We’re all stalking each other all the time. Just as hiring managers check the social media accounts of potential hires before they extend an offer, those seeking jobs are quick to check out the online presence of a company under consideration. That’s why so many of the companies I work with at Norstrem Associates proactively market their worth as employers online. Here are [...]
“Tim, do you have a template I can use for cover letters?” I can’t tell you how often I have heard this question, and the answer is, not really — because I firmly believe cover letters should be original and authentic. Yes, there are common things. All cover letters should explicitly name the role you’re hoping to get, why you’re the right choice, and [...]
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel to make progress. But what about the freight train? Founded by 3 former SpaceX engineers, start-up company Parallel Systems’ goal is to do just that. By modernizing freight trains, they hope to transport more goods by rail (and less by highway trucks) to combat pollution levels. To do that, they’re essentially reinventing freight trains as autonomous, [...]
When Glossier laid off a third of its employees in January, a lot of companies took away a big lesson: Scaling is difficult. CEO Emily Weiss handled the layoffs by telling employees, “We got ahead of ourselves on hiring. Those missteps are on me.” This isn’t the first big layoff for the beauty brand. In 2020, the company shut down its retail stores [...]
After Peloton announced layoffs of 20% of its corporate workforce, a wise move would have been to make sure those folks didn’t have access to virtual meetings anymore. Sadly, as you’ve probably read in the news, this task was overlooked. When brand-new CEO Barry McCarthy and former CEO John Foley got on the screen for a virtual all-hands in February, many PO’ed current [...]
Neil deGrasse Tyson, the charismatic astrophysicist with a Twitter following of 14.5M people, wouldn’t have gotten where he is without Carl Sagan’s mentorship. Fun fact - Sagan tried to recruit Tyson to attend Cornell but since Tyson was an undefeated prep wrestling champ he selected Harvard in order to wrestle and pursue physics. Aristotle, even more legendary, owes a lot of his fame [...]
Do people like working at your company? Organizational culture is critical to HR success, and something a lot of companies struggle to define. But it’s one of the first things job seekers ask about. Especially in a time when they have a lot of choices, as a recruiter, I can attest: They’re choosy about their work environment — even if they’re working remotely. When [...]
“One of the most difficult challenges leaders of all organizations face is managing diverse perspectives.” I grabbed this from a recent Harvard Business Review piece. Frankly, it could have been written by just about any of the organizational leaders I work with these days. We all know that having people on a team with different viewpoints is healthy and lends itself to diversity [...]
Update on Great Resignation If you’re a leader, you’re probably as tired of hearing about this subject as can possibly be, but it’s true: The Great Resignation continues. In November, we reached another apex: 4.5M people quit their jobs that month. On the other hand, according to a Tweet by Heidi Shierholz president of the Economic Policy Institute. “4.5 million people quit, but [...]
According to ZipRecruiter, jobs listed as “remote” get 300% more applicants than those that aren’t. Some say “the idea of a full return is dead.” And according to Ladders, the number of permanent remote positions doubled in 2021. I certainly hear this sentiment from certain clients as well. But while it might be true as a general statement across all industries and types [...]