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Articles by Todd Raphael

Is There Life After Twitter?

by Todd Raphael August 18th, 2010

Back on July 1, Amybeth Hale posted about a recruiter named Jerry Albright who’d decided he’d had enough of Twitter. I caught up with Albright on the phone to ask him whether his decision to give up on tweeting was a good one. We also discuss: The sky-high expectations of new Twitter users, and social media users [...]

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Got Faith? Jordan Greenberg Now Does

by Todd Raphael June 11th, 2010

Jordan Greenberg’s average fee collected in 2009 was down 53% from 2008. He had had a good life, home, and education for his kids — but things sure turned awful, he told the Fordyce Forum today. He made sure things wouldn’t stay that way. In short, here’s what he did:

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Friend or Follow

by Todd Raphael June 10th, 2010

One of Shannon Myers‘ favorite tools is one you’re also likely to find valuable in your recruiting and contact management. Myers, speaking at the Fordyce Forum in Las Vegas, suggests you take a look at “Friend or Follow.”

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Some Websites to Use in Getting Publicity

by Todd Raphael June 10th, 2010

Recruiter Carolyn Thompson has been quoted by major news organizations like CNN and the Wall Street Journal. Thompson gave Fordyce Forum attendees today in Las Vegas some of the useful resources for other recruiters looking to get their expertise in the news.

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Jen Lambert: Bring Clients the Good Stuff

by Todd Raphael June 10th, 2010

Jenifer Lambert says she knows what recruiting firms’ clients want, and has even boiled those wants down to something so short it could fit on a Twitter tweet, as follows: Good news! Your clients want to pay you. They would be happy to pay you, but they have expectations that you must not violate. Lambert, speaking at [...]

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Know Your Competitive Advantage

by Todd Raphael June 9th, 2010

Do you and your firm have a competitive advantage? Have you defined it? Sanford Rose Associates’ Tim Tolan, speaking at the Fordyce Forum today in Las Vegas, says his competitive advantage is defined as follows: Our competitive advantage is our ability to assess executive talent and match a candidate’s skills based on our client’s requirement. We do this by [...]

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Jon Bartos’ Tips to Recruiting Success

by Todd Raphael June 9th, 2010

On a 99-degree day in Vegas, Jon Bartos told Fordyce Forum attendees some of what’s made him a recruiting success. Attitude matters. “There’s no time for loser recruiters,” he said, smiling (as he played the Queen song “We Are the Champions”). Practice the “golden rule.” Bartos’ gold-plated guideline is to never let an offer go out that could [...]

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industry news

Joe Cummings on the Economy, Facebook, and Streamlining the Hiring Process

by Todd Raphael April 7th, 2010

A short conversation with Joe Cummings, CEO of the Los Angeles recruiting firm Royal Staffing, who found that the economy had an unexpected effect on his company.

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Rethinking Your Worst Clients

by Todd Raphael February 17th, 2010
tags:

Some clients are written off as unbearably difficult to deal with. But in the video below, Alan Fluhrer, who specializes in energy, engineering, finance, and technology recruiting, says that sometimes there’s more to an annoying client than meets the eye.

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industry news

Hiring, But Not Full Throttle

by Todd Raphael February 8th, 2010

Tech companies are hiring, but not “full throttle,” according to a Boyden’s rundown of various industries and their executive hiring plans around the world. Financial services firms are “cautiously optimistic.” Demand for execs in life sciences is increasing. Retail companies are looking for people who can integrate online and offline sales. Energy companies worldwide are searching [...]

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industry news

Pharma, Manufacturing Leading the Way Globally

by Todd Raphael February 1st, 2010

Pharma’s the hottest industry worldwide, according to a Feb. 1 survey from Antal, in partnership with SearchPath International. What’s Hot In order, these sectors have the the highest levels of recruitment at the professional and managerial level 1) Pharmaceuticals; 2) Manufacturing; 3) Engineering; 4) IT software; and 5) [...]

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industry news

Companies Are Willing to Rehire Laid-off Candidates

by Todd Raphael November 24th, 2009
tags:

Good news for laid-off employees comes today from Right Management, which finds that only 10% of employers say they don’t rehire past employees. It also found that 18% of laid-off workers are rehired by their former employer. Employers cited the following as their top reason for the rehires: 37% – Familiarity with the job 33% – Understanding [...]

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industry news

Korn/Ferry Up

by Todd Raphael September 9th, 2009

Good to see some not-too-bad news: Korn/Ferry is up pretty sharply (8%) as the market opens. The company says: -Things are stabilizing but the future economy and labor markets are up in the air -Executive searches opened are down 30% (1,352 vs. 1,920) -Average fee per engagement is down 16% More details here.

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From Korn/Ferry’s Senior Management

by Todd Raphael August 5th, 2009

Some short notes from a conversation I just had with Robert Damon, president, North America, for Korn/Ferry: “Things are better today than they were yesterday,” Damon says. The strongest area: Mid-market companies, in all industries, bringing in about $50 million to $2 billion. That’s because, he says, they lack bench strength, are lean, and have held [...]

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Salary Offers They Can’t Refuse

by Todd Raphael July 8th, 2009

How much money, above what an employee’s currently making, does it take to get them to switch jobs? It depends, of course. (And of course, it’s not all about money.) But as part of its 2009 Employee Job Satisfaction report, SHRM (the big association of HR people) asked employees what percentage salary increase would motivate them to [...]

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industry news

What a Time to Start a Business

by Todd Raphael April 16th, 2009

Even in the uber-cyclical recruiting business, where search firms like Heidrick & Struggles are taking their names literally, there’s no time like the present, apparently. That is the case at least for Jeff Perkins. He had been managing the corporate recruiting team at Invista, a subsidiary of Koch. His team went from 13 people to five. [...]

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Lean Staffing

by Todd Raphael August 6th, 2008

A Minnesota recruiting company is slimming down and is reportedly more productive. Its PR person Erin Wombacher tells me she lost 10 pounds in three months and her energy level is up.

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Kelly Flop

by Todd Raphael July 22nd, 2008

Some highlights (mainly lowlights, actually) from Kelly Services’ CEO Carl Camden today; thanks to Seeking Alpha for help. Kelly’s earnings were lower than expected. “The second quarter was a rough one. Analyst’s reports and media have well documented the economic challenges faced by our industry and the global economy. Overall demand for labor in the U.S., [...]

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8 Ways to Control the Hiring Process

by Todd Raphael July 21st, 2008

Get these eight ducks in a row — or miss out on a placement.

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Speaking in Vegas

by Todd Raphael July 21st, 2008

We’re starting to think about speakers for next year’s Fordyce Forum (even though June 10-12, 2009 seems awfully futuristic). Let me know if you are interested in proposing a presentation, or if you know of someone who’d be great. We’re headed back to Las Vegas — hotel to be determined. The emphasis is still on [...]

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Insurance on Candidates

by Todd Raphael July 17th, 2008

I noticed this company ExecuSure today, which acts as sort of insurance policy for recruiting. As I understand it, if a recruiter places a candidate and that candidate quits after 2-3 months, ExecuSure refunds the employer the recruiting fee. The company says that this is “the first 12-month, money-back guarantee ever offered on recruitment fees [...]

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What People Are Searching for on Google

by Todd Raphael July 11th, 2008

Cool stuff — you can see how many people are searching Google for various jobs.

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Video’s Going Up From the Fordyce Forum …

by Todd Raphael June 8th, 2008

… check it out on the Forum site.

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Recruiter 1, Wells Fargo 0

by Todd Raphael June 6th, 2008

An anti-recruiting motion is denied.

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The Fordyce Forum and the Fordyce Letter

by Todd Raphael June 5th, 2008

If you’re here in Vegas, hope you’re having a good time and are getting useful information. I’m bouncing back and forth between Frank’s presentation and Michael’s presentation at the moment. If you’re here at the Flamingo and you’d like to get more involved in Fordyce … whether it be writing for the Letter, speaking next year, [...]

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