Recruiting Perspective

Robots are going to take your job, but not your opportunity. For decades we have heard talk of robots taking our jobs, but we are getting a lot closer now.  By all accounts, AI is making big strides and everything from manufacturing to brain surgery is going to be handled by robots at some point.  Some say that by 2060 we are all out of a job. This is, of course, extremely short sighted.  We’ve lost jobs to robots and automation little by little over time.  The manufacturing technician is out of a job……unless he or she can program PLCs.  The grocery checker is out of a job……unless he or she can provide good customer service and punch in the code for mangos when needed or check your ID for alcohol purchases.  Umpires may not be calling balls and strikes soon, but they will be on the field to make the calls that can’t be automated and interpret the rules in tricky situations. The story isn’t changing.  You can’t stay still.  You have to evolve and improve your skills, but th

The Objective section of a resume is typically the most fluffed up and useless thing in the resume.  Rarely do you see this section saying anything worth reading.  Candidates struggle with what to put there and how to say it, resulting in a couple sentences of nonsense. Much more effective is a Key Skills section in replacement.  Right at the top of the resume.  Too often the first question from a hiring manager is something along the lines of….. Is this guy licensed? Does he have XYZ software? Does she have experience doing ABC? Nobody wants to read resumes and dig for important information.  Key Skills in bullet points as the first thing you see will make sure that the important things are seen.  If you’re a fit and it’s the right role for you, you don’t want to hide it by writing about how you want to put a dent in the universe.  Save that for the interview. todd@toddkmiec.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec/

Overall hiring strategy is a momentum game.  Slow hiring, lack of hiring, and reluctance to move forward and hire to improve the team will kill momentum and leave the business stagnant. One really good hire makes an impact and gets the ball rolling.  A strategy to make a number of key hires over a specific period of time is better and will pick up momentum as you move forward.  The key is to make the first hire strong and one that impacts the bottom line. todd@toddkmiec.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec/

Last week we had a strong jobs report.  261,000 new jobs is not a great number, but it’s a pretty good number.  Considering the fact that this included significant disruption from multiple hurricanes, the number is impressive.  This brings us down to 4.1% unemployment.  The lowest number since 2000. Yes, we still have a good number of non-participants in the population, not looking for a job, and a good number of underemployed.  Regardless, the raw number is still really good and shouldn’t be ignored.  The stock market is reaching new highs indicating that we are seeing some signs of real growth.  With employment numbers like this there is solid reason to believe that we are finally headed for real growth, not just cost cutting to make operations lean and squeeze out profits.  It has now been over 10 years since we saw real growth.  It’s no coincidence that we are now seeing strong construction across the board and that we have not seen strong construction like this in over 10 yea

Sometimes it’s tough to pull the trigger.  This candidate fits, well enough, but we’re not excited about them.  Maybe we can find better. That’s fine, and a good reason not to pull the trigger.  Just make sure that you are aware of the risk.  If you look for someone better, a candidate that wows you, you may lose this one.  Every situation is different, but if the risk of losing this candidate is something you can deal with then you probably don’t want them at all. todd@toddkmiec.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddkmiec/