J Bennett Recruiting

If you are an executive and you condescend to servers at a restaurant, I know everything I need to know about your leadership ability. I know that I can recruit most of your team. I know that you have high turnover in your department. I know that employee morale is very low. I know that your best employees will leave and the worst ones will stay. Great leaders are servants, period.

Most resumes spend too much valuable real estate on minutiae of daily responsibilities, and very little on achievements. Writing a good resume will make you a better interviewee. You are forced to ask yourself the question, "Why have I been important to the owner/board/shareholders?" Too often, I see people trying to write a novel instead of simply documenting increased profits, revenue, or decreased costs. Executives skim resumes. They are a bad place for nuance, so use economy of words and make your achievements clear.

Many of my candidates struggle with whether they should resign before finding another job. Unless you are being asked to do something illegal or immoral, you should stay and ramp up your search effort. It might feel great to tell your boss to shove it, but the reality is that the job market treats unemployed candidates more harshly than employed candidates. They usually aren't paid as much and don't get as many interviews. This is a sad truth, so don't lose your cool. At some point, most people will know what it feels like to be unemployed, and it is scary. What if you have plenty of money stocked away, and you want to take a break? It just depends on what matters more to you. Don't be upset when you are met with a lukewarm response when you rejoin the workforce.

My mom still thinks that I help people "find jobs". The first thing I learned as a rookie recruiter was this is a mischaracterization. For the most part, recruiters help companies "find people". As I progressed in my career, I learned a recruiter is only as good as their candidates. So, I came full circle, back to helping candidates. I spend a great deal of time advising my best candidates with insight, interview prep, and negotiations. It gives my work purpose and creates long-term relationships.

You have your entire career to develop relationships with strong recruiters. If you wait until you are laid off, it's too late. So, the next time a recruiter calls, take the call. You don't have to be looking for another job. Think of it as a back-up plan. Also, you'll be building influence with your network by referring jobs to others. Figure out which recruiters are worth staying in touch with. If you know an especially good one (ahem), refer him for searches at your employer. This will act like relationship glue. Your next question might be, how can I tell the good ones from the bad? Judge them by the quality or lack of questions. Are they pitching at you, or genuinely curious about you? Are they connecting the dots? Do they display a knowledge of your skill and industry, etc?

As a recruiter, I give advice, sometimes for money and sometimes for free. I also get a lot of advice, in some cases from my clients and candidates. Sometimes from my employees! You never know where wisdom will come from. I have a simple filter for taking advice. Is the opinion well-informed, or just coming from an opinionated person?

If you are interviewing a candidate and ask them a direct question like, "Why do you want to leave your company?", don't expect a comprehensive answer. You are going to get a layer one answer, "growth opportunity" is the most common answer by far. People give these answers out of a sense of safety with new people whom they don't trust yet. To learn more about your candidates after you've asked a layer one question... 1) Ask them to expand (be quiet). 2) Ask them to give you an example. This encourages the candidate to tell a story. Communication at this level will give you a better understanding of your candidate, put together solid agreements, and close more deals.