Articles
Put A Cork In It! (Or: Sometimes You Need Less Complexity)
Uh-oh. A thirty foot wide sheet of ice suddenly appeared on our farm driveway one frozen morning last week. A previously-innocent-looking black pipe running along the base of the pumphouse […]
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How’s Your Team?
This is an occasional series of posts on key attributes of successful leaders, gleaned from over a quarter century in executive search. I’ve had the privilege of interviewing many very […]
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Negotiating Offers: What Does The Other Side Really Need?
We recently closed two searches for similar roles at similar size coatings manufacturers. In fact the exact same job title. On the surface they looked almost identical, and of course […]
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25th year in business
2018 marks our 25th year in business. Quite a milestone. Some reflection being in order, I thought back to the inauspicious bootstrap beginnings of the firm – in a one-bedroom […]
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Paint and People: What Does “Good” Mean?
Several past articles have focused on the similarities between hiring and coatings technology. A recent search pointed up another parallel: “good” is a relative term. One of the most fundamental […]
View ArticleSmart Hiring: Always Have a Backup
Rhetorical question: If you had an effective person in a key role one or two quarters sooner, would that make a significant difference to your business? To put the question […]
View ArticleTeam Building Is Like… Surfactants And Defoamers
The opposite effects of surfactants and defoamers in paint provide a great analogy for hiring and building successful teams. When you are formulating a coating, you need a surfactant or […]
View ArticleUnicorns and superhydrophobic coatings – they’re not just for breakfast anymore.
A client recently asked us to search for someone for a position that was more than the usual “hard to fill” role we typically recruit for. The job responsibilities and […]
View ArticleUrgency in Hiring: Don’t Just Watch Paint Dry!
One way in which hiring resembles coatings technology is the often-forgotten principle that candidates and paint both have limited open times. All paint and coatings people I know, and most […]
View ArticleCandidates… and Coatings: What’s the Formula for Success?
Following up on my initial post about how hiring is like coatings technology (and thanks to everyone who joined the idea generation with so many excellent examples) – today’s mental […]
View ArticleHiring Is Like… Coatings Technology?
Recruiting in the coatings industry, I am always looking for analogies and metaphors about the hiring process that clients and candidates can relate to. One that always seems to intrigue […]
View ArticleArticles from Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
On-Boarding and retention: The other side of hiring
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
April 20, 2016
Investing in people brings success - a true story in the coatings industry
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
February 16, 2016
Why Hiring For Strengths Works Better Than Just Trying To Avoid Weaknesses
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
October 22, 2015
Your Career In The Coatings Industry - Part Two
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
June 20, 2015
Your Career In The Coatings Industry - Part One
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
April 18, 2015
Qualifications Or Experience - Which Matters More?
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
February 25, 2015
The Only Interview Question You Need to Ask
Asia Pacific Coatings Journal
December 19, 2014