Welcome to the weekly Q&A!
This is what Ask The Headhunter is all about! Real questions submitted by real job seekers (and employers) about real, daunting problems and challenges they face, answered by Ask The Headhunter host Nick Corcodilos. Don’t miss each column’s Comments section, where the entire ATH community piles on for lively debate and to share insights, stories and advice that’s often better than Nick’s! Got a Q? Submit it to Nick!
Next best thing to hiring a bulldog employment lawyer
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…
How do I explain leaving a lousy employer?
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…
Candidate wants equity stake as part of job offer
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…
If you really want me, PAY me!
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…
WhatsApp with this job applicant?
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…
One week on the job & I got a $20,000 salary cut
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…
Want real job leads? Get past the gatekeeper
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…
Good old boy network controls the jobs here
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…
I was passed over for a management job
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…
Just more meatware in the job market?
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…
Flip a coin, be a good mentor
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…
Serious recruiting doesn’t use HR prosthetics like A.I.
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…
Want a personal referral & job lifeline? “No, I’ll tread water!”
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…
Is an exit interview worth $25? Or is it a cockroach?
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…
The hub of relationships: recruiters, companies & job applicants
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…
What’s better for career success? A professional or liberal arts education?
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…
Recruiting Scam from corco.headhunting.recruiting.inc@gmail.com
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS SCAM? Did you receive a scam recruiting e-mail from: corco.headhunting.recruiting.inc@gmail.com that’s signed: Best regards, Nick CORCODILOS Executive Independent | Job Search Placement Specialist | Executive…
LinkedIn’s hiring numbers don’t add up & job seekers pay the price (old newspaper want ads did better)
SPECIAL EDITION For decades Americans have been told that online job boards are the engines of modern hiring. LinkedIn, Indeed, CareerBuilder, ZipRecruiter — the whole digital carnival — all insist…
LinkedIn: “This dog don’t hunt”
We talk a lot here about how the Employment System is broken. We talk about how Human Resources isn’t actually looking for resources, and how the “Apply” button on LinkedIn…
Laid off again: How to break the cycle
Question I was laid off again. I know it’s not just me. Many tech pros are posting on sites like Reddit, Quora and Stack Exchange about being laid off two,…
Ask The Headhunter: The Short Course
All year long I take your questions. At the year’s end it’s good to summarize — so here’s the “Short Course” on landing a job! (For more, please read The…
A hiring manager owes you more than rejection
Question I just got rejected at the end of a job interview. I don’t know what hit me harder, that the manager made a decision on the spot or that…
Geniuses that sing don’t need a resume
Question Despite all the online job application tools, most employers still want my resume. (Though I’m not sure they read the applications or the resumes!) You’ve written a lot about…
Much Smarter Hiring: Rules managers keep forgetting
Question How about some smart tips for the hiring managers out here? I have a Ph.D. in Physics but there doesn’t seem to be a calculation for selecting the best…