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Four years ago today, I was up early, on the Metro and headed to The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, DC at 22nd and M Streets. Suit, overcoat, heels, gold nametag. I was going to be a doorman for the day: Inauguration Day. At The Ritz-Carlton, it's something called lateral service. You help out others whe

It's that time of the year--THE busiest time for job searching. If you're a job seeker, this is your Super Bowl, your Miss America, your World Cup. And just in time for your big, mecca moment, NPR and Twitter have pulled together a team of experts (including me!) to help you with your search. In add

It's been a big year for me. Got engaged. Revamped my business plan. Pivoted the business. Got married. Took three weeks off for the first time in 10 years. It's this kind of year where you realize who people really are. Really.  I tried to ask for  help.  Sometimes it worked. More often, it didn't.

I'm pretty sick of the work-life balance argument. It's not one or the other. Or sublime balance all the time. It's flexibility how and when you want it, understanding that working less may mean earning less. But it's your choice. Read my latest Forbes post "Forget Work-Life Balance: Give Us Choices

A recruiter’s job description can be narrowed down pretty simply: find the very best talent.  And that’s what we all aim to do. We experiment with different search tools, search strings and partners day in and day out. And while technologies have changed, our methods really haven’t. We want that per

...Without Delivery. That's the proposition I make in my  latest Forbes blog.  Think the hurricane hit people hard? Try the brand promises that were made, and not delivered upon by brands like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase.  I'm passionate about the role employees play in brand delivery and tim

We know why we need an employer brand and what a good, solid brand does for our business. But what makes a great employer brand? You know, how do you get one? We all want the press Zappos gets. Or to be awarded like the Container Store or SAS has been. So we try to mimic them, but that's the wrong a

QUIPS = QUIck Problem Solving*. Quick ways to begin to address and solve common talent challenges when resources to tackle the challenge holistically or over time aren't an option. Here is QUIPS #3: What Your Employer Brand is Desperately Missing. You know your organization. You know the politics, t

When Jamey Jeff and Scott Rothrock first reached out to get my feedback on their start-up, RemarkableHire, I was intrigued. After all, as a recruiter, talent acquisition leader and now consultant, I've lived and managed the same woes that drove Jamey and Scott to found the company--measuring talent

Another day, another jobs report.  That's what it may feel like.  In talent acquisition, we spend so much time thinking about  jobs to fill and plans for our own organizations, that we don't often pay much attention to the larger picture. Sure, we listen to the jobs reports, we grimace when the numb

Yesterday I joined the fantastic Sarah White, a technology and recruiting thought leader, and James Thomas and Matt Charney from industry leader Talent Technology for a webinar on talent acquisition trends. We spent time reviewing Talent Technology's latest survey results and dissecting the talent s

exaqueo recently introduced QUIPS: QUIck Problem Solving. These are quick ways to begin to address and solve common talent challenges.  You may not have the resources to hire a consultant or tackle the challenge holistically. But you can take some steps on your own. In our first QUIPS we talked abou

Experiential marketing has successfully been used by brands over the past few years to connect with consumers to drive sales and profit. Appealing to a variety of senses, the goal of experiential marketing is to establish the connection in such a way that the consumer responds to a product offering

As a talent strategy consultant and career coach, I tell clients all the time: "I get the other side of the equation."  Companies like that I am coaching job seekers, and job seekers like that I consult with talent acquisition teams at companies. Having a foot in both worlds means I don't forget wha

As the London Olympics continue on, we're glued to our televisions, mesmerized by feats of power, athleticism and raw skill.  In particular, watching gymnastics always results in shock and awe: "did a fifteen-year old really do that?" Yesterday, the women competed in the individual vault event and A

Companies worry about many things--including the lack of leaders and leadership skills. 'Bring on the leadership development training' they cry! Or so said this Wall Street Journal article from 2012. But it's not that the talent isn't there. Or that the talent is there but needs help bridging the ga

Speaking and consulting with HR professionals, I often hear how hard it is to take best practices and actually implement them. The grand solutions shared at conferences and in whitepapers often come from companies with big staffs, big budgets and a supportive and forward-thinking HR team.  What if t

Where's social recruiting really  headed? Bullhorn Reach asked 20 recruiting thought leaders for their thoughts on the future of social recruiting. Here's mine: “Marketers use social media to get instant feedback, engage with customers, and extend a brand in one click. The future of social recruitin

I've been investigating for some time now, the importance of credentials in hiring. Earlier this week over on HRExaminer, I wrote about how the conventional wisdom of hiring says to look at credentials, but that perspective is wrong. Everyone's wowed by the resume of the new grad with the Harvard de

When I was getting my MBA at Vanderbilt, a classmate applied for a marketing job at Gap, Inc. He didn't hear back so he sought out a connection through a friend--someone who help a senior marketing position there. Her reply? "So sorry, I can't help. We don't recruit at Vanderbilt. It's not a top ten

Continuing our live coverage from #RecruitDC, where we just finished listening to John Vlastelica's keynote on Recruiting Leadership. As he put it--it's not about the leaders at the top of the recruiting pyramid--it's about the role we each play as a recruiter in our organization. How do we stand ou

Today @SourcerKelly, @clearedjobsnet and I (@SusanStrayer) will be tweeting live from #RecruitDC here at my second alma mater, The George Washington University. The agenda rocks--great proof that DC is home to both a terrible Congress AND fab recruiters. If you're here today, expect cameos from @CAC

I guestblogged on over at Blogging4Jobs and wanted to share the post with you. So much of the time we talk about employer brand and what's important to the HR professional. But what about the job seeker? Should they care? And if so, what should they seek to know? Check out the post.

When companies think employer brand, they’re thinking big picture. They start by trying to get a sense of their reputation in the marketplace. What do job seekers think about their employment opportunities and the employment experience? Most employers look for a story to create (and hint, it’s usual