Lately, I’ve been getting emails from candidates telling me how much they hate their current jobs. Saying that they work at a “glorified design shop” or an agency where they don’t have “a lot of creative freedom”. While I feel their pain of not having their dream job, I don’t think these individuals realize what kind of freedom they are going to have if they start slacking in their current role in a mass effort to find something else. I wonder how choosing from a vast variety of Top Ramen flavors and their pick of either Montel or Springer will…

Yes, it’s tough out there right now. Lately when I’m recruiting for my open positions I’ve been speaking to more and more candidates who are currently between jobs. It seems these folks fall into either one of two categories: bitter or positive about the future. I realize it can be hard to keep a positive outlook on things when you’ve just recently been let go unexpectedly. I understand that there’s nothing you personally could have done to save your position from being eliminated and you’re stressed and concerned about what the future holds for you. Call me crazy, but I…

Yea, you read that correctly, I’m a little peeved off. I love my candidates. I like representing you and making you look even better than you really may be and I enjoy going to bat for you to negotiate a killer salary.

You see, I’ve been in this recruiting game for a long time now. I have a set of rules that I play by and I lay out my expectations from that very first phone call. I expect open communication and I expect honesty. That’s it. I don’t get a fee from my candidates and I don’t ask for…

Ah, the holiday season. For many, it’s an exciting time around the office with all the holiday party planning and talk of traveling to see the family. But, for those of us in recruiting it can be a very frustrating time of year. Of course Talent Zoo’s holiday party rocks and we recruiters do have a soul and also enjoy visiting our families; these aren’t the things that make it a frustrating time of year for us.

Quite simply, it’s our clients.

Those of you who have experience job hunting during this time of year know what I’m talking about:…

I’m currently on the hunt for candidates for a prestigious mid-sized shop. This agency’s clients are huge brands and the shop has a golden reputation. Great clients and a solid rep = candidates beating down their door right? Not exactly. Their office is located in a city in the heartland of American (read: wide open spaces with lots of corn). And unfortunately it is challenging to get people excited about relocating to their neck of the woods. (But hey, that’s why they’re working with me.) 

My suggestion to you, the job seeker, is to approach each new opportunity that knocks…

Generally, candidates come to me for one thing. That thing is a job. Now, as I’ve mentioned before, my paycheck comes from the agencies in that they give us positions and we fill them with qualified talent. So on a side note, don’t call me up and tell me what I can do for you and how you expect me to go about my job. In this case, you probably don’t have one – a job that is - so you’re not really the sensei on the matter now are you? However, should you be an active or passive candidate…

Just a few short years ago, Facebook was a little-known networking site making its debut on the college scene. It gave undergrads the opportunity to post pictures of their favorite beer bonging moments, e-stalk their crushes and join highly important, imaginary groups like “People who love Napoleon Dynamite and have pretty sweet cage fighting skills.” I know this because I was a card-carrying member and officer of one such group.

Well my friends, I hate to admit it, but things have changed. Facebook is no longer just a place for collegians to display pictures of their drunken frat party activities…

Role play here with me for a minute. Let’s pretend that I’m your doctor. You called me and said you have a sore throat and a fever. Naturally, I schedule you to come in at my first possible opening – lets pretend it’s sometime on Friday. Well, I would imagine you’d be surprised if I called you on Friday, two hours before your aforementioned appointment and said I had to reschedule because I have a more important appointment. But, you think, ok fine. You reschedule for my next open appointment on Monday. So on Monday you’re practically bleeding from the…

So the Democratic National convention kicked off this week in Denver. The first day alone was very eventful when it came to the press surrounding the conference. With the lovely speech that Michelle Obama did and her two little girls joining her on stage to say hello to their father via satellite. Followed by the speech from Vice President Candidate Sen. Joe Biden. Nothing compares to the flooding of the Fox News skybox at the Pepsi Center. I’m telling you this was planned by some rookie out to prove a point. But it didn’t stop there! Outside the DNC there…

I do it every year. I wait and wait for that one glorious Sunday night. Some years I’ll invite some friends over and make swanky pink cocktails, and other years I’ll opt to snuggle up in my jammies and pop some popcorn. Either way, I count down the minutes until…you guessed it…the Academy Awards (you can sub in the MTV Video Awards or the Soapies…whatever floats your boat)! I watch in wonderment as people like Brad, Angelina, Meryl and the occasional Pauly Shore walk down the red carpet, wave at their adoring fans and try not to squint when 8,000…