Ask The Headhunter Q&A

Question I’ve had two successful careers. I was a graphic designer until age 38. Then I turned the business into a media-buying ad agency and built a $137 million, 55-person…

Question You’ll call me a Gen-# whiner so I won’t tell you what Gen I am! Why is looking for a new job so hard? Maybe the economy isn’t so…

Question At last!! A recruiter calls out naïve job applicants who should go back to school to learn how to be more professional! Imagine an applicant walking in to interview…

Question Getting a job today is all about how to work effectively with the job boards, the ATSes, the algorithms and the A.I. Except when it’s about how to beat…

Question Do you want insightful perspectives on your job search? Nick’s Reply This is where I answer my own question! Of course you want meaningful job hunting ideas and perspectives!…

Question I’ve made hundreds of job applications. My wife accuses me of being depressed and full of pessimism because my 5-month-long job search has yielded nothing but frustration. I don’t…

Question I just caught up with one of your recent articles, Is an exit interview worth $25? Or is it a cockroach? I couldn’t agree more. I think I’d rather…

Question Bloomberg just published an article about a problem I’m having interviewing and selecting job candidates: Job Hunters Are Using AI to Cheat in Interviews, and Failing at the Office….

Question My employer of nine years is getting ready to fire me for ginned-up reasons because the new manager doesn’t like me. They’re going to give me a PIP (Performance…

Question My company’s culture is laden with distrust. There’s no teamwork, but more backstabbing than you would believe. The behavior of the top performers is reprehensible. In other companies, some…

Question After years of frustration with corporate America and the way professional services firms generally treat their clients, I decided to launch out on my own. I have had some…

Question I am a Product Manager at a small company with dream of going IPO. My compensation consists of base salary, bonus, and stock options, all of which is pretty…

Question Hello Nick, I have been reading your e-mails for many years and have learned a lot. It seems you always have such great advice. I wanted to get your…

Question I applied for a technical job, but HR told me the company was impressed with my resume and wanted to interview me for the manager role instead. After interviews…

Question I’ve really enjoyed your Q&A columns since you used to write for Electronic Engineering Times. Your advice to bypass the job boards and algorithms is absolutely correct. I’ve always…

Question Friday I was laid off from my employer of seven years. They unexpectedly filed for chapter 11 liquidation. I live in a small city and would prefer not to…

Question The Engineering Director quit, and my manager was promoted to Director. I was promised that there would be room for promotion when I was hired, however someone else in…

Question Employers claim they want the very best people. So why do they demand I conform like everyone else to their algorithms and keywords? Every LinkedIn expert and keyword resume…

Question My company introduced a training program so managers and senior staff can learn how to mentor employees, new hires and so on. They brought in a consultant to teach…

Question People looking for jobs complain they keep getting rejected. I’ll tell you why: they’re applying for the wrong jobs. We face this every day. We keep rejecting one candidate…

Question This week I’m going to answer my own question. Why would anyone waste a valuable personal referral? – Nick Nick’s Reply It happened again today: another friend in need…

Question Our company requires departing employees, whether they quit or got laid off or fired, to do an exit interview if they want to remain “in good standing” with the…

Question What is the relationship nowadays between recruiters, companies and applicants? Nick’s Reply Typically, it’s skimpy at best. The typical relationship is a database. A friend of mine is an…

Question I need you to settle an argument. Overall, what’s going to serve a person better: a career-focused professional degree, or a liberal arts education? My buddy the software engineer…