The primary reason for hiring a research assistant is to increase your revenues and profits. I believe that an excellent research assistant will increase your billings by 20% to 30%. An exceptional research person can serve two placement professionals, thus increasing billings by 40% to 60%. A researcher liberates your placement professional from repetitive, low-level tasks and makes [...]
The Southern Poverty Law Center (www.splcenter.org) was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Today, the Center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups. In 1981, the Center began investigating hate activity in response to a resurgence of groups [...]
Senator John McCain, a hero patriot himself, described Pat Tillman as a young man who gave away the fortune and fame of a celebrity to serve his country. In Character is Destiny, Senator McCain writes that Tillman took the September 11th attacks on our country personally. He had been loyal to his football team, an honorable [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity in Recruiting: Excellence in Recruiting
February 1st, 2006
Rome’s Olympic Stadium, the site of the 1960 Olympics, was filled beyond capacity to witness Wilma Rudolph become the first American woman to win three gold medals. This was the same Olympic Games where a bold young boxer from Louisville, Cassius Clay, was making headlines. Wilma’s third medal came in the 400-relay. She was poised [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - Leadership - Paterson on the Passaic
October 1st, 2005
Leaving the army in early 1965, I returned to an entry level assignment in the (battle)field of civil rights in Paterson, New Jersey. This was about the time that President Lyndon Johnson gave an inspirational plea to Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965. President Johnson spoke with passion about dignity and [...]
Writing on leadership has forced me to select, describe and list the qualities of the two best leaders I have experienced in my careers. This month we will begin with Alfred E. Lucas, a burly African American, now retired in St. Louis. Next month with Bishop Lawrence B. Casey, now deceased. Al Lucas, the [...]
On a November night years ago, troops of the 101st Airborne Division were bivouacked in a remote US location. Most of the soldiers did not have winter gear and it was cold. About one in the morning I crawled out of the sleeping bag to respond to Mother Nature and to pay the price for [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity in Recruiting: How to Check a Company’s Diversity
May 1st, 2005
Every now and again something happens which reinforces your values and motivates you to keep on keeping on. I had this experience the week after Easter in March 2005. You are going to find this difficult to believe but it happened. I was interviewing a black woman executive, who expressed an avid desire in leaving [...]
“A man (or woman) who is good enough to shed his blood for this country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that, no man shall have.” Theodore Roosevelt As the costly Iraqi conflict wears on, we are reminded daily, and [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - Equality and the older worker
March 1st, 2005
The client reacted very positively to your candidate’s resume and then queried you in depth about your assessment of the candidate. “How did she interview? How does she measure up to our job specs? Her strengths?” And finally, “When can I see her?” The interview is scheduled; the candidate is prepped; and you hope for [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
An Insider’s View Of Networking And The Benefits It Provides
February 1st, 2005
The scene is Cal State Northridge; the week before the major earthquake in the late nineties; the occasion is a career conference sponsored by the diversity students. I was in the midst of a talk on job campaigning techniques and had just completed a segment on networking when one of the students shouted the question, [...]
“Ultreya!” Dan McCarthy, a close friend and no relation, introduced that word into my vocabulary. Here’s how. This past April, Dan set out on a walking pilgrimage from St. Jean Pied de Port, a small town at the foot of the Pyrenees in Southern France and the gateway to northwestern Spain. On the first day [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - ABN: Airborne/Special Training
November 1st, 2004
“Don’t be buffaloed by experts and elites. Experts often possess more data than judgment. Elites can become so inbred that they produce hemophiliacs who bleed to death as soon as they are nicked by the real world. Small companies don’t have time for analytically detached experts. They don’t have the money to subsidize lofty elites, [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - AIT: Advanced Individual Training
October 1st, 2004
Basic Training conjures up many images for people who served in the military. Unbelievable, comical, weird, and life changing experiences are all interwoven in the fabric of your military memories. One recruit, as the story goes, enmeshed in basic training decided that army life was not for him. He began to go to every formation, [...]
Paratroopers take great pride in their jump boots. They spend many hours each year spit shining them to the traditional airborne gloss. On the day before JFK was elected President, I made my first parachute jump at Fort Benning, Georgia. Exiting the plane and jumping into thin air at twelve hundred feet was [...]
Paratroopers take great pride in their jump boots. They spend many hours each year spit shining them to the traditional airborne gloss. On the day before JFK was elected President, I made my first parachute jump at Fort Benning, Georgia. Exiting the plane and jumping into thin air at twelve hundred feet was [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - Director Of Diversity - Dead End Job?
August 1st, 2004
The world of work in America today seems to look to the human resources professionals for all the answers to diversity issues. This expectation is not only a mistake but it is grossly unfair. We know where the leadership belongs. We also know that in far too many instances the leadership passes the buck to [...]
“Dear God, so far today I’ve been pretty good. I haven’t cursed; I haven’t talked about my neighbor; I haven’t lost my temper; I haven’t been mean to anyone; I haven’t been greedy; I haven’t been selfish; I haven’t had too much to drink; I haven’t been nasty or coveted anything. I’m thankful for that. [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - Execution: how to get it done
May 1st, 2004
What are you hearing on the street? What’s the latest buzz about the economy? About hiring? There are many positives out there: contract recruiters are busy, more jobs are being created, companies are talking to recruiters, candidate research firms are selling projects, and the pace of hiring is accelerating and heating up. Are we poised for [...]
Patrick Coyne was popular with the other sales people in his firm but he was always the lowest producer in his region and in the country. As a matter of fact he finished dead last in sales production for five consecutive years. The new vice president of sales ordered Coyne’s manager to give him one [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - Labor shortage, globalization and diversity
March 1st, 2004
A statement made by John Challenger, CEO, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, in a speech at Fisher College of Business is thought provoking and encouraging especially for people in our business. “In corporate America, we are looking at a major shortage of companies’ most important supply: people. The government estimates that in fewer than seven [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Diversity In Recruiting - bias in the workplace
February 1st, 2004
“A bias is an inflexible positive or negative prejudgment about the nature, character, and abilities of an individual and is based on a generalized idea about the group to which the person belongs.” This month I want to tell you about Making Diversity Work: Seven Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace, by Sondra Thiederman, Ph.D. [...]
I wish TFL readers and their loved ones a happy, healthy, successful and peaceful 2004. Recently we were in the midst of Boston’s first Nor’easter of the season. The snow had been falling for over twenty-four hours. The experts said we had twenty-four more to go. I was home fighting a battle with pneumonia and [...]
from the The Fordyce Letter archives
Case study: establishing a candidate research practice
December 1st, 2003
This recession has been difficult for people in our industry. I started to say past recession because there are some positive signs that companies are hiring and reaching out for our help. I know first hand that the contract recruiting industry is booking significant business. In past recessions, increased use of contract recruiters was a [...]
Successful placement firms use an effective tool that enables them to conduct and complete more assignments. Once perceived as the sole property of retained search companies, candidate research has become a powerful addition to the arsenal of 21st century recruiting firms. Some forward thinking practitioners not only have in-house researchers but also sell candidate research [...]
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