One would think that in a time of tough-ish, tight-ish global markets, where GREAT executive positions with fantastic companies, excellent prospects, and wonderful career challenges are not exactly hanging on trees, that executive candidates would be lining up with tongues hanging out, desperate to sign on the dotted line when a really GOOD opportunity arises. [...]

Let’s face it – making the wrong appointment at any level is costly and frustrating. But at a senior management or executive level, the wrong person in the wrong job in the wrong company is just….well….VERY wrong! Which everyone realises, hence the laborious rounds of interviews, the psychometric assessments, the risk profiling, the reference checking, [...]

It’s my first blog of 2012, and I was hoping to start on a relaxed note, with a light topic such as ‘Executive Summaries are a waste of time in CV’s’ or ‘What to wear at the 12th interview with the same company’ – BUT, with all the heavy news around, it’s hard to keep [...]

Ah, what a grand title for my last blog of the year! In the interests of transparency, let me contextualise my ‘world’ as: ‘the obsessive quest for executive and senior management level talent on behalf of corporates in desperate need of scarce skills’ (a relatively narrow world, but there you have it)! And my narrow [...]

My blog today started out on a very different subject – I was about to comment on another executive interviewing tip – which IS important, and could nail you the job (or be the nail in the coffin)….but in light of yesterday’s events in parliament seems utterly mundane and superficial! Yesterday, which will go down in [...]

I’ve been writing this blog for over a year, and during this period have commented on executive candidates, executive clients, executive interviews, executive  CV’s (snore), and although I continually have new and fascinating tidbits on these topics, I’ve decided to go for a radical change and talk this week about….executive headhunters!  Let’s be honest, it’s [...]

In the last few weeks, I’ve had some interesting feedback from candidates after their first, second, third (or in some cases sixth or seventh) interview with a prospective new employer…..along with a bit of a moan from them about ‘stuff’.  The ‘stuff’ includes such petrifying experiences as being kept waiting in the reception area before [...]

On Monday I returned from the IRC Global Executive Search Partners’ annual conference in Santiago all fired up and inspired from interesting discussions on ‘global best practice’ on the million and one things that we do as executive headhunters.  It was particularly good to note that as the (exclusive) South African partner to this global alliance, [...]

It’s been a heavy week or two of interviewing for some of our candidates, who are engaging on some top executive roles with prospective new employers. The employers (our clients) are trying hard to maintain the balance between ‘wooing’ the best people (our candidates), who are not actively looking for jobs and therefore require some [...]

I’ve been hearing for years about ‘Generation Y’, mostly from professionals who are members of ‘Generation X’, moaning and whining about the ‘poor work ethic’, the demands for ‘work life balance’ and the expectations regarding quick promotions (amongst other quirks) of their staff or team members who are in the ‘younger than 30’ age bracket. [...]