Candidate

  

  The interviewing and hiring process is filled with important parts, junctures at which the process can either fall apart or accelerate forward. One such part is the offer of employment. Think about it: making an offer of employment is like making a marriage proposal....

• One Simple Step for Improving Retention of Your Best Employees

  

  The retention of an organization’s best and most important employees can often be viewed as being complicated. Some might believe that an intricate formula is involved for making sure that top talent remains with the company. However, that’s not necessarily the case....

• 3 Iron-Clad Reasons to Work Exclusively with One Recruiter

  

  In the employment marketplace and the world of hiring, there are some things that seem to make sense . . . but really don’t. Conversely, there are some things that don’t appear to make sense . . . but really do. For quite a few organizations—and the hiring managers...

• Your Search Firm Should Also Provide a Great Candidate Experience

  

  Providing a great candidate experience is a team effort. Not only does it require an effort on the part of everybody within your organization (especially those involved in the hiring process), but it also includes your search firm. Organizations often use search...

• Best Practices for Onboarding Your New Superstar Candidates

  

  We’ve discussed the importance of an onboarding program before in this newsletter, specifically with the article “The 2 Phases of an Effective Onboarding Program.” To review, those two phases are as follows: Phase 1—Acceptance to Employment Phase 2—Start of Employment...

• Are Superstar Employees More Eager to “Jump Ship”?

  

  Which employees within your organization are 32 years of age or less? More specifically, how many of your superstar employees are 32 years of age or less? Why are we asking that? Because if you have an employee who’s less than 32 years old, then they’re likely to...

• The Role of the Hiring Process in the Candidate Experience

  

  Providing an exemplary candidate experience is an important part of not only attracting top candidates, but also convincing them to accept your offer of employment and choose to work for your organization. However, it can also be complex. That’s why if it’s not done...

• The 3 Big Areas of Focus for Increased Employee Engagement

  

  In a candidates’ market like the one we’re currently experiencing, there are two things that happen: It’s more difficult to successfully attract, recruit, and hire the best candidates in the marketplace. It’s more difficult to successfully retain the best employees...

• 4 Questions You Should NOT Ask During the Interview

  

  Hiring managers are continually seeking out the best questions to ask candidates during the face-to-face interview. This makes sense, since the interview is one of the most important parts of the hiring process. (In fact, some people might say that it’s...

• 3 Crucial Tips for Improving the Quality of Your Hires

  

  Hiring great people is NOT easy. If it was, every company would be doing it. Obviously, this is not the case. However, you’re not concerned with every company—you’re only concerned with your company, and rightly so. Unfortunately, the hiring process is like any other...

• 6 Characteristics of Employees You Need to “Topgrade”

  

  You might be familiar with the concept of “topgrading” in regards to personnel management and hiring. If you’re not, there’s an underlying philosophy regarding topgrading. That philosophy is also referred to as “The 20-60-20 Rule.” That rule states the following: 20%...

• Why Using a Recruiter Beats Placing Ads for Hiring the Best Candidates

  

  For any company to be successful and make a profit, it has to sell its products and/or services. In order to accomplish this, companies charge sales departments with the task of selling those products and/or services. Instead, what if your organization relied solely...

• 5 Tips for When and How to Conduct Reference Checks

  

  Organizations have varying philosophies regarding reference checks during the hiring process. As a result, they are often misunderstood and underutilized by employers seeking to identify the best candidate for their open position. These varying philosophies involve...

• What Candidates Truly Want from Potential Employers

  

  At the beginning of the year, The VET Recruiter® conducted a survey of candidates in the Animal Health industry and Veterinary profession. As part of that survey, we asked a series of questions, many of which dealt directly with employers and the hiring process. In...

• Why Your Candidate Experience IS Your Employer Brand

  

  An organization’s hiring process is important, to say the very least. However, its importance may be more widespread and far-reaching than you can imagine. That’s because the hiring process is not about just finding (and hiring) the best candidate in the marketplace....

• THIS is What Annoys Candidates Most About the Hiring Process

  

  High-quality candidates are in short supply in the market these days. That’s why it is critical for companies to do their best when it comes to first attracting, then recruiting, and then finally hiring these candidates. The problem for many organizations is that even...

• Why It’s NOT Necessarily Bad When an Employee Leaves

  

  You’ve probably heard about some of the employment trends that are sweeping across the nation, some of which have caught on and some of which have not. An example of one that has not? Credit-card processing company Gravity Payments raised the minimum salary of its...

• 6 Hiring Practices You MUST Stop

  

  The quality of the candidates you hire is in direct correlation to the quality of your organization’s hiring process. The greater the quality of your process, the greater the quality of your hires. Unfortunately, some companies fall prey to hiring practices that...

• The Main Reason Top Candidates Do NOT Apply to Job Ads

  

  Let’s say you have an open position to fill. Let’s say that you write a beautiful job advertisement for it, the best one you’ve ever written. Let’s say you show it to your boss and your colleagues, and they agree that it’s the best, most beautiful job ad they’ve ever...

• 7 Stats You MUST Know About Hiring and Talent in 2016

  

  Last year was definitely one marked by a scarcity of talent in the employment marketplace, and according to a recent survey, it appears as though that will again be the case this year. That survey was the annual hiring survey conducted by DHI Group, Inc., a provider...

• How to Position Your Company to Attract Top Talent

  

  I’ve addressed this topic before in our newsletter and in our blog, but it bears repeating: simply running an online job ad is not enough to attract the best candidates in the marketplace. In fact, in many cases, it’s not even enough to get their attention. After all,...

• How to Combat the Counteroffer Your Star Candidate Will Receive

  

  Think we might be “jumping the gun” with the title of this article? Well, with top talent very much in demand these days, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that the very best candidates are going to receive some sort of counter-offer from their current employer once...

• What Value Proposition Do You Offer to Top Candidates?

  

  The other day, I was in my office speaking with a hiring manager on the phone. There was also another person in the office who does not work in executive search. This guest was listening to my conversation with the hiring manager, and he overhead me ask this question:...

• The 2 Phases of an Effective Onboarding Program

  

  Onboarding as a philosophy and a process is often viewed differently by different organizations. Some companies spend more time, energy, and effort than others and some make it more of a priority than others. Of course, those companies that make it more of a priority...

• The Best Candidates in the Market Don’t Stick Around for Long

  

  The goal of every company when it comes to hiring is to bring on board the best candidates in the marketplace. However, doing so involves a certain level of complexity for a number of different reasons. One of those reasons is this: the best candidates in the market...

• What to Do if You Can’t Find the Candidate You Need to Hire

  

  Every organization that has a job opening to fill is looking to hire the best candidate possible for the position. In many instances, company officials have an idea of exactly the type of candidate they want, especially if the position is an important and/or...

• How Social Media and Job Boards Increase the Need for Recruiters

  

  There is certainly no doubt that social media, job boards, the Internet at large, and Big Data have all had an impact on the employment marketplace and on companies’ hiring efforts. However, it might not be the impact you’re thinking it is. At first glance, you could...

• Emphasize THIS to Get a Top Candidate to Work for You

  

  When you’re recruiting a top candidate to work at your organization, the end of the interviewing process is the most critical phase, because that’s when you “sell” the candidate in an attempt to close them. However, some companies “sell” these candidates incorrectly ....

• 2 Crucial Considerations of Making an Offer to a Candidate

  

  When an organization makes an offer of employment to a candidate, they’re signifying their commitment to that candidate. In essence, the company is saying, “Out of all the people we interviewed, you’re the one we want to work for us.” With that in mind, wouldn’t it be...

• Need a “Special Ops” Agent for Your Search? It’s Your Recruiter

  

  Sometimes, hiring the best candidate possible for your open position is not clean-cut. It’s not predictable. The process doesn’t go anywhere near as smoothly as you think it will. However, if it still ends in the hiring of the best candidate for the position, it’s all...

• 3 Ways LinkedIn is Making It More Difficult to Hire Top Talent

  

  Over the years, LinkedIn has proven to be a valuable resource for both job seekers and employers.  After all, it was the first social media site specifically for the professional realm and not the personal realm.  That alone made it stand out. However, as with all...

• Recruiters: Salespeople for Your Opportunity and Your Company

  

  What if you had no sales department for your company’s products and services? What if you could only rely on advertisements to generate interest in what you offer?  What do you think your gross sales would be? You might not want to consider such a scenario.  However,...

• THIS is How Long the Hiring Process Should Last (and Why)

  

  The optimum length for a company’s hiring process has been a debatable topic for quite some time.  The irony of the situation, though, is that there should not be any debate about it. That’s because no matter the economic environment, a search for the best candidates...

• 5 Reasons Why Feedback is Important During the Hiring Process

  

  From a company’s perspective, the hiring process is of paramount importance. After all, that’s the way the company brings the best and brightest candidates on board. And while certain parts of the process are considered more important than others, some parts are often...

• The Numbers You Should Know Before Extending an Offer

  

  The offer stage is one of the most sensitive—and important—parts of the hiring process. That’s why it must be handled with care and preparation. Unfortunately, not all companies approach the offer stage of the process with as much care and preparation as they should....

• THIS is the Value That Executive Recruiters Provide to Companies

  

  Successfully hiring the best candidates available in the marketplace is one of the most important things that a company can do.  In fact, it could be argued that it’s the most important thing a company can do. If you think in terms of professional sports, the team...

• Why Passive Superstar Candidates Tend to Avoid Online Job Ads

  

  In this day and age, it is often common practice for some companies to run an online job advertisement when they want to fill an open position. However, unless companies take a closer look at their specific needs and analyze the situation thoroughly, running an online...

• 5 Questions to Assess Who Represents Your Company to Candidates

  

  There is no doubt that company officials are constantly immersed in the day-to-day operations of their business.  There never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done.  As a result, it becomes a matter of priorities, in other words, which tasks...

• 3 Steps for Offering Compensation to Attract the Best Candidates

  

  There’s no doubt that companies not only want to attract the best candidates available in the marketplace, but they also want to hire them. However, what they’re offering to these candidates isn’t always enough to accomplish both of these things.  A disconnect often...

• How Far Should Companies NOT Go to Retain Top Talent?

  

  There is no doubt that talent is highly coveted in the employment marketplace, and that’s the case regardless of the condition of the economy. Every organization has a goal to hire the best candidates as employees.  In addition, every organization desires to keep its...

• What It Really Means When a Company Runs a Job Ad

  

  Nothing happens in the world without desire—specifically, a person (or people’s) desire to make something happen.  This also applies to the world of employment, including the hiring of employees. For example, let’s say that officials at a company decide they want to...

• There Are No Coincidences When It Comes to Hiring Top Talent

  

  Hiring the top talent in the marketplace is not a “crapshoot.”  It’s not a matter of “dumb luck” or “good fortune,” either.  As a company, either you’re doing what it is necessary to find, recruit, and hire the top people in the industry—or you’re not. I was recently...

• 5 Reasons Why Using a RPO Firm Doesn’t Work in a Specialized Niche

  

  Let me start by saying that I can certainly understand why companies would want to outsource all or part of their recruiting activities to an external service provider. After all, hiring is a crucial part of a company’s ability to compete and grow in the marketplace,...

• 5 Points for Selling Your Employment Opportunity to a Candidate

  

  The employment marketplace is much different than it was five years ago.  It’s even different than it was three years ago. In short, employees—especially top employees—no longer feel “lucky to have a job.”  (It could be argued that they never felt that way; after all,...

• 4 Main Reasons Companies Use Executive Recruiting Firms

  

  No matter the unemployment rate, the degree of difficulty involved in finding top-tier talent remains the same.  That was true before the Great Recession, and it’s true today. Actually, it could be argued that for companies attempting to find the candidates they need...

• 5 Ways to Convince a Candidate to Accept Your Offer

  

  As has been proven time and again, anything can go wrong during any stage of the hiring process, and that includes during the offer stage. In fact, the offer stage is definitely not the time to lose focus, if for no other reason than it’s one of the most important...

• 3 Ways Hiring Positive People Helps Your Bottom Line

  

  When it comes to hiring the best candidates available in the marketplace, companies focus a great deal on expertise and experience—in other words, the “hard skills” that they have to offer. However, it’s the “soft skills” that can mean the difference between hiring...

• 4 Ways Hiring a Team of People Gives You a Competitive Edge

  

  As we’ve explored on numerous occasions in our monthly newsletter, superstar candidates are still very difficult to first find and then successfully recruit. In fact, considering how many people are currently in the market for a new job—both employed and unemployed—it...

• 4 Reasons to Get Rid of a Bad Hire as Quickly As Possible

  

  We’ve written numerous times, both in our blog and in our monthly newsletter, regarding the dangers of making a bad hire. However, sometimes bad hires do happen.  When they do, the key for the company is to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. The reason? ...

• Is 2014 the ‘Year of the Passive Job Seeker’?

  

  Over the past few years, there has been a growing trend in the world of employment: the most qualified candidates in the job market have become more difficult to find. According to a recent CNNMoney.com article, that trend will continue during all of 2014.  In fact,...

• 7 Things That Every Manager Should Do in 2014

  

  The New Year means a fresh start for companies, department managers, and team leaders, including new opportunities for increasing production and generating more revenue. However, how can companies accomplish this?  Times may have changed and technology continues to...

• 3 Tips for Reducing Workplace Stress in 2014

  

  Reducing stress is a goal of just about everybody in the employment workplace—and that definitely includes managers and team leaders. In fact, according to a study conducted by Harris Interactive for Everest College earlier this year, 83% of American workers say they...

• Why the Semi-Retired Can Provide You with Hiring Flexibility

  

  During the last few years, many companies (if not most) have been trying to “do more with less” in the area of workforce management.  In other words, get more done with fewer employees. This approach provides plenty of challenges, especially when there are more...

• Presenting the ‘X Factor’ for Hiring Superstar Candidates

  

  You’ve probably experienced this, or at the very least, heard a story about it. A company interviews a candidate and screens them with various tests, and the candidate is a perfect fit in just about every way.  They have all of the technical skills, a solid history of...

• 3 Factors to Determine if You Should Hire Now . . . or Wait

  

  One of the toughest decisions that a company has to make is whether they should hire right now or continue searching for a better candidate. Of course, there are no “tried and true” answers to this dilemma, mainly because the answer is individual to the company and...

• 4 Ways to Make Sure Your New Hire Doesn’t Take Another Offer

  

  Okay, you’ve extended an offer to your top candidate.  They accept the offer and turn in their two-week notice. Then, two weeks later, they don’t show up for their first day of work. What happened?  They either accepted a counter-offer from their current employer OR...

• 6 Ways to Attract More Top Performers

  

  Every company wants to attract more top performers, the best candidates that exist within the industry.  But how many companies plan to attract those top performers? After all, isn’t hiring the best and brightest an important enough endeavor to necessitate a plan for...

• 4 Questions to Identify Who’s About to Leave Your Company

  

  When it comes to retaining your best employees, owning a crystal ball would come in handy.  After all, those who have plans to leave rarely tell you in advance. Well, they’ll tell you two weeks in advance, but not much more than that. So the question is this: since...

• Have an Under-performing Employee? Take These 10 Steps

  

  A company works at its best when it has top employees at every position, with all of them performing to the best of their abilities.   While that should constantly be the goal, it’s certainly not always the case.  Employees could fall short of expectations for a...

• 6 Ways to Tell if You’ve Hired a Loyal Employee

  

  When you hire a new employee—especially somebody considered to a superstar and who is expected to make an immediate impact—you’d like for that employee to be loyal. After all, you’re investing a tremendous amount of time, energy, and money into them.  Their loyalty...

• 2 BIG Reasons Why Attitude is Important to Your Company

  

  What do you look for in a truly great candidate, an A-level player who could conceivably have a huge impact on your company and it’s bottom line? An impressive and multi-faceted skill set?  Extensive experience?  Credentials, certifications, and awards?  A proven...

• 6 Steps for Keeping Your Best Employees Satisfied

  

  In last month’s blog post, we presented “6 Key Factors for Motivating Employees Who Are Unmotivated.”  This month, we’re going to explore steps for keeping your best employees satisfied. Given the current state of the economy, you might think that those people who are...

• 6 Key Factors for Motivating Employees Who Are Unmotivated

  

  Every company, department, or team has employees who can be classified as “high achievers” . . . and those who are not included in that category. However, these employees should not be dismissed—either literally or figuratively—without attempting to motivate them to...

• How Will Your Company Find the Top Talent It Needs in 2013?

  

  A New Year is upon us, and the employment marketplace is as competitive as ever. That hasn’t changed. What has changed, though, is how companies find the top talent they need. First, of course, every company must recognize that a high unemployment rate does NOT...

• 4 Traits to Look for in a Great Recruiter

  

  While it’s true that recruiters can provide value by helping companies find and recruit top-notch talent, not all recruiters are great.  (Which, of course, makes recruiting like any other profession.) So how can you tell the great recruiters from the average ones? ...

• 5 Tips for Checking a Candidate’s References

  

  How a candidate’s references are checked can vary widely from company to company (and maybe even from position to position). However, one thing that’s universal is that everybody wants to use reference checks as effectively as possible, so that they contribute to a...

• Six Things You Should Absolutely Tell Your Recruiter

  

  The relationship that you have with your recruiter is similar to your other relationships: the more communication that occurs within that relationship, the better it’s going to be for everybody. While it’s true that the relationship you have with a...

• 5 Ways to Keep Your Superstars from Burning Out and Leaving

  

  While many companies might be preoccupied with the problem of finding new superstars to fill their open positions, there’s another problem of which they might not be fully aware. That problem is this: retaining the superstars they already have—or at the very least,...

• Does Your Company Have a Mentoring Program?

  

  In the August issue of our employer newsletter, we brought to light a recent incident regarding the 2012 Summer Olympic Games and what that incident could teach about workforce management. Workforce management, of course, is about more than just finding and hiring the...

• Why and When Good Candidates ‘Tune You Out’

  

  One of the things that’s often difficult to remember in this type of marketplace (i.e., one that contains a lot of job seekers) is that candidates—especially high-quality candidates—will “tune you out.” That’s right. You have an opening, you’re trying to fill that...

• 3 Steps for Addressing Under-performing Employees

  

  Despite the current economic climate, there are still employees in the workforce who are not “engaged” at their company.  In other words, they don’t display passion or enthusiasm about their job, and as a result, their production suffers. While companies may have...

• Why Hiring the Best People is a Continuous Process

  

  In our May newsletter article, we stressed the importance of being proactive in your quest to find the best candidates to fill your open positions. The reasons for this are numerous.  Below are just a few of them: Superstar candidates don’t just show up as soon as you...

• If You Are NOT Proactive, You Will NOT Hire the Best Candidates

  

  While there are signs that the economy is improving and that employees are more open to making a change, there is still one fact that remains undisputable: A passive approach to hiring will not allow you to attract—nor hire—the best and brightest candidates available...

• Why Social Media Can’t Replace Search Firms, Part 2

  

  In our February blog post, we discussed how social media cannot, in fact, replace search firms in companies’ quest to find the best candidates for their open positions.  Why is that? Because identifying, recruiting, and hiring the people you need to help take your...

• Why Social Media Can’t Replace Search Firms, Part 1

  

  Technology is always changing and advancing.  That’s one thing that’s constant, and it’s constant in all areas of life, including the world of recruiting and hiring. In recent years, that ever-changing technology has given birth to social media.  Three of the biggest...

• How the ‘Personal Touch’ Will Attract the Candidates You Want

  

  What gives you a better chance of hiring the type of superstar candidates you want to hire in this market? The “personal touch,” that’s what. Who says so? The superstars themselves. TEKsystems, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, recently...

• How Retiree Re-Staffing Can Give You What You Need

  

  Companies have trimmed back in a lot of areas during the past few years, but there’s one area in which no company can afford to cut—knowledge and expertise. Unfortunately, many companies have suffered such losses and are struggling to recover in the face of nearly...

• Why a ‘Job Hopper’ Could be Your Next Superstar

  

  Everybody wants to hire a superstar to join their team.  Nobody wants to hire a “job hopper,” so to speak, but everybody wants a superstar to “hop” from another company to theirs. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why companies should NOT...

• Why Superstar Candidates Aren’t Breaking Down Your Door

  

  So you have an opening for a new position.  You’re posting that job opening on your company’s website and also on LinkedIn.  That means you should have a horde of superstar candidates from which to choose in no time, right? Well . . . maybe not. While it’s true that...

• Why Companies Need to Make a Mental Hiring Shift

  

  There is a troubling phenomenon occurring in the marketplace right now, specifically related to companies and their attitudes toward the recruiting and hiring process.  That phenomenon can be explained as follows: Companies (naturally) only want to hire the best and...

• Take Stock of Your Current Employment Situation

  

  The end of the year is quickly approaching, and 2012 will be here before you know it.  This is an excellent time to take stock of where you are right now, specifically in terms of your current employment situation. A new year could mean a new beginning and a fresh...

• Why a ‘Job Hopper’ Could be Your Next Superstar

  

  Everybody wants to hire a superstar to join their team.  Nobody wants to hire a “job hopper,” so to speak, but everybody wants a superstar to “hop” from another company to theirs. That’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why companies should NOT...

• Six Ways Using a Recruiter Saves You Both Time and Money

  

  If you’re a hiring manager or authority, you may have wondered at one time or another, why you should work with a recruiter in an effort to help fill important positions.  In fact, you might have asked yourself, “What value does a recruiter bring to the hiring...

• Five Ways a Search Consultant Can Protect Your Company

  

  What have you done to protect your company? Have you hired the best lawyers you could find to handle your legal affairs? Have you hired the best accountants you could find to handle your financial affairs? You certainly have. So you’ve protected yourself both legally...

• Who to Call When Conducting Reference Checks

  

  The first step in planning your reference checking is knowing who to call and choosing who to call.  If possible, you want to speak with the most unbiased people possible about the candidate.  Yes, the candidate submitted them as a reference because they believe the...

• Preparation is the Key to Effective Reference Checks

  

  What does your company do when it comes to checking references? There are different schools of thought regarding this topic.  On one hand, some company officials don’t check any references.  They believe it’s a waste of time.  After all, the people with whom they’ll...

• Important Elements of Your Job Description

  

  In our previous blog post, we posed a series of important questions to ask about your job description, questions that will help you to clearly define the core responsibilities of the position and ensure that you hire the best candidate possible.  Now that those...

• Important Questions to Ask About Your Job Description

  

  So . . . you know the three main reasons your job descriptions needs scrutiny by just about everybody associated with the position.  Now what?  Well, it’s time to create a job description that will help ensure you hire the best candidate possible. The first step, as...

• Three Reasons Your Job Description Needs Scrutiny

  

  It’s not enough to just have a written job description in hand before embarking upon your search for the right candidate to fill it.  That job description has to be thoroughly analyzed by everyone in the company whose daily work lives will be affected by the person...

• Have an Open Position? Start with the Job Description

  

  There are a lot of factors involved in finding and hiring the right candidate for your open position—the perfect candidate, as a matter of fact. Not perfect overall, mind you, but perfect for that particular position.  And that’s an excellent place to start: the job...