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Is Talent Strategy Boring?
May 8, 2013By Randy Samsel
Yesterday I had lunch with a successful HR consultant who has worked both sides of the fence – he has also been a successful VP of HR. In his recent consulting work he has served as part-time CHRO for mid-sized companies, coached HR managers on a variety of HR and talent issues and led projects for major HR initiatives, including acquisition integrations.
During our lunch, ... [more]
Improving Quality of Hire
May 6, 2013By Randy Samsel
This past Friday was the annual SMA Spring Conference put on by the Staffing Management Association, part of the Cleveland SHRM. As always, the day was well attended and entertaining. The speakers were exceptional. My favorite was Joe Murphy from Shaker Consulting who gave a presentation on quality of hire. His contention is that, while cost of hire is a common measurement of recr... [more]
Learning Career Tips from LEAN
May 6, 2013By Randy Samsel
This past Friday was the annual SMA Spring Conference put on by the Staffing Management Association, part of the Cleveland SHRM. As always, the day was well attended and entertaining. The speakers were exceptional. The opening speaker was Eric Knauf who leads Global Talent Acquisition for Ariba. Eric’s presentation was about how to bring about meaningful and [positive ... [more]
What is Executive Coaching
April 30, 2013
Last week I asked Regina Olbinsky, a professional Executive Coach, to provide some insights on the benefits of executive coaching. Here is the first part of her guest blog reports on the field of executive coaching. Please stay tuned for future installments – it gets better and better as she starts telling us of successes she has had, and the impact her coaching has on individual careers a... [more]
Hidden Costs of Poor Talent Strategy Alignment
April 29, 2013By Randy Samsel
Last week I met the chief business development officer for a highly successful consulting firm. He works for a firm with a backlog of work that would be envied by most. We shared a great deal with each other about our respective businesses including our value propositions, successes and opportunities. As often happens in these meetings, the more we became familiar with each other ... [more]
Networking Tool Borrowed from a Professional Salesman
April 29, 2013By Randy Samsel
Last week I met the chief business development officer for a highly successful consulting firm. He works for a firm with a backlog of work that would be envied by most. We shared a great deal with each other about our respective businesses including our value propositions, successes and opportunities. As often happens in these meetings, the more we became familiar with each other ... [more]
By Randy Samsel
Last week I was invited to address a local chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants on student night. In attendance was a mix of experienced accounting professionals and accounting students from a local university. My presentation was about High Potential Employees (HPE’s), and more specifically about what executives look for in HPE’s.
The five areas I cover... [more]
By Randy Samsel
Last week I was invited to address a local chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants on student night. In attendance was a mix of experienced accounting professionals and accounting students from a local university. My presentation was about High Potential Employees (HPE’s), and more specifically about what executives look for in HPE’s.
The five areas I cover... [more]
Financial Talent Survey
April 17, 2013By Randy Samsel
In conjunction with the local Chapter of the Financial Executives International (FEI), we recently completed the 2013 Northeast Ohio Financial Talent Survey. We conducted the survey in order to determine local talent trends and to introduce and support our eSearch Talent Strategy Model.
According to a recent survey conducted by McKinsey & Co., companies with talent strategies... [more]
Guard Your Culture to Retain Talent
March 25, 2013By Randy Samsel
This past Friday I attended the Akron CPE day at the University of Akron. Thanks to KPMG and Smuckers Corporation for sponsoring. The first session was a discussion of accounting and financial issues by three local CFO’s and monitored by a Partner from KPMG. The group covered a wide range of topics including financial transformation and mergers and acquisitions.
Durin... [more]
Career Transformation and Evolution
March 25, 2013By Randy Samsel
This past Friday I attended the Akron CPE day at the University of Akron. Thanks to KPMG and Smuckers Corporation for sponsoring. The first session was a discussion of accounting and financial issues by three local CFO’s and monitored by a Partner from KPMG. The group covered a wide range of topics including financial transformation and mergers and acquisitions.
Durin... [more]
Hiring Lessons from the Vatican
March 18, 2013By Randy Samsel
On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI – or Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected the 265th pope in April 2005, succeeding John Paul II announced he would resign as of February 28th. Thirty days later, the Vatican announced the new Pope, Francis I. How did a Global organization with over a billion members “hire” a new leader in less time than most businesses take to ... [more]
Resignation Lessons from Pope Benedict
March 18, 2013By Randy Samsel
On February 11, 2013 Pope Benedict XVI – or Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected the 265th pope in April 2005, succeeding John Paul II, announced he would resign as of February 28th. Over the next 17 days, Pope Benedict:
Urged an end to religious hypocrisy and rivalry in the Catholic Church at a final mass in St Peter's Basilica.
Called for a “real renewal” in t... [more]
Retaining Your Top Talent
March 11, 2013By Randy Samsel
Most of us rely heavily on our star performers for our current success, and look to hire, develop and retain high potential employees to help us with future performance. Once we land these future stars, it is important to keep them, and keep them happy. According to an article by Robert J. Grossman, The Care and Feeding of High-Potential Employees, published in the HR Magazine, up... [more]
Developing Decision Making Skills
March 11, 2013By Randy Samsel
In many of our previous postings we have talked about leadership skills and how important they are to career advancement. One of the main attributes of leaders is decisiveness. Many of us, however, are not in roles that allow us to make many meaningful decisions. So how can we develop these skills? Here is an excerpt from an article by Judy Hojel from a July 10 article entitled ho... [more]
Recognizing and Dealing with CREEPERS
March 4, 2013By Randy Samsel
Recently Rick Coan, Senior Vice President, Finance at Jenne, Inc. shared a concept with me that served him well over the years. It deals with CREEPERS. Rick has found a way to add value, and build continuous improvement into his accounting department. Here are his comments:
It always amazes me about the leadership of accounting departments that are inward or departmentally focuse... [more]
Proactive Leadership Development
March 4, 2013By Randy Samsel
Part of our role as executive search consultants is to counsel candidates on career development. Often this entails critiquing resumes and offering advice on how to improve a candidate’s marketability. Sometimes there are easy or obvious editing opportunities. More frequently, though, our advice deals with opportunities for candidates to improve their marketability through e... [more]
Retaining Talent is Getting More Difficult
February 11, 2013By Randy Samsel
Saturday’s Plain Dealer Business section ran a reprint of a Washington Post article that described how highly skilled workers are increasingly willing to seek better opportunities outside their current employers. According to the article, many companies are already seeing an increase in voluntary resignations, and experts believe the trend will only increase in 2013.
Quotin... [more]
Know Your Career Goals, and Decision Making Gets Easy
February 4, 2013By Randy Samsel
This week I was reminded how important it is for individuals to have a career plan, know where they are on that plan and what steps to take to reach their career goals. Having that direction can give one confidence in making decisions with their career. Unfortunately, the opposite is true as well.
We have a great client who had an opening for an operational leader for one of thei... [more]
Basic Economics and Your Job Search
January 28, 2013By Randy Samsel
Conventional job search methods start only when you become an active job seeker rather than preparing and following a career plan. They also ignore two major influences that are fundamental economic principles: competition, and supply-and-demand!
Over the years I have talked with hundreds of people who inquire about positions we are filling for clients. Their comments tend to sou... [more]
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