Recruitment & HR

I Can Spot a Great Candidate in 30 Seconds - Without Looking at Their Resume. At Vicco Laboratories, the first few interview rounds are handled by our HR and leadership team. They assess skills, experience, performance history - all the standard checkboxes. But when someone reaches my room, I’m not evaluating capability. I’m evaluating character. Because skills can be trained. Character can’t. So in the final round, I deliberately observe three things before we even get into formal questions: 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 1: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐦 Before they enter, I always ask our receptionist to make them wait for a few minutes. Not to trouble them — but to observe: Do they greet her or ignore her? Do they show gratitude or entitlement? Do they smile or stay blank? Do they thank her when being called in? If someone is only respectful upwards, they’re not fit for leadership. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 2: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐒𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 During the conversation, I pause intentionally. A great candidate: Doesn’t panic when things go quiet Holds eye contact without overcompensating Thinks before responding, instead of rushing to impress Silence is a pressure test.  Silence exposes a person’s comfort with themselves. And self-assured people make better decisions under pressure. 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐭 3: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐀𝐬𝐤 “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐆𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐜𝐨”, 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐈 𝐆𝐞𝐭?” I watch closely when compensation and responsibilities are discussed. If the questions are only about salary, perks and timings, they’re employees. If they ask about learning culture, values, decision-making structure…they are already thinking as an owner. I’ll always choose alignment over achievement. So if you’re ever preparing for your final round anywhere — don’t just prepare your resume. Prepare your presence. Because long after your words fade, your character stays in the room. Sanjeev Pendharkar  Just sharing what I’ve learnt #values #business #hiring #hr #decisionmaking #cv #leadership #skills

They asked me to present my "diversity strategy" to the board. I brought a mirror. Set it right in the middle of their mahogany table. Watched them shift in their leather chairs as they stared at their own reflection. "This is your diversity problem," I said. Twelve faces. Same color. Same gender. Same golf club. They wanted me to solve what they refused to see: You can't fix diversity from the outside when the rot starts at the top. I'd spent six months building a framework that would've transformed their pipeline. Created pathways for Black talent they claimed they "couldn't find." Designed retention strategies for the ones who kept leaving. My research showed they'd lost 47 Black employees in 18 months. Exit interviews all said the same thing: "No path to leadership." Hard to see a path when every road leads to a room that looks like a country club board meeting from 1952. The CFO cleared his throat. "This feels... aggressive." Aggressive? Showing you a mirror is aggressive? But excluding us from every decision isn't? Paying us 63 cents to your dollar isn't? Having our faces on your website but not in your C-suite isn't? I picked up my mirror. My $75K framework. My 200-slide deck. "You don't need a diversity strategy. You need diverse leadership. And that starts with looking at why this mirror makes you so uncomfortable." They hired a different consultant. Someone who wouldn't hold up mirrors. Someone who'd make them feel good about their 2% improvement metrics. That company? Still bleeding Black talent. Stock down 30%. Getting roasted on Glassdoor. Me? I only work with boards ready to shatter their mirrors and rebuild their tables. With seats for people who don't look like them. With budgets that match their press releases. With leadership that leads by example, not excuses. Your diversity strategy isn't about finding us. We're right here. It's about finding the courage to look in the mirror and admit why we're not in your boardroom. Some reflections are meant to be broken. Thank You; It's True.™ #ExecutivePresence #BlackWomenInBusiness #ThankYouItsTrue

I have a DEI secret… And it’s a big one. Ready? The accommodations I make for my neurodivergent team members… Also benefit my neurotypical team members. Ground breaking, right? 😏 I hear a lot about companies pushing back on accommodations, but I thought I’d show you just a few of the simple things we do here. I’ll use myself as the example, and let you see how it helps everyone. 👉 I like to sit on my legs and fidget in my chair. ✨ So we’ve got comfy chairs, wider than your standard office ones, for everyone. 👉 I regularly forget my breakfast or lunch. ✨ So we keep a fully stocked drinks fridge and snack cupboard. Open to everyone. 👉 Sometimes I find the main office overwhelming when I’m trying to focus. ✨ So we created two quiet workspaces in different rooms. Everyone can use them when it all gets a bit much. 👉 I used to get anxious about calling in sick and having to justify it to my old manager. ✨ Now? Just send a text. No explanations needed. If you say you’re ill, that’s enough. Applies to everyone. 👉 I had a habit of staying too late, sometimes working 3 or 4 hours longer than I should. ✨ So we finish at 4pm. And we mean it. Everyone is made to down tools and heads off. No late-night badge of honour here. I could go on, but you get the idea. There’s really no excuse not to make accommodations for your ND teammates. Because when you do… It makes things better for everyone.

It takes one minute to damage a career you spent 30 years building. Because success isn’t about skill or intelligence. It’s about emotional regulation. Exercising restraint instead of: → Engaging in a heated debate with a client. → Exchanging a sharp word with a colleague. → Sending an angry email in the heat of the moment. The second you lose control, you’ve lost. Emotional regulation is the biggest marker of career success. The good news is it’s a muscle you can build. Here's how: 1. Know Your Triggers → Identify what sets you off. → Do you feel threatened when criticised? → Awareness is the first step to control. 2. Hit Pause → Before reacting, ask yourself: What are the consequences of my move? → Regret minimisation is critical. 3. Reframe the Experience → What else could this mean? → Maybe the person was having a bad day. → Chose an interpretation that serves you. 4. Create a Delay on Emails Sent → Set a 10-minute delay on all outgoing emails. → This in and of itself could save your career. 5. Breathe → When emotions rise, take three slow breaths. → It signals your nervous system to reset. → Simple, but powerful. 6. Speak With Emotional Intelligence → Once you’re ready to respond, choose your words carefully. → Ask: How can I create the right outcome in a calm way? Remember: → If you choose restraint, you win. → If you reframe, you grow. And every time you stay in control, you keep your power. How important do you think emotional regulation is for career success? ---- ☀️Follow Deena Priest for career, leadership and personal development insights.

Hey Europe, you want a vibrant tech industry, right? The US seems set on destroying its public research funding system. Many US-based scientists are looking for a Plan B. You may have an opportunity to attract some of the best scientists in the world. Scientists will go where they have the means to be the most creative and productive. Here are the criteria that attract them: 1- access to top students and junior collaborators. 2- access to research funding with little administrative overhead. 3- good compensation (comparable with top universities in the US, Switzerland, Canada). 4- freedom to do research on what they think is most promising. 5- access to research facilities (e.g. computing infrastructure, etc). 6- ability to collaborate/consult with industry and startups. 7- moderate teaching and administrative duties. They will seek the best trade-off between these criteria in academia, public research, or industry. European academia rates high on 1 and 4, low on 2 (even if you can get an ERC grant), 5, 6 and 7, and *very* low on 3. European industry rates low on almost every criterion, particularly on 4, but also on 3 and 5 compared to top US industry labs. To attract the best scientific and technological talents, make science and technology research professions attractive. It's pretty straightforward.

The Big 4 are undergoing some of the most significant reorganisations in years, some more publicly than others, with widespread redundancies reshaping their structures and, in some instances, Equity Partners being demoted from the Partnership. For many leaders within these firms, this is a long-overdue correction. In recent years, these firms have become increasingly bloated, with layers of inefficiency and duplicated service lines eroding profitability. The current wave of restructuring aims to address these issues by cutting individuals who add limited value and refocusing on a leaner, more commercially viable model. A major source of frustration for high-performing Partners has been the burden of carrying dozens of underperforming colleagues who have contributed little revenue over the past years while still drawing from the profit pool. In a business where Partner remuneration is directly linked to profitability, this has created significant tensions. Many top performers feel their compensation is being diluted by those who do not generate revenue or drive growth, making these redundancies a necessary and inevitable step. The firms that emerge from this process will be more streamlined and focused on profitability, ensuring that the strongest performers are properly rewarded. This is particularly important in an evolving landscape, where smaller, more agile consulting and advisory firms are attracting top talent with meritocratic models that directly link compensation to contribution. If the Big 4 want to retain their best people, they must offer competitive earnings—and that requires cutting excess weight. This transition comes at an opportune time, as the broader market is on the rise. Clients are increasing their spending, and demand for high-quality advisory services is growing. The firms that execute this restructuring effectively will be well-positioned for the next phase of expansion, with stronger balance sheets, more engaged leadership, and the ability to compete successfully in a changing professional services landscape.

At the very beginning of Bridgewater, we just hired people we liked. But too many of them turned out to be bad fits. Because we liked them, we were reluctant to give up on them, and things often went from bad to worse. So we started hiring like most companies do, by looking at résumés, narrowing the lists, and then interviewing to get a gut feel for who was right. But the questions we asked our candidates, unlike the questions on a scientifically constructed personality test, were unlikely to elicit answers truly indicative of what they were like. What we were doing, essentially, was looking at prospective employees through our own biased perspectives. Those of us who were linear thinkers tended to want to hire linear thinkers; those of us who were lateral thinkers tended to want to hire lateral thinkers. We all thought the type we chose would perform best in all jobs, and as a result we weren’t able to accurately predict who would succeed and who would fail in our very unusual environment. As a result, we continued to make a lot of bad hires. Eventually we learned from our mistakes and failures that we could improve our hiring results in two ways: 1) by always being crisp and clear on exactly what kind of person we were looking for, and 2) by developing our vocabulary for and means of evaluating people’s abilities at a much more granular level. This chapter lays out in detail the principles we’ve learned for doing this. While we still make too many hiring mistakes, we have significantly reduced the odds of making them by following these processes, which we continually try to improve. #principleoftheday

State of the product job market: 1. There’s indeed a shift to hiring more senior PMs 2. Remote PM jobs are shrinking fast (down 35% from peak, and still shrinking) 3. More than one in five open PM roles is based in the San Francisco Bay Area (and still growing) 4. Bengaluru, India, is now the most popular location outside the U.S. for PM roles 5. The three most common hard skills that hiring managers are looking for from PMs are SQL, Jira, and experience with LLMs 6. The fastest-shrinking roles right now are diversity and scrum masters 7. Machine-learning engineers and data engineers are the most in-demand tech functions right now This analysis is based on exclusive data from two companies that I’m partnering with: 1. TrueUp, which tracks new job openings across all tech companies globally 2. Live Data Technologies, which tracks job changes (hires, departures, and promotions) across all companies in the U.S. Combining these two data sources reveals a whole new perspective on what’s really happening in the job market. Loads more surprises and insights in the full post: https://lnkd.in/gjArRAXm I’m going to continue tracking job market data and sharing regular updates on what’s changing in the product hiring market every few months or so. If there’s any data or questions you want us to dig into, please let me know in the comments.

Your B2B social isn’t boring, it’s just predictable 🥱 The biggest problem in B2B marketing is that everyone feels the need to do things the “B2B way”, which results in a blur of endless webinar graphics and glossy product animations… But, the brands that are winning on social right now are the ones who do things 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺, and subvert audience’s expectations of what B2B should look like. And no, not just by creating memes. Here are some simple ways to make your B2B social less predictable 👇 — 😴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳: a boring product graphic 🎤 𝗧𝗿𝘆: an interview with the person who built it ↳ Grab a quick vertical video with your phone and a mini mic, or share the back and forth in a carousel if they’re not comfortable on camera. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? People love to hear from people. Let your employees share the great work they’ve been doing and highlight the benefits it’ll bring to your users. 😴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳: “we are excited to announce…” 👀 𝗧𝗿𝘆: sharing something that went wrong ↳ I know, it sounds very “cringey LinkedInfluencer” but stay with me. Imagine sharing a customer complaint that led to building your best loved feature, or a Slack blunder that gave the team a good laugh. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? Brands are always striving for perfection, but audience have shown time and time again that they love things that are a bit messy. Listen to them! 😴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳: a blurry, out of context webinar clip 🧠 𝗧𝗿𝘆: expanding on the idea (crazy, right!) ↳ Does anyone actually watch those clips? If you want to get people watching on-demand, try a talking-head video where you share an interesting quote and explore it further. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? It’s a way to still recycle that webinar clip but in a format that’s actually optimised for social, and is more interesting to consume. 😴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳: a copy & paste “3 easy tips” carousel 🧑🎨 𝗧𝗿𝘆: having fun with formats ↳ Don’t get me wrong, I love a carousel. But instead of rehashing the same layout over and over, try being creative and exploring new ways to use them. 𝗪𝗵𝘆? Your audience is overwhelmed with content. If you want to stop them mid-scroll, you’ll need to stand out rather than fit in. — Which cliché B2B posts would you get rid of, and what would you replace them with? Lmk in the comments 💬