Small talk is polite conversation about insignificant and non controversial matters. When you ask people how they feel about small talk, their reaction is almost universally one of reluctant tolerance.  It’s a necessary evil, used in generally large events, either social or professional, where we all experience different levels of discomfort, when we would rather be hanging out with our friends. It is listed…

And are a total pain! I would consider myself to be a strategic online networker. I do connect with people I don’t know if their credentials look sound. Although many LinkedIn members have devised detailed ways to quiz people on their reason for connecting, I don’t have time to decide if the owner has a fake LinkedIn profile. I have preferred…

Around this time of the year I am frequently called by parents expressing concern about their offspring, particularly those about to graduate, or who maybe left university last year and are struggling to find a path.  I always enjoy working with this age group, but after extensive experience have added a new question to my intake…

Relationship building has always been a key part of any recruitment process. But today technology has shifted the focus as the process becomes increasingly social. Organisations who don’t keep up with the pace and direction of  these social recruitment changes are going to get left behind in their search for top talent. CV Black hole Despite high levels of unemployment recruiters and…

LinkedIn is not Facebook… right?  But when I look at the two platforms what I see is a blur of blue, off white and similar functionality. As a head hunter LinkedIn has become part of my daily routine. I use it in every operational and many strategic elements of my businesses. I value the content of trusted contacts and “influencers” and use…

Abuse has no place in any environment, but especially a professional one. This includes physical violence against individuals or property, or even feigned or threatened violence. Nor should there be any verbal abuse, yelling, swearing or humiliation of any kind related to race, appearance, nationality and anything else you can think of, that would make someone feel demeaned. Add to that “no…

There has been lot of conflicting information out there linking sex and housework for a long time. Jumping rather than leaning into it, we have Sheryl Sandberg CEO of Facebook in the New York Times, who has just resurrected the concept of choreplay. That is, men should be enticed to engage in household chores as part of a woman’s gender balance strategy. Why? Because it will improve their…

It’s the season for job fairs. These are mechanisms for companies and candidates to screen each other and for both sides to get a feel for the market. They are an interesting combination of informational interview, actual interviews and networking. The skill is identifying which is which and applying the correct strategy. Today, there is discussion about how useful they are…

At a dinner party last week I was asked by a yummy mummy, what field should she encourage her daughter to go into and what academic choices would I advise she make? The kid is 8.  Now my first instinctive reaction was that this was more than a little over the top. I wondered if I had encountered a good dose of PMS (Pushy Mother Syndrome)…

Never let schooling get in the way of your education – Mark Twain Hard and technical skills we are told become outdated as fast as we obtain them, making a commitment to lifelong learning even more important than ever. Content learned in the first year of an engineering degree is said to be out of date before the end…