Someone asked me this week if I’d ever been fired. Yes, I was fired from my first ‘big girl job’. Let’s get into it.

I started my career working for a small law firm right out of school, fresh off a paralegal program (I thought I wanted to be a lawyer, no...). There were seven partners - all men - each with their own secretary. My job was to handle projects for all of them, plus whatever else came up. I was the only paralegal in the firm, since they fired the other paralegal a week into my tenure.

One thing I noticed quickly was that the assignments I was given had no structure or ranking by importance. I had no idea what to work on first, so I worked on whatever I was given first, then went in order. Turns out that was wrong. Hindsight’s always 20/20, but I’ve re-replayed that job more times than I can count, trying to figure out what I could have done differently.

I was called into one of the partners’ offices. He wanted to visit with me. He asked me what I was working on, and I told him. Then he asked me about a project another attorney had asked me to work on. I said I was working on that one next. Then I asked, should I switch it? He then said, “This isn’t going to work out; we are going to have to let you go.” I was confused. What had I done or NOT done? It was also during this meeting that the attorney recommended that I find a good man and settle down and stay home and have children. (That’s a story for another day.)

This experience has shaped my career more than I want to admit. At my next job interview, the hiring manager knew an attorney at the firm, and he asked him about me. Then, in turn, the hiring manager asked me what happened at the firm. I told him I had no idea. I almost didn’t get my second job because of the first job.

In my next role, I knew I was being watched, so I worked hard and asked a lot of questions. I never set up personal items on my desk for fear I would have to pack them up. I witnessed the previous paralegal take all her stuff out to her car in a box, and I didn’t want to know that feeling. Every time a boss called me in, my stomach dropped. I would spend years living in fear of being fired again. It’s only recently that I can look back and see: it wasn’t me. It was them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I didn’t do everything right, and I’m not completely faultless.

Looking back, the red flags were there. No training, no onboarding, no real introduction to how the firm worked. I never knew who I actually reported to. I never got a job description. I found myself covering phones when the receptionist went to lunch. But I was so happy to have a job that I assumed I’d be taken care of. This was a well-known firm. Surely, they treated their employees well, right?

When looking for a new role, don’t get jaded by the illusion of the exciting opportunity. Make sure you interview them. Watch for red flags. Ask questions you need to know the answers to.

If you need help getting ready for an interview, let me know.

Share

Share

I talk to people all the time who want to change jobs. However, something has been coming up more and more recently, and I had another call this week. Let’s get into it.

I had a candidate who had heard me speak (I’m a speaker - can I speak to your team?!). She has been with her company for over 10 years. She has risen in the ranks there and has come to be the ‘right-hand’ of the leader of the organization. It’s a small organization - less than 20 people. She has been given responsibilities and roles way beyond her formal education. She has proven herself and has supported the business in ways she could never have imagined when she started.  

She’s well-connected and has a great network. She is the face of this organization - people know where and who she works for. As we talked, I realized she shouldn’t any trouble finding a new role. Our #1 tip - use your network and she has a strong one. Her real problem wasn’t finding a job, it was searching without her current employer finding out. 

According to a National Women’s Law Center jobs analysis of monthly data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a total of 165,000 women, aged 20 and over, left the labor force last month - meaning they are neither working nor looking for work, while men’s labor force participation was unchanged.

I’ve talked to women who felt they couldn’t take a new role, so they just stop working. I know that sounds extreme. We know a lot of women choose to stay home to care for family, and that’s real too. But I’ve talked to several women who found it was easier to “stay home” and quietly job search months later than to risk upsetting current leadership by discussing leaving an organization. They feel trapped and don’t know where to start.

Here are my tips for helping the person who feels stuck. (These tips apply to a man too, but I hardly ever have a man express how scared they are to leave an organization).

Get your ducks in a row: Get the resume and LinkedIn updated. 

Get your story straight. Know what you’ll say when you leave. This doesn’t have to be a lie, but work on what you are going to say, so it comes out seamless and harmless to all parties. 

Know how to translate your wins to someone else. Write down all your accomplishments so you can articulate them in an interview. Also, use them when updating your resume. 

Use your trusted network. Determine who you can tell about your job search, and be specific about what you are looking for. 

And a note to leaders: if you have someone on your team who has been there for over 5 years, ask them what you can do for them. Maybe it’s time to let them pursue other opportunities. Support their dreams. Don’t stifle them or make them feel like leaving is a betrayal to you and the organization. I know bringing in a new person will shift the dynamics of an organization, but your team may need that. Be the champion that helps your team get their next promotion or a new role. Become known for helping people grow - that’s what you want people saying about your organization, not the opposite.

I’d love to help you with your career goals - feel free to reach out.

Share

I feel back-to-school time is the start of the second half of the year. It feels like a new beginning to me. I love that feeling. I always buy a few school supplies...eh, office supplies, and then set some intentional goals for the remaining half of the year. It makes me feel productive. One of the goals I set is a reading goal (it’s 51, I’m at 48 - so it feels like I will make it!). Last week, a friend of mine was asking me what books I’ve enjoyed this year, so I thought I’d share my list with you. I love to read, and I have a long TBR list. Let’s get into it.

James by Percival Everett is a retelling of Mark Twain’s classic Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the enslaved man, Jim. When James learns he will be sold away from his wife and daughter, he flees. He teams up with Huck, who is also running away, on a powerful journey down the Mississippi River.

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë is a story about an orphan who is taken in by a family, who falls deeply in love with the daughter and spends his life punishing everyone after she marries another man. I couldn’t remember if I read this in high school, but I re-read it in anticipation of the movie that came out earlier this year. Spoiler alert: the book and the movie are not the same. I enjoyed the book, but also enjoyed the movie - I would not say they are the same.

Conform by Ariel Sullivan is a dystopian romance set in a future where human worth is strictly decided by genetic monitoring and class. Ok, this is not the kind of book I would read, but I really liked it and then read the follow-up Beneath by Ariel Sullivan, which is the prequel to Conform, and it’s set six years after a nuclear war where everyone lives in an underground world. More books are coming!

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I love TJR’s books and try to read all of them. This is a historical fiction book set in the 1980’s. It is about a female physics and astronomy professor who joins NASA’s first group of women astronaut candidates in the Space Shuttle program. It ripped my heart out in the best way.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans. This book is told entirely through letters and emails. It follows a 70-year-old retired lawyer who corresponds with family, friends, and strangers. This book made me miss writing letters to people.

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion by Beth Brower. This was my favorite series this year. It is a historical fiction series, set in 1883 Victorian London. It follows a witty 20-year-old named Emma who returns to her neighborhood of St. Crispian’s to claim her home, only to navigate eccentric relatives, financial mishaps, and a quirky found family. There are currently 8 books (not long) with more coming. This book series is addicting and so happy...joyful...not sure what the word is, but I loved them.

Have you read these? Let me know what you thought. Also, send me your favorite books you’ve read this year!

Subscribe now

There’s a trend making the rounds on social media right now: things that are worth it. I love this one. It’s a good exercise. It forces you to think about where you actually get your money’s worth.

So I did the exercise myself, from a recruiter’s lens. Here are five things I believe are genuinely worth paying for. Let’s get into it.

1. A recruiter for hard-to-fill positions.

You knew this was coming first, didn’t you?

When I started my career as an internal corporate recruiter, I hired third-party recruiters and, honestly, I didn’t love working with them. They made me feel like I wasn’t capable of doing my own job.

Then I became one.

What I realized is that internal recruiters are pulled in a dozen directions - department meetings, trainings, developing reports. A third-party recruiter has one job: find the person you’re looking for. They are dedicating focused, uninterrupted hours to your search in a way that is nearly impossible to replicate internally, especially for a hard-to-find role.

When the search is specialized, and the stakes are high, a recruiter is money well spent.

2. A career coach.

If you’re in the middle of a job search or preparing for interviews, especially if it’s been years since you’ve done either, working with a career coach is one of the most valuable investments you can make.

I’ve watched career coaching transform candidates. I’ve seen people who didn’t know how to talk about their own accomplishments learn to tell compelling stories about their successes. I’ve seen someone who had no idea how to start a job search walk out of a single brainstorming session with a clear plan. I’ve watched confidence build in real time.

The advice you get from a great career coach doesn’t expire. You’ll carry it into every interview, every negotiation, and every career transition for the rest of your professional life. You will not regret this one.

3. A professionally written resume and LinkedIn profile.

Pay someone to write your resume. Find a writer who understands your industry, let them do what they do well, and then make it your own as you grow. Your resume is important, it deserves more than a template and a spell check.

The same goes for your LinkedIn profile. Recruiters are looking at your LinkedIn profile before they ever see your resume. Make sure it represents the professional you are.

4. An interview outfit you feel genuinely good in.

Not everyone needs to wear a suit, but everyone needs to dress intentionally for the role they’re interviewing for. I know that’s not the most popular opinion in today’s casual, post-COVID work culture, but I stand by it.

Here’s why: when you’re wearing something that fits well and feels right, it’s one less thing competing for your mental energy on an already demanding day. Confidence is hard to manufacture under pressure. The right outfit won’t create it, but the wrong one can quietly undermine it. Invest in something that makes you feel like the version of yourself you want them to hire.

5. Professional development / continuing education

Always be learning. Be a student for life. I’m not saying get another degree (but if you want to, maybe your company will pay for it!), but invest in your own growth. You are the CEO of your career. Pick a course, workshop, or certification in your field OR in an up-and-coming hot skill. It will enhance your career - keep adding to it.

Tell me - what are the 5 things that you think are worth it?

Share

A day late this week, and I have a good reason: I spent the weekend helping move my daughter back to school for her sophomore year. I cannot believe we are already here.

Last year I wrote about how proud I was of her as she navigated Rush and made the leap away from home for the first time - you can read that one here. This year, the careful preparation that defined that first move? Largely absent. Let’s get into it.

I was so glad to have her home for the summer. She worked two part-time jobs, squeezed in a couple of trips, spent weekends at the lake, and managed to have a full, happy summer. She also had a big change on the horizon - no dorm this year. Between limited availability at school and her sorority opening the house to seniors, she and two friends found an apartment. An actual apartment.

The three of them planned the common spaces from afar, divided up who was responsible for what, and pulled it together beautifully on a budget. The living room looked great. The kitchen was organized. Her roommates had clearly done their homework.

Her room, however, was another story.

The move date shifted at the last minute - originally Saturday, then Sunday - which reshuffled our entire plan. Fine. We pivoted without drama.

Her belongings, on the other hand, had been packed with the kind of optimism that assumes everything will sort itself out. Clothes in bags. Random items in totes. No real system, no checklist, and several things she needed left sitting at home.

No problem, they have a Walmart.

The curtains she brought didn’t fit the windows because nobody measured them.

No problem, Amazon delivers.

As we worked through one workaround after another, I glanced into her roommates’ rooms. Both were already unpacked and settled. They had moved past the logistics and were simply living there. My daughter was still building the runway.

As the day went on, none of it bothered her. Not the last-minute schedule change, not the ill-fitting curtains, not the forgotten items. She has a quiet, unshakeable confidence that things will work out. And honestly, they always do. In a world full of people who spiral over small disruptions, her ability to stay calm and adapt is genuinely a gift.

But I’m her mom. I had a six-hour drive home ahead of me and a strong personal need to see her settled before I left. Those two things were in direct conflict with her general life philosophy.

What I know for certain: if I’m involved in the next move, we will be more organized. There will be a checklist. The windows will be measured. The boxes will be labeled.

She’ll probably be fine either way - and she’ll remind me of that the entire drive.

Share

Every week I find myself in conversations with hiring managers, candidates, coaching clients, and colleagues, where something comes out of my mouth that I think that’s worth writing down. This week I actually did. Let’s get into it

.

“They’re using you to compare to another candidate.”
Said in person, to a coaching client.

Someone reached out to my client about a role and moved remarkably fast - skipping a prescreen entirely and jumping straight to a C-suite interview with minimal notice and a job description as her only preparation. It felt off to me immediately.

Here’s what was likely happening: they already had a preferred candidate, the team wasn’t fully sold, and they needed someone to put next to that person for comparison. My client didn’t get the job.

What to do if this happens to you: push back. Ask for a preliminary conversation before committing to a final-round interview. I know it’s hard when you’re excited about an opportunity - my client was, but agreeing to their timeline without advocating for your own process puts you at a disadvantage before you’ve said a word.

“They have to convince you that you want to work there.”
Said in person, to a coaching client.

This client was interviewing for a role he thought he wanted, emphasis on thought. The company had done a poor job of answering basic questions about the role, the responsibilities, and the organization. He was going through the motions, assuming a better conversation was coming down the road where he’d finally get the information he needed to feel genuinely excited.

That conversation may never come. If a company can’t sell you on the opportunity during the interview process, that tells you something important about how they operate. The interview works both ways. Don’t forget to hold them accountable to their side of it.

“A lot of people were promoted because they were great workers - not because they were great managers.”
Said in person, to a client.

This is a tale as old as time. Someone excels in their role, gets promoted into management as a reward, and then finds themselves responsible for leading people without ever having been taught how. It’s not their fault. It’s a gap in how organizations develop talent.

I was visiting with a client this week who is looking for training solutions for exactly this situation - managers who are struggling not because they aren’t capable, but because no one ever taught them the fundamentals of leading people. Spoiler alert: we have a program for that. It’s called Leadership Lab, and it exists precisely for this moment.

A few things I said that were shorter. But mattered just as much:

“The CEO will be in town the first week of August - she wants to meet you.” - A text message to a candidate mid-search.

You don’t always need a call to keep someone engaged. Early in every search process, I ask candidates if it’s okay to text them updates. Most say yes. A quick, informative text once a week keeps the candidate in the loop, builds trust, and maintains momentum - especially when a process is running longer than expected. Don’t underestimate the value of a simple update.

“Here’s a link to my calendar - find a time that works for you.” - An email.

If you aren’t using a scheduling tool like Calendly, you are spending more time than you should coordinating meetings. Give people control over when they meet with you and eliminate the back and forth entirely. It’s a small thing that signals you respect their time as much as your own.

“I’ve moved you to BCC.” - An email.

When someone introduces me over email to a new contact, I move the introducer to BCC on my reply. It signals to them that I received the introduction and I’m handling it - without copying them on every exchange that follows. It’s a small habit that keeps inboxes clean and communication professional. If you aren’t doing this, start today.

“Is there anything I can do for you?”
Said in person, and always last.

This is how I close every meeting. Every single one. It signals that I’m not just there to get something - I’m there to give something too. And you would be surprised what comes up when you ask.

This week, when I said it, a client brought up a recruiting need they hadn’t mentioned the entire meeting. One sentence opened a conversation that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. How many opportunities are slipping by at the end of your meetings because nobody asked?

What things did you say this week? I’d love to hear.

Share

I had a client meeting earlier this week - a client we’ve been working with for over a year. Somehow, despite months of collaboration, I had never actually been to their office. We’d met over Zoom and at other locations, and my business partner had handled the in-person visits. She was out this week, so it fell to me.

What followed was an experience I couldn’t stop thinking about - and not for the right reasons. Stick with me, because I’m going to bring this back around. Let’s get into it.

The Address Was Nearly Impossible to Find

My GPS took me to what it believed was the correct building. No address on the exterior. No signage of any kind. I circled the building several times trying to confirm I was in the right place, only to eventually discover that the actual address was on the back side of the building - down an alley, facing a completely different street.

I found myself thinking: if I’m having this much trouble, how does a candidate find this place?

No One Was at the Front Desk

I walked in. Nobody at reception. Nobody nearby. I spotted a sign listing the department I was headed to with an arrow pointing downstairs, so I followed it. I descended the stairs and found myself in a long, empty hallway with no indication of where to go next. I wandered - genuinely wandered - until someone happened to walk by and noticed I looked lost.

The Person I Was Meeting With Wasn’t There Yet

After being escorted through two unmarked doors - which I never would have found on my own - I finally reached a receptionist who took my name and informed me that the person I was scheduled to meet with hadn’t arrived yet. For a brief, unsettling moment, I wondered if I had the wrong day or the wrong location entirely. She assured me I was in the right place and began making calls. The person arrived shortly after, apologized, and we got started. The meeting ended on time, and everything was fine.

But here’s the thing - it wasn’t fine, not really.

What This Looks Like Through a Candidate’s Eyes

I’m a vendor. I’ve worked with this client for over a year. I could shake off the confusion and the wait without it affecting me much.

A candidate cannot.

A candidate preparing for an interview has spent time researching your company, rehearsing their answers, and managing their nerves before they ever pull into your parking lot. They may have taken time off work. They may have driven an hour to get there. By the time they walk through your door, they’ve already invested significantly in this moment.

Now imagine they can’t find the building. They circle the block twice. They walk into an empty lobby with no one to greet them. They wander down a hallway wondering if they have the right place. And then they’re told the person they’re meeting with isn’t there yet.

What does that tell them about your organization? About your culture? About how you treat people?

Every one of those moments is a data point. Candidates are evaluating you from the second they pull into your parking lot - and first impressions are made long before the first question is asked.

The Fix Is Simple

None of this requires a major overhaul. It requires intention:

• Send candidates precise directions - not just an address, but landmark details, where to park, which entrance to use, and who to ask for.

• Have someone at the front desk, or at minimum a clear, welcoming sign that makes them feel expected.

• If the interviewer is running late, have a plan B. A colleague who can greet the candidate, offer water, and make them feel welcome costs nothing and changes everything.

• Communicate. A quick text or call saying “running five minutes behind, so glad you’re here” is the difference between a candidate who feels valued and one who is already questioning their decision.

The candidate experience doesn’t start when the interview begins. It starts the moment they try to find you. Make sure what they find reflects the organization you actually want to be.

If you’d like help auditing your interview process - from the logistics to the conversation itself - this is exactly the kind of work I do. A broken process is costing you candidates you don’t even know you’re losing. Let’s fix that before your next search begins. Reach out and let’s talk.

Last week was one of those weeks where everything felt urgent and nothing felt routine. I try to discuss things in my newsletter that happen during the week, and I had two solid newsletter ideas, but this one kept pulling at me because it reminded me of something I’d forgotten about this work. Being in the room is gold.

I found myself in a conference room I hadn’t sat in for years—actually listening to an interview instead of just debriefing afterwards. The role was senior-level, the kind where they fly you in and end the day with dinner at a restaurant that doesn’t list prices on the menu. I used to do this constantly when I started recruiting. Sitting there last week, taking notes while a CEO grilled a candidate about revenue streams, I remembered how much you can learn when you actually watch the process unfold.

Here’s what I observed that might save you in your next big interview:

The candidate came armed with ideas—not just answers, but actual ideas. This wasn’t a “tell me about your greatest weakness” conversation. The CEO wanted to know what this person could add to the bottom line, in dollars, and they wanted to hear it now. I watched the candidate’s face light up when they realized this wasn’t interrogation theater but an actual strategic discussion. The lesson? When you make it to the CEO level, come ready to talk business, not just experience.

They could translate their war stories. I’ve seen too many brilliant people fumble this part. You need to be able to take that time you turned around a failing product launch and connect it directly to what this CEO is dealing with right now. Don’t make them connect the dots—they won’t.

The dinner test is still very real. I know, I know, judging someone’s ability to manage a P&L based on whether they know which fork to use feels antiquated. But here we are. This candidate knew not to order the messiest thing on the menu and managed to ask thoughtful questions between courses. If you’re interviewing at this level, brush up on your etiquette or prepare to explain why you’re cutting your steak like you’re dissecting something in biology class.

Today’s CEOs want people who are curious enough to ask the hard questions, informed enough to have opinions, and strategic enough to solve problems they haven’t even identified yet. The bar is high, but so is the upside.

Share

If you have a big interview coming up—especially at the senior level—and want to talk through your approach, I’m here to help. I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t from both sides of the table. Sometimes a quick conversation can make all the difference in how you show up.

Beth has been helping organizations find top talent for over 20 years. If you need recruiting support that actually moves the needle, reach out for a consultation call.

Share

I had coffee this week with someone I’ve known for several months - a former organization president whose role wrapped up at the end of 2025. We first connected when she was newer to the area and looking for introductions. We stayed in touch, and last week we finally sat down to catch up properly.

She came with insights. I left inspired. And I thought what she shared was too good to keep to myself. Let’s get into it.

1. Be strategic about what you learn - not just what you specialize in.

Early in her career, she made a deliberate decision: she wanted to be a great businessperson, and to do that, she needed to understand multiple parts of the business - not just one. She moved intentionally across different areas, building expertise in each, so that by the time she reached the top, she could operate as a truly strategic leader. Spoiler: she did exactly that.

Here’s the tension, and she knows it well: a lot of companies want a specialist. Hiring managers can get confused when a resume spans too many functions - they struggle to categorize the person and move on. She’s learned to connect the dots explicitly, to tell the story of why the breadth matters rather than letting the reader figure it out on their own.

The lesson is worth sitting with. Being well-rounded doesn’t make you unfocused - it makes you rare. But you have to own the narrative, or someone else will write it for you.

2. Recruiters don’t work for candidates - and understanding that changes everything.

I’ll be honest: when she said this, I could have hugged her.

As a third-party recruiter, I am hired by the company - not the candidate. My client is the organization that engaged me to find them a very specific person. And here’s something most people don’t realize: when a company brings in an outside recruiter, the bar goes up. If they’re paying a fee, they want exactly what they asked for - not someone close. Exactly that.

She takes it upon herself to educate people in her network about this dynamic. Recruiters are not a job placement service. Understanding that distinction, and adjusting your expectations accordingly, will save you a lot of frustration and help you use recruiters far more effectively.

3. Not every referral is a home run, and that’s fine.

She’s relatively new to this area, and she’s doing the work of building her network here from the ground up, making the rounds, getting to know people, showing up consistently. She doesn’t expect every connection to lead somewhere specific. She knows some referrals will land and some won’t, and she makes them anyway.

What she does have is deep, well-cultivated networks in the places she’s worked before. She knows exactly how valuable those relationships are because she invested in them over time. She’s applying the same patience and intention here.

4. She always asks what she can do for you.

Every single time I’ve spoken with her, without fail, she asks what she can do for me. She takes notes. She follows through. She treats every professional relationship as a two-way street, and she means it.

This sounds simple. It isn’t. Most people don’t do it. Most people network with one direction in mind - what can I get from this? She operates from the opposite instinct, and it shows. The relationships she builds are stronger because of it, and the goodwill she generates follows her everywhere she goes.

I left that coffee feeling genuinely energized - motivated to connect her to others, excited about a new project she’s working on, and confident that if I ever needed something from her, she would show up.

That’s what a great networker feels like to be around. It’s not a technique. It’s a mindset.

If you’d like help learning how to network more effectively, whether you’re new to an area, re-entering the workforce, or simply want to be more intentional about your professional relationships, reach out. It’s one of the most valuable investments you can make in your career, and I’d love to help.

Share

This past week, I had the opportunity to speak to an organization about closing the interview process well - specifically from the hiring manager’s perspective. And it got me thinking about a pattern I see constantly: hiring managers who assume the entire process falls to their recruiter or HR team.

I understand why this happens. HR teams handle everything from payroll and employee relations to a dozen other responsibilities on top of recruiting. But in my opinion, hiring managers need to take more ownership of the process for hiring someone onto their own team. This isn’t a job you can fully outsource. Let’s get into it.

Where Hiring Managers Need to Step Up

1. Know what you’re actually looking for.

This sounds obvious, but it rarely is. A hiring manager often inherits an opening, gets handed a stack of resumes, and leans entirely on an old job description to figure out what’s needed - sometimes without ever having known the person who previously held the role.

An open position is an opportunity, not just a gap to fill. Slow down and re-evaluate what the role actually needs to be on your team today. What does success look like in this position? What skill gap are you really trying to close? Taking the time to answer these questions is the first real act of ownership in the hiring process.

2. Build a real set of interview questions.

Once you know what the role truly requires, you can build comprehensive, behavioral questions designed to identify the right person - not just someone who interviews well. This step is nearly impossible to do well if you’ve skipped step one. The questions should be a direct reflection of what you determined the role needs.

3. Get everyone aligned - especially HR.

If more than one person is interviewing candidates, everyone needs to be working from the same playbook. That includes HR. They often know things you don’t - an internal candidate who’s interested, a previous attempt to fill this role, context about team dynamics. Looping them in early isn’t a formality. It’s one of the most overlooked ways to set yourself up for success.

4. Build an actual process and own it.

This is where most hiring managers lose the plot. Write out exactly what’s going to happen: before the interview, during the interview, which room it will take place in, the questions you’ll ask, and what happens immediately afterward. Partner with HR to define what capturing interviewer feedback looks like, what a second-round entails, and how candidates are properly closed out.

Without this, here’s what happens: an interviewer goes on vacation, you need their feedback to move someone to the next round, and suddenly you can’t remember who said what about whom. Good candidates fall through the cracks - not because they weren’t qualified, but because nobody owned the process after the interview ended.

5. Be ready to sell because you’re being evaluated too.

A lot of hiring managers assume that because they’re the ones asking the questions, every candidate automatically wants the job. That mindset is outdated. Candidates are interviewing you and your company just as much as you’re interviewing them.

Come prepared with real talking points - what kind of corporate citizen is your company? What stories capture your culture in action? How does your organization actually live out its mission and values, beyond what’s printed on the website? What does success look like for this person, and how will you set them up to get there?

Today’s candidates are also paying close attention to how companies handle bigger issues - AI, political and social topics, climate and environmental responsibility. They’re asking these questions, and they’re forming opinions about whether they want to work for you based on your answers.

These are some of the ones I see a hiring manager struggle with. At the end of the day, hiring isn’t just about filling a seat - it’s about shaping the future of your team. The hiring managers who take real ownership of the process are the ones who consistently build stronger teams, retain great people longer, and create a reputation that attracts even better candidates next time. It starts with treating this process as seriously as any other part of your role.

If you’d like an audit of your interview process - please feel free to reach out.

HI! As we are firmly into Summer, I wanted to revisit a few old posts I did when I first started my newsletter. Here is one that I’m still very passionate about, and it’s so relevant today! Let’s get into it.

After years of working with executives across industries, I've become a passionate advocate for executive coaching - not because of the research (though it's compelling), but because of what I've witnessed with my own eyes.

The Pattern I Keep Seeing

Strong executives get stronger. Time and again, I've watched accomplished leaders - people already performing at high levels - work with executive coaches and unlock entirely new dimensions of their potential. These aren't struggling performers seeking remedial help. These are successful executives who recognize that excellence is a journey, not a destination.

What happens next is remarkable: they land that next promotion, secure the role they've been eyeing, or successfully navigate a complete career transition. The coaching doesn't just improve their current performance - it propels them to their next chapter.

Subscribe now

The Triple Impact: Knowledge, Skills, and Confidence

Through coaching, I've seen executives gain three critical elements:

Knowledge of their own leadership style, blind spots, and impact on others. This self-awareness becomes their competitive advantage.

Skills in areas like strategic communication, influence, and complex decision-making. They don't just learn these skills - they practice them in real-time with expert guidance.

Confidence to take calculated risks, have difficult conversations, and step into bigger roles. This might be the most transformative element I observe.

That confidence shift is palpable. You can see it in how they carry themselves, how they contribute in meetings, and how they approach new challenges. They stop second-guessing themselves and start leading with conviction.

The Women's Leadership Acceleration

I've been particularly struck by the impact of executive coaching on women leaders. The statistics around women in leadership are well-documented, but what I've witnessed goes beyond numbers.

Women executives with coaches don't just advance—they accelerate. They develop the strategic communication skills to ensure their voices are heard in boardrooms. They build the confidence to negotiate for what they're worth. They learn to navigate organizational politics without compromising their authentic leadership style.

I've watched women use coaching to break through invisible barriers, move from individual contributor roles to executive positions, and create the kind of leadership presence that opens doors. The coaching relationship becomes a safe space to process the unique challenges women face in leadership while building the tools to overcome them.

What Sets Executive Coaching Apart

It's personalized. Unlike generic leadership training, coaching adapts to your specific situation, challenges, and goals.

It's action-oriented. You're not just learning concepts—you're applying them immediately in your real work environment.

It's confidential. You can explore your challenges and uncertainties without political risk.

It's sustained. The relationship develops over time, allowing for deeper work and lasting change.

If you're looking to reach the next level, executive coaching isn't just an investment in your current role - it's an investment in your entire leadership future.

Share

The question isn't whether you need coaching. The question is: what becomes possible when you have the right coach in your corner?

Subscribe now

If you don’t know where to start with an executive coach, let me help you. DM me, I’d be happy to help you find one.

.

Leave a comment

Share

Summer is one of the busiest seasons in recruiting - job openings are plentiful, offers are flying, and everyone is trying to get something closed before vacation season kicks into full gear. Kids are out of school, calendars are packed, and the hiring market is moving fast.

In the spirit of the “I would say this if I didn’t want to hurt your feelings” trend that’s been making the rounds - here’s my recruiter version. Let’s get into it.

1. The most experienced person doesn’t always get the job.

Experience matters, but it’s rarely the only thing - and often not even the deciding factor. Culture fit, communication style, energy, and how you make people feel in the room all play a role. The candidate who gets the offer is usually the one who made the hiring manager feel most confident. That’s not always the one with the longest resume.

2. If your recruiter is in your corner, it makes a difference.

Recruiters advocate for the candidates they believe in. If someone genuinely likes you and thinks you’re the right fit, they will go to bat for you in conversations you’ll never be part of.

3. If the company is taking a long time, they’re probably not deciding. They’re waiting.

When a process goes quiet and the timeline keeps stretching, it usually means one thing: they’ve made an offer to someone else and are waiting to see if it’s accepted before they close out the remaining candidates. It’s not a great practice, but it happens constantly. Don’t put your search on hold while you wait.

4. If you’re in sales, they’re expecting a counteroffer.

Companies that hire salespeople know they’re dealing with negotiators, it’s literally the job. A counteroffer is expected, sometimes even respected. Don’t be afraid to have the conversation. Just know they’ve already anticipated it.

5. We know your references are your friends.

The names on your reference list? We’ve seen this before. If every reference is a former colleague who happens to also be a close personal friend, that tells us something. The strongest references are the people who managed you, worked alongside you professionally, and can speak to specific results, not just your character. We know the difference.

6. We know your salary expectations are higher than what you put on paper.

Candidates almost always anchor low in hopes of staying in the running, then negotiate up later. Recruiters know this. Hiring managers know this. You’re not hiding anything, so if you have a real number in mind, it’s almost always better to have an honest conversation early than to get to the offer stage and create a problem for everyone.

7. We know you used AI to write your resume.

This isn’t necessarily a dealbreaker, but when the resume reads like polished marketing copy and the phone screen sounds like a completely different person, the gap is noticeable. AI is a useful tool for formatting and cleaning up language. It shouldn’t be doing all the talking for you.

8. You are not the only one interviewing.

Most companies will interview a minimum of three candidates for any given role - often more. You may have had a great conversation and still be one of several people they’re genuinely considering. Stay engaged, follow up thoughtfully, and don’t assume the job is yours until you have an offer in hand.

9. A friendly interview doesn’t mean you’re getting an offer.

Hiring managers are often warm, enthusiastic, and encouraging, because that’s how good interviewers behave. It’s their job to make you feel comfortable. A great conversation is a good sign, but it is not a job offer. Stay measured until you hear something official.

10. They have looked you up. All of it.

Your LinkedIn profile, your Instagram, your Facebook, whatever comes up when they Google your name - they’ve seen it. Before you get too far into any process, do yourself a favor and search your own name. Look at what’s public. Make sure what they find reflects the professional you want them to see.

None of this is meant to discourage you; it’s meant to give you a clearer picture of what’s actually happening on the other side of the table. The candidates who navigate this process best are the ones who understand the game, stay self-aware, and keep showing up with intention.

If you want help preparing for your next interview or search, reach out. I’d love to help you put your best foot forward.

Hi, I’m Beth, and I’ve been a recruiter for 20 years. Every Monday, I write about recruiting from the week before. Got questions or thoughts? Email me, I’d love to hear from you. And if this resonates, please share or like it. It genuinely helps more people find this newsletter. Thank you!

Share

I’m juggling several exciting projects this week, and one that stood out was helping a client hire a college graduate for an entry-level role. It’s a different kind of search; the resume looks different, the conversation looks different, and what you’re evaluating looks different. Let’s get into it.

Start With the Internship

Most college graduates don’t have real-world experience in their field yet, that’s expected, and that’s fine. What separates candidates at this stage is whether they’ve had an internship.

Of everyone we interviewed for this role, all but one had completed an internship during their junior or senior year. The one candidate who hadn’t? He’d missed the application deadline because he was studying abroad - a completely understandable reason, but it still put him at a disadvantage in the conversation.

Here’s why internships matter so much at this stage: they give the candidate something to talk about. They demonstrate that the student showed up in a professional environment, figured out how to contribute, and started building real context for the work they want to do. Hiring managers want to know how quickly someone can get up to speed, and an internship is the clearest signal available.

Don’t stop at what’s on the resume either. If the candidate had a meaningful internship experience, reach out to the person who supervised them. A quick conversation with that manager will tell you more than the resume ever could.

Don’t Underestimate the Athlete

This one surprises people, but it shouldn’t.

Last week a hiring manager told me she was seriously interested in a candidate who had run track in college - and this candidate had been out of school for over 15 years. The relevant work experience was there, absolutely. But what pushed her over the top was the college sport. Fifteen years later, it still said something important about who she was.

College athletics signals discipline. It signals a competitive mindset. It signals the ability to manage a demanding schedule, perform under pressure, and keep going when things get hard. When you’re looking at a pool of candidates who otherwise look very similar on paper, the student athlete often has an edge that’s worth paying attention to.

If the candidates are neck and neck, look at who was involved in sports. It matters more than most people realize.

The Professor Is an Underrated Reference

Networking shouldn’t start at graduation - it should start long before. For a college student, one of the most valuable professional relationships they can cultivate is with their professors.

Every student we interviewed for this role was known by their professor, and he had real, honest feedback about each one of them. Not generic praise, but genuine insight into how they think, how they handle the coursework, and how they show up in the field of study. That kind of reference is invaluable at a stage when work history is limited.

As a hiring manager, don’t hesitate to reach out to a professor in the candidate’s area of study. They spend years watching students in the exact discipline you’re hiring for. They know who is genuinely engaged and who is just getting by. It’s one of the most underutilized reference conversations in entry-level hiring.

These aren’t the only factors that matter when hiring a college graduate; things like GPA, extracurricular involvement, communication skills, and cultural fit all play a role depending on the position and your organization. But these were the ones that stood out in conversations last week, and they’re worth paying attention to the next time you’re evaluating early-career talent.

Hiring college graduates is one of the best long-term investments a company can make. You’re not just filling a role — you’re developing talent from the ground up, shaping someone’s professional identity, and building loyalty that tends to run deep when done well.

If you need help finding top students in your area or putting together a plan for entry-level hiring, reach out. It’s a search I genuinely enjoy, and I’d love to help.

Share

Last week I kicked off a series on where to actually find top talent, and I started close to home, inside your own organization. This week I’m widening the lens. Let’s get into it.

The Best Talent Isn’t Always Looking

One of the most underutilized sourcing strategies sounds almost too simple: pay attention.

Look around you, not just inside your organization, but everywhere your industry shows up. The person who is serious about their craft isn’t sitting at home waiting for a job posting to appear. They’re out in the world, actively investing in their profession. And if you know where to look, they’re not hard to find.

Associations and Industry Organizations

Every industry has them - professional associations, trade organizations, industry groups. And within every one of those organizations, there are people who raise their hand to lead. They sit on boards. They chair committees. They organize events and drive initiatives forward.

These people are worth knowing.

Here’s why: when someone volunteers for a leadership role within their industry association, they’re telling you something important about who they are. They’re engaged. They’re connected. They’re motivated by more than a paycheck. And because they’re visible in the industry, you get the rare opportunity to observe them from a distance before ever having a conversation: how they communicate, how they lead, how they show up.

Beyond being potential candidates themselves, board members and committee chairs are almost always deeply networked. They know who is ready for a new challenge, who has been quietly looking, and who just got passed over for a promotion they deserved. They are a resource in more ways than one.

Don’t stop at the current board either. Go back and look at prior years. Many association websites list past board members and committee leaders, and if they don’t, it’s worth a little digging. Someone who led a committee three years ago may not be in a visible role today, but they haven’t stopped being talented.

Certifications Are a Hidden Goldmine

Does your industry have professional certifications? If so, start paying attention to who holds them.

Certifications signal commitment. They tell you that someone cared enough about their field to pursue a credential. Depending on the certification and the state, a list of current certification holders may be publicly available through a licensing board or regulatory body. It takes some research, but it can surface a pool of highly qualified candidates.

If you’re hiring for a role where a specific certification matters, this list is one of the most targeted sourcing tools available.

A Note on What Recruiters Actually Do

These are just two of the many ways experienced recruiters source talent. What makes a good recruiter valuable isn’t access to a job board - it’s a wide, deep, and carefully cultivated network built over years, combined with the ability to find people who aren’t actively looking but would be open to the right conversation.

If you need help with your next hire, we offer several options designed to fit a range of budgets. We also offer recruiter training programs for organizations that want to build stronger internal sourcing capabilities.

Reach out; I’d love to help you find exactly who you’re looking for.

Share

I hope you had a restful Memorial Day weekend - time to recharge, gather with the people you love, and pause to remember those who fought for our freedom. Thank you to all who served.

One of the most common questions I get asked, and it came up again just this past week, is: Where do you actually find people for jobs? Let’s get into it.

I love this question. Because the honest answer is: it depends. There is no single source, no magic database, no one-size-fits-all answer. So I’m turning this into a series. Each week, I’ll share one place to find top talent. Today’s answer might surprise you with how close to home it is.

Look Inside First

Before you call a recruiter, before you post a job, before you do anything, look inside your own organization. This is actually two answers in one.

a) Who is already on your bench?

Do you have a succession plan in place? Do you know who has expressed interest in moving up? Do you know who is quietly ready to be called into the game?

Sometimes we overlook the forest for the trees. A strong internal candidate is sitting right in front of you, and nobody knows they’re interested because nobody ever asked. Employees shouldn’t have to wait for a role to be posted before raising their hand, and your organization shouldn’t find out someone wants a promotion when they hand in their resignation letter.

Create a culture where employees are encouraged to learn about other roles within the organization and to openly express their interest in growing. Whether that conversation happens with their manager, your HR team, or someone else, build the pathway and make it visible. You will be surprised by what you find when you start looking inward before looking outward.

b) Your employees are your best recruiting tool.

If you’re looking for a specialized skill that’s hard to find in the market, look at the people already working for you, because they know people. They worked somewhere before they worked for you. They went to school with someone. They ran into a former colleague at an industry conference last month.

A strong employee referral program turns your entire workforce into a recruiting network. If you don’t have one, build one - and make it worth their while. When employees have a financial or meaningful incentive to refer great people, they think differently about every professional interaction they have.

A few things that make referral programs work better:

• Introduce it during onboarding. It’s the best possible moment — new hires are fresh off their previous experience, and their professional network is top of mind. Ask them early: who do you know that would thrive here?

• Follow up after 60 to 90 days. Once a new employee has settled in and gotten a real feel for the culture, check back in. They now have context for what a great fit actually looks like, and they may have someone in mind they didn’t think of before.

• Prepare your team for industry events. Conferences and professional gatherings are networking goldmines. Coach your employees to have real conversations, stay curious about the people they meet, and keep their ears open. You never know who is quietly open to a new opportunity.

The talent you’re looking for is often closer than you think - inside your walls or one degree away from someone already on your team. Start there.

Next week, I’ll share another place to find top talent. In the meantime, if you’d like help building a referral program or putting a succession plan in place, reach out. These are two of the highest-leverage things you can do before a search ever begins.

Share

This past week, a client called to tell me he wanted to take a candidate out to lunch to get to know him better. I stopped him immediately.

He knows exactly how I feel about interview meals. He walked me through his reasoning anyway, which we will get to. I have strong feelings about an interview meal. Let’s get into it.

Candidates are dealing with a lot the moment they walk into an interview. Adding a restaurant to the equation introduces a surprising number of ways for things to go wrong, none of which have anything to do with whether the person can actually do the job.

Here’s what I’ve seen happen:

Timing becomes a problem. Most candidates schedule interviews around their existing work commitments - a lunch break, an early morning slot, an hour away from work. If the restaurant is busy, the food is slow, or the service is off, the candidate is now watching the clock and managing anxiety on top of everything else. That’s not an environment that brings out someone’s best.

The notebook stays in the bag. A good candidate comes prepared - questions written out, notes ready to take. But when you’re navigating a table full of dishes, glasses, and silverware, pulling out a notebook feels awkward and out of place. So they don’t. They leave without asking half the questions they wanted to ask. You leave without hearing half of what they wanted to tell you. It’s a missed opportunity disguised as a casual lunch.

You will judge things that don’t matter. This is the one nobody wants to admit, but it happens every time. The candidate orders something messy. They eat too fast or too slow. They send something back. The server spills a drink. They order a beverage from a competitor’s brand - and yes, I have seen an interview end before the food arrived because of exactly that. None of these things predict job performance. All of them get noticed anyway.

Food relationships are personal. People have allergies, dietary restrictions, and preferences that they may not want to disclose in a professional setting. I once had a highly specialized candidate, someone with a rare skillset that was genuinely difficult to find, who sent her food back because it arrived with items touching on the plate. The company nearly passed on her. Over a plate of food.

Confidentiality goes out the window. The hiring process is typically confidential, and a restaurant is a public place. I had a candidate run into a colleague from her current company while waiting to be seated, with the interviewers standing right beside her. She had to make introductions on the spot and answer uncomfortable questions when she got back to the office. That’s an unfair position to put someone in.

So Why Do Hiring Managers Keep Doing It?

Usually, it comes down to one of two reasons: they want to see the candidate in a more relaxed, social setting, or the role itself involves client entertainment, and they want to evaluate how the person handles it.

My client last week had the second reason. The role would require regular client lunches, and he felt it was reasonable to set that expectation early and see how the candidate showed up in that context. It’s a fair point, and honestly, it’s the only version of this argument I’ll give any credit to.

But here’s my pushback: a candidate performing under the stress of a job interview is not the same as a seasoned employee taking a client to lunch. The context is completely different. If you want to evaluate client entertainment skills, there are better ways to do it, and better times. A final round conversation about how they’ve handled client relationships in the past will tell you far more than watching them navigate a meal under pressure.

Better Ways to Create a Casual Interview Experience

If what you’re really after is a more relaxed, conversational interaction, here are two approaches that work much better:

Coffee instead of a meal. A coffee shop creates the casual, low-stakes atmosphere you’re looking for without the complications of a full meal. The candidate can have their notebook out, ask their questions, and actually focus on the conversation. No plates, no timing pressure, no sending things back. (Note: again, we run the risk of running into someone they know, and the place may be busy and loud!)

A tour of your facility. This is one of the most underutilized tools in the interview process. Walking a candidate through your space naturally lowers stress levels, being in motion takes the edge off a formal sit-down. It also gives them an authentic look at the environment, the team, and the culture. And it’s genuinely casual without manufacturing it.

The goal of an interview is to see the candidate at their best. A meal rarely accomplishes that. It adds factors you can’t control and invites judgment on things that have nothing to do with the job.

Skip the restaurant. You’ll make a better decision, and your candidate will thank you for it.

Let me know your thoughts on the candidate meals - I know you have them!

Also, if I can help you with your recruiting process, reach out, I'd be happy to help!

Share

Last week, I was speaking with a leader who has a high-performing team member she’s struggling with. The employee is talented, a genuine asset to the organization, but the professionalism isn’t there. The maturity isn’t there. She asked if we could help.

The short answer is yes. Let’s get into it.

We Can Teach the Skill. We Can’t Always Teach How to Show Up.

As recruiters, we’ve helped hundreds (maybe thousands!) of people prepare for their next career move. We know what hiring managers are looking for, and over the last year, one theme keeps surfacing in nearly every conversation: emotional intelligence.

Companies are getting better at training people on the technical skills a role requires. What they struggle to teach is how to behave in a role. How to read a room. How to manage relationships. How to conduct yourself professionally when no one is watching.

When we launched Skills Lab, we worked exclusively with students, helping them prepare for interviews and their first steps into the workforce. Early on, I found myself saying the same things over and over: don’t chew gum during the interview, take notes, have questions ready, dress appropriately. These things felt basic to me. But after coaching people for many years, I’ve learned that basic doesn’t mean obvious. These things have to be said, and more importantly, they have to be taught.

How Leadership Lab Was Born

As Skills Lab grew, companies started asking us a different question: do you have a training program for new supervisors? After enough people asked, we built one. We call it Leadership Lab, a foundational training program for people who are managing others for the first time in their careers.

What we learned surprised even us. Soft skills, the ones we used to assume people picked up naturally, are eroding. Our most requested workshops tell the story: communication and conflict skills, and emotional intelligence. We’ve also developed programming around how to be a good employee, working with interns and early-career professionals on the fundamentals of showing up well in a professional environment.

As a society, we have quietly taken the professionalism out of work. Most organizations no longer require suits or rigid schedules, and that’s fine. Flexibility is a good thing. But some of the more foundational pieces are slipping too, and that’s worth paying attention to.

What This Actually Looks Like in Practice

The leader I spoke with last week described an employee who shows up late and dressed in a way that wouldn’t be appropriate for a client meeting. During an actual client meeting, the employee left early to make it to an exercise class. In the office, they regularly dominate conversations with stories about their personal life and failed relationships.

This manager is not unreasonable. She wants to create a culture of flexibility and work-life balance, and she’s trying. But one person’s behavior is quietly undermining the environment she’s working hard to build.

I’ve seen a version of this at another company that requires employees to be in the office two days a week. It’s a reasonable ask - two days to collaborate, connect, and function as a team. One employee consistently shows up around 10, takes a full lunch, and leaves by 2. The manager hasn’t addressed it. The team has noticed. The culture is starting to feel the weight of it.

This is what happens when expectations aren’t set clearly and when emotional intelligence isn’t treated as a skill worth developing.

What You Can Do About It

If you’re seeing glimpses of this in your organization, here are a few places to start:

• Set the expectation explicitly. Don’t assume people know what professional behavior looks like in your environment. Put it in writing. Talk about it out loud. Make it part of your culture, not an unspoken rule.

• Build it into onboarding. The best time to establish expectations is before habits form. A short module on what it means to be a good employee — how to communicate, how to show up, how to conduct yourself - goes a long way.

• Invest in emotional intelligence training. It is one of our most requested workshops, and for good reason. EQ grows with experience, but it can also be developed intentionally. Don’t wait for a problem to surface before you address it.

We spend a significant portion of our lives at work. High achievers want to grow, but they need to know what the path looks like and what’s expected of them along the way. Give them that clarity. It’s one of the best investments you can make in your people.

If you’d like to learn more about Leadership Lab, Skills Lab, or our emotional intelligence workshops, reach out. I’d love to talk.

Hi, I’m Beth, and I’ve been a recruiter for 20 years. Every Monday, I write about recruiting from the week before. Got questions or thoughts? Email me, I’d love to hear from you. And if this resonates, please share or like it. It genuinely helps more people find this newsletter. Thank you!

Share

I am a firm believer in checking references. I know there are plenty of people who will argue they’re not worth the effort - that everyone puts their best contacts forward and the whole exercise is theater. I disagree. In my experience, whenever a candidate doesn’t work out, I can almost always look back at the reference check and find the red flag we either missed or ignored. Let’s get into it.

A Story That Says It All

I once worked with a company that was extremely high on a candidate. Excited, actually. We checked his references, and every single one was a college classmate or an old friend. When we asked specific questions about his work habits and performance, the feedback was glowing - but not one reference could point to a single concrete example of what he’d actually done. No results. No stories. No substance.

Sure enough, he wasn’t the right fit. He couldn’t do the job.

The references told us everything we needed to know. We just had to know how to listen.

How to Actually Get Something Useful Out of a Reference Check

1. Let the candidate point you to the right people.

During your interviews, when a candidate talks about their accomplishments, a record-breaking sales quarter, a project they led, a turnaround they executed, ask them directly: who can verify that? The answer is almost always a manager, a client, or a close colleague. Write that name down. That’s who you call. Before you do, make sure the candidate is comfortable with you reaching out to that specific person, get that confirmation ahead of time. You’re not just checking a reference at that point; you’re validating a specific claim, which is a much more powerful conversation.

2. Frame the call the right way.

How you open a reference call matters more than most people realize. Instead of leading with generic questions, try this: “[Candidate’s name] is interviewing for a Director of Sales role and is doing very well in our process. We want to ask you a few questions to help ensure they will be successful in the role.”

This framing works for two reasons. First, people don’t want to attach their name to someone who is going to fail, so they tend to be honest. Second, it signals that you’re looking for substantive, specific insight, not just a thumbs up or thumbs down. From there, ask behavioral questions: Tell me about a time they had to win over a difficult client. How did they handle a missed target? A genuine colleague can answer these. A golfing buddy cannot.

3. “Would you hire them again?” is not your last question; it’s your second-to-last.

Almost everyone says yes. That’s not the useful part. The useful part is what comes next: In what role? You’d be surprised how often the answer describes something that doesn’t align with the position they’re interviewing for. A reference might enthusiastically recommend someone for an individual contributor role when you’re hiring a people manager. That gap is worth knowing about.

4. Volume and pattern recognition matter.

No single reference check is foolproof. But if you talk to enough people, and ask the right questions, a picture emerges. You start to hear specific examples, consistent themes, and genuine enthusiasm that sounds different from a friend doing someone a favor. The people who actually worked with the candidate will tell you stories. The buddies will tell you adjectives. Learn to tell the difference.

When to Check References and What to Do When Things Get Complicated

References should be checked before an offer is made, not after. It takes time to track people down and have meaningful conversations, so build in a few days to a week for this step. Don’t treat it as an afterthought. If your timeline is tight and you need to move forward, make the offer contingent on favorable reference checks. That protects everyone.

If you’re having trouble reaching the contacts a candidate provided, pay attention to that. Unresponsive references aren’t always a red flag, but they’re worth noting. Go back to the candidate and ask them to help facilitate the connection. Someone who is confident in their references will have no problem making that call. Someone who hesitates might be telling you something without saying a word.

And if something concerning does come up during a reference check, don’t ignore it and don’t panic. Go back to the candidate and ask them about it directly. Give them the opportunity to provide context or clarity. Sometimes there’s a reasonable explanation. Sometimes the conversation confirms exactly what you suspected. Either way, you now have better information to make your decision.

Here’s the bottom line: it is significantly easier to address a red flag during the hiring process than it is to manage a bad hire six months into the role. The whole point of a reference check is to make sure you have the right person in the right seat. Take it seriously and use it that way.

A Standard Process Makes All the Difference

Reference checks done well aren’t about confirming what you already believe - they’re about surfacing what you might have missed. Having a standard set of questions for every candidate, plus a few role-specific ones, gives you a repeatable process that pays for itself every time it catches something everyone else would have overlooked.

If you’d like help building out your reference check questions or putting a process in place, reach out. It’s a small investment that can save you from a very costly hiring mistake.

Share

What Candidates Are Looking for in Your Interview Process

We had a high volume of interviews this week, and it got me thinking. There’s a lot of conversation about what candidates should do to prepare for an interview, but not nearly enough about what companies should do. So let’s get into it.

Start Before the Process Begins

Before the first interview is ever scheduled, gather everyone who will be involved in the hiring process: hiring managers, interviewers, and anyone who will spend time with the candidate. Align on the timeline, what you’re looking for, and what to expect. Every candidate will ask the same questions: What does success look like in this role? What’s the culture like? What are the next steps? If your team is giving different answers, it creates confusion and erodes confidence. You want everyone singing from the same sheet of music before the process begins.

Before Anyone Sets Foot in Your Door

Good interviews are won or lost before the candidate ever arrives. Here’s what you should have ready:

A real job description. This sounds basic, but you’d be surprised. A lot of companies put together something so generic that virtually anyone could apply. A strong job description starts with the person currently in the role, have them list everything they actually do. Then have the hiring manager review it and shape it around what they’re truly looking for. It’s a great exercise not just for hiring, but for evaluating what the role has become versus what you need it to be. It’s also a great tool to use during evaluation time.

A benefits overview. Put together a clean, one-page summary of your benefits package, something you can hand to a candidate or send in advance. Most candidates won’t ask about benefits in the interview itself, but they absolutely want to know. Getting ahead of that question before they have to ask it sets you apart from every other company they’re talking to. It signals that you’re organized, transparent, and thoughtful about the experience.

A standard set of interview questions. Every interviewer should be working from the same foundation. You’d be surprised how much the questions shift from candidate to candidate when there’s no structure in place. A prepared question list keeps the process consistent and fair, and it’s a lifeline for managers who don’t interview often. Straying from the list is fine; not having one isn’t.

The Day Of

Remember: the candidate is evaluating you just as much as you are evaluating them. Every interaction, from the moment they walk in the door to the moment they leave, is forming an impression of your company, your culture, and your leadership. Treat it accordingly.

Review the resume before you walk in the room. Bring it with you. Make notes (not on the resume itself) and prepare follow-up questions based on what you’ve read. Nothing deflates a candidate faster than realizing the person across the table hasn’t looked at their background. They took time off work to be there. Show up prepared.

Have a schedule and share it in advance. Let the candidate know when to arrive, who to ask for, and how long to expect to be there. They may have taken time off, arranged childcare, or blocked their entire day. They deserve to know the plan. And if the interview goes well and you want to extend it, great, but start with a clear structure.

Give them a tour. People are genuinely curious about where they might spend the next chapter of their career. A short walk through the office is a nice touch, and it doesn’t have to involve anyone from the interview panel; it’s actually a great task for a team member who isn’t part of the formal process.

After They Leave

Debrief quickly. Time kills deals - and memories. Schedule 15 minutes the following day to bring everyone together and capture feedback while it’s fresh. The longer you wait, the more the details blur, and the slower decisions get made.

Follow up in a timely manner. This is one of the areas where companies consistently think they’re doing better than they are. According to Fortune, 48% of candidates report being ghosted by a company after an interview - and some reports put that number as high as 61%. Waiting weeks to deliver feedback, or worse, going completely dark, leaves a lasting impression - and not a good one. Have a clear process for communicating next steps, whether a candidate is moving forward or being closed out. Every candidate deserves a response.

Common Mistakes That Are Easy to Avoid

Even well-intentioned companies fall into these traps:

• Too many rounds. Candidates understand that hiring takes time, but a six-step interview process for a mid-level role sends a message, and not a good one. Be thoughtful about how many hoops you’re asking someone to jump through and make sure each round has a clear purpose.

• Inconsistent messaging. When one interviewer describes the role one way, and another describes it completely differently, candidates notice. It signals internal disorganization and makes it hard for them to get excited about the opportunity. This is exactly why internal alignment before the process begins is so critical.

• No internal feedback loop. If your interviewers aren’t sharing notes with each other, you end up with redundant conversations and missed opportunities to go deeper. A simple shared document or a quick debrief call solves this entirely.

• A nice to have. At the end of the day of interviews, have the internal recruiter meet with the candidate, get feedback, ask questions, clarify anything they heard during the day, share the benefits information, and set expectations for hearing back. This holds your company accountable and closes the loop. A recruiter will learn a lot of information in that last meeting of the day.

None of this is complicated. These are straightforward, easy-to-implement practices that make a significant difference in how candidates experience your company, and how they talk about you afterward. Candidates who have a positive interview experience are more likely to accept your offer, refer others to your organization, and speak well of you in the market, even if they don’t get the job. The opposite is also true.

I’ve helped a lot of organizations build and refine these processes, and the impact is real. If you’d like help putting any of this into place, reach out. It’s one of the most high-leverage investments you can make in your hiring and your reputation.

Share

When your hiring manager goes on vacation, here’s how to keep the process alive

This week I’m working on an entry-level accounting search, and it turned into a masterclass in process flexibility. The role is a genuinely strong opportunity for a recent graduate, but it comes with a twist most accounting students wouldn’t expect: this isn’t the kind of position they’ve been picturing since freshman year. More on that in a moment. The other wrinkle? My hiring manager went out for a full week right in the middle of an active candidate slate. In this market, that kind of pause can cost you your top choices. So, we built a plan, and it may become the way we run things going forward. Let’s get into it.

How the candidate slate came together

I partnered with a local university to connect with accounting students who were still searching for opportunities. Seven candidates reached out to me directly, and after screening every one of them, I felt strongly that any of them could be a legitimate fit. That’s not something I say often. At that point, I closed the slate. No need to keep looking when you have seven credible options in front of you.

I’ll also say this: most accounting students don’t put this type of role at the top of their wish list right out of college. They come out thinking Big Four, corporate finance, traditional accounting tracks. What they don’t always see is how a role like this one can accelerate their development, broaden their skill set, and open doors within a department they never considered. Part of my job on this search has been helping candidates understand the opportunity they’re actually looking at, not just the job title.

The five-part plan

Step 1

Elevate the second-in-command

Rather than stalling, we tapped the department’s second-in-command to run first-round interviews. This accomplished three things at once: it earned genuine buy-in from a key team member, gave them a visible leadership moment, and created a natural connection between that person and the candidates, so when the on-site interview comes, the candidate already knows a friendly face.

Step 2

Build the interview like a presentation

We mapped out the structure together, the right questions, what to communicate about the role and company culture, and what a strong candidate response looks like. We also briefed each candidate on what to expect in the process. They don’t need to know this isn’t our standard approach; they need to know what’s happening with their candidacy and what comes next. Clear communication keeps candidates engaged and reduces drop-off.

Step 3

Debrief and cut to three

After the first-round interviews wrap, I’ll sit down with the person who conducted them and go through the candidates together. We’re looking for two things: who stood out in the conversation, and who feels like the right cultural fit for the team. That collaborative debrief gets us from seven to three, and gives the second-in-command a real voice in the outcome. We’ll also use this as a moment to assess: did this process work? Is this how we want to run future searches?

Step 4

Present findings to the hiring manager

Once the field is narrowed, the second-in-command presents their findings to the hiring manager. This matters more than it sounds. A team member’s face time with leadership often only happens when something has gone wrong. This flips that dynamic, it’s a chance to demonstrate judgment, articulate a recommendation, and be seen doing something that genuinely moves the business forward.

Step 5

Arrive ready - zero downtime

By the time the hiring manager returns, we’ll have three finalists ready for in-person interviews. The process never stalled. The candidates stayed engaged. And the team got stronger in the process. That’s the goal every time.

A hiring manager’s absence doesn’t have to mean a recruiting standstill. With the right structure, it becomes a development opportunity for your team, a better experience for your candidates, and a chance to improve your process permanently. We’ll figure that out after this role wraps up.

If your recruiting process could use a tune-up, or you’re navigating a search with obstacles like this one, feel free to reach out. I’d love to talk through it.