In the eight years since SkyWater Search Partners first opened our doors, we have partnered with law firms and corporate legal departments to match highly talented attorneys with exceptional career opportunities throughout the Twin Cities and Upper Midwest. In response to growing client demand, we recently made a strategic decision to expand our legal practice and bring in a leader with the experience and insights to oversee that growth.
This is a tale of two companies.
You could call it a cautionary tale. It’s about two companies that are Twin Cities clients of mine. (But the truth is, I’ve seen this story play out so many times this year that I think there’s a lesson here for all of us.)
In February, both of these organizations had much in common: both were (and still are) respected brands, run by highly competent, caring leaders. Both were on the cusp of launching executive searches to fill critical leadership roles.
If you encounter one of these frightful executive recruiters, don’t be tricked!
Are you ready for Halloween? At SkyWater we've fed our pet bats, dry cleaned our very best capes, and changed the sheets in our coffins. Just kidding. If you've worked with SkyWater before, you know we're not the vampires that some make recruiters out to be. But stories of truly terrible recruiters aren't always completely unwarranted. In celebration of Halloween, I thought I’d give you a peek at some of the most horrifying characters in my own profession, executive recruiting, in hopes that you can recognize the very best recruiters, and stick with the good guys.
3 Steps (and a Free Template You Can Use) to Save a Great Candidate
Have you ever been waist-deep in the hiring process with your dream hire, only to have them second guess the opportunity and decide to stay where they are?
Over the past several years, the concept of “Employee Engagement” – and the practice of using surveys to measure it – has attracted a lot of attention among managers and the HR leadership who support them. It’s also generated a great deal of confusion. What is employee engagement? Isn’t it just a new name for employee satisfaction? We keep surveying them but nothing ever changes… why bother?
You could be missing out on receiving exceptional applicants.
We see this often: You've posted an open position at your organization, but you feel as if you haven't been attracting the right candidates to apply. Maybe you've posted the position on sites that don't get the right kind of traffic. Maybe you're having trouble attracting traffic to your own company career page. Have you taken a second look at the job description itself?
In my last blog post, I talked about employee engagement and how some of the most successful organizations have been able to boost employee engagement, even during uncertain times of change. Your organization may be experiencing a healthy level of employee engagement, but you also may have a few bright stars who have begun to become disengaged. If that is the case, how do you recognize the signs, and what can be done?
Even when we do notice an employee beginning to disengage, we’re often tempted to bury our heads in the sand, hoping it’s just a bumpy phase that will smooth itself out.
A recent survey conducted by Gallup on employee engagement across the country shows that even as Americans' wellbeing has dropped to a 12-year low in the past month amid the coronavirus outbreak, the engagement of the working population has hit a new high. Despite new working conditions such as work from home or sparse office layouts designed to promote social distancing and slow the spread of the virus, companies are making it work. This begs the question: how is your employee engagement holding up? And if you're feeling like your business may be experiencing a rise in employee disengagement, what can you implement to turn this around?
Preparing Your Business for a Mid-Pandemic Return
Tips and Tales From Our Own Experience with Managing During Coronavirus
Whether you felt ready or not, here you go: you’re now the leader of a 100% remote team.
Even under normal circumstances, going totally remote is very different than managing a department in a shared workspace – even if you’re used to supervising occasional or part-time telecommuters.
