We have all been inundated with ways to use the social media to hire, improve our brand, and market. But are we missing something? The Alexander Group's Beth Ehrgott takes a different view.

While the hype of social media keeps populating, I hope that the impact generated from in-person conversations is not forgotten. Nothing takes the place of human contact and discussion, whether it is a formally scheduled meeting with a potential client, a ...

Executive search professionals don't always have the luxury of a long time-line when planning business trips - often schedules change and re-change, resulting in last-minute flight and hotel arrangements...a recent trip to Detroit provides a good example...

It started to hit me right after I exited to the street and closed the cab door. Tires screeching, the driver bolted down the road, away from the desolate area and into the night like a stock ...

We got quite a few comments as a result of our Holiday card which allowed our friends to select one of three charities for us to make a donation in their name.

Many of them liked the card:

"That is one of the best and most thoughtful Holiday messages I have ever seen. Well done".

"Many thanks for the kind holiday greeting and the chance to select a charity. This is the right message for ...

Not "a-nice-hot-chocolate-would-just-hit-the-spot" kind of cold, but a "somehow-I-fell-asleep-and-woke-upon-the-Moon" cold, a "Southern-Californian-found-frozen, gnawed-to-irrecognition-by-wolves-and-identifiedby-dental-records" cold.

If you've ever been up at dawn, in the dead of winter, in the heart of Big Sky country, chiseling through an inch of ice grafted to the windshield of your 4-cylinder rental car, desperately trying to get out of town before
a blizzard hits, you know what I'm talking about.

Gloveless and wearing the same suit and woefully inadequate ...

Ten Random Things You Probably Didn't Know About The Alexander Group... The Highs and Lows

The Alexander Group, founded in 1983, is proud of its long term client relationships, innovative fee structure, and creative and tenacious research-based approach to executive search. Okay, you can learn all of that from our marketing materials, but how about a few fun facts that you won't find in a glossy brochure. We present to you ten random ...

This year I had the opportunity to conduct a couple of searches in international locations that never would have been on my radar. Well one city in particular...Lagos, Nigeria. When I met with the client, a global energy company, to discuss the search and heard "Lagos" I thought, "Yep, this is why they called me." We discussed the strategy to find this person, a Vice President & Global Controller, and I suggested "expat" to which ...

It was quite a surprise several weeks ago when Ben Bernanke announced that the recession was likely over. Yea! ... Really? I must confess my skepticism at the news. True, we've certainly seen things pick up in the executive recruiting world as companies apparently decide that they can't hold their breath forever. But I still hear daily from friends, colleagues, professional acquaintances, and strangers about their interest in finding their next "opportunity"...read, find ...

Last week, we received the following email:

"John, you and I met over a year ago during the course of my firm's Chief Financial Officer search, where I was the internal candidate. While I was not chosen for the position, you communicated often during the course of the search and told me that, regardless of whether I was selected, I was a valuable asset. When I was not selected, you also told me that ...

At The Alexander Group we encourage our employees to reach beyond their boundaries, give, and have fun. The following is one employee's experience in trying to achieve these three goals.

Five years ago, just a few months after I'd made a career move to The Alexander Group, I attended my 5th college reunion at Hollins University in beautiful Roanoke, Virginia. A relaxing weekend filled soaking in the surrounding Blue Ridge Mountains and congregating ...

Perhaps you've read about my distinct belief that the executive search industry has been neglected, unrightfully so, in the world of television programming. No? You can read about that here. I stand firm by this belief. The TAG Chronicles would be a surefire hit. John Lamar's travel sagas alone, shot well with right action special effects, would make for a fine 9pm spot on CBS. I'm thinking explosions and high speed chases ...

In January, while the economy was in free fall, taking a European vacation seemed irresponsible. Nevertheless, one of my "bucket list" trips was a September European cruise with golf included. We hesitantly signed up but were so conflicted that we "forgot" to send our deposit. As a result, when the economy started improving and we resumed our dream of cruising, we discovered the cruise was sold out and would sail without us. Undeterred, we paid ...

As many of you remember, Charles Kerault was the king of telling America's stories from the road. John Lamar, Managing Director of The Alexander Group, is not Charles Kerault, yet his missives as a Road Warrior are an entertaining peek at the drudgery of business travel.

My last stint on the road was a page from the Murphy's Law travel playbook. What could have gone wrong did, and then was compounded by a ...

Social networking has changed the landscape of the way people communicate, both personally and professionally. It's also changed when and how people stay connected with family, friends, and colleagues. Over the years, companies have tried to keep up with the times, creating guidelines about, say, time spent chatting at the water cooler or on personal phone calls, or the permissibility of personal e-mails. But what happens when, once again, the business environment changes, personal ...

I'm not much on New Year's resolutions. Don't like making promises I'm not likely to keep. But my dilemma was weighing on me and it had been for years. That seemingly never depleted list of calls to be returned. It's a perpetual game of phone tag, where at least one party, if not both, quickly and sometimes repeatedly ends up in a kind of voicemail purgatory. And, thanks to that ...

There is no such thing as a typical business trip for a road warrior. Last month The Alexander Group Managing Director, John Lamar traveled from Houston to Nashville to Newark. How difficult could it be? Here is his account:

The morning starts out with a flight from Houston to Nashville. I notice that the pilot of my Express Jet is reading "Us Weekly", which keeps him busy for more than 15 minutes. This shot ...

Two weeks ago, we wrote a blog interviewing executives about what they foresaw in 2010. We asked for responses. The following is a sampling:

"I am optimistic and am hopeful that the national economic downturn is
going to ease. I think that the stimulus package and the government's response will gain traction and I am hopeful that we will be off to the races in 2010." Steve Tragash, Vice President of Corporate Affairs for ...

I have wanted to write something about my 40th high school reunion last weekend in Mountain Brook, Alabama. But what does a reunion have to do with the executive search world? Why would people who read our blog for observations and advice on leadership, recruiting, and search want to read a blog about a bunch of 58-year-olds cavorting together after 40 years? One of my colleagues said, "After all, it is our blog-we can write ...

"Never mind next year, I am wondering what will happen tomorrow," said one Senior Vice President of Administration for a major public company. He continues, "We're all waiting for someone else to take the next step and start spending." True, we all seem to be the boys and girls with shaking knees at the dance wondering who is going to be the first out on the floor. When asking about the future, common responses ...

Your state can't pass its budget, your 401K looks like a ski jump minus the lift at the end, and your favorite contestant on So You Think You Can Dance just got the boot. Sure, the Dow has reached an eight month high, but it's not exactly time to bust out the champagne... you figure that news is as good as learning that you only need a massive cavity filled as opposed to ...

Last week we wrote about people who impressed us. Here is some of the feedback we received.

Diane Gallo, Human Resources Executive
The good news is there are lots of impressive candidates and over the years I have been privileged to meet many. Some of the stand outs for me include a defector from a communist country who came here alone, worked in manual labor, studied English and became an electrical engineer. Another interviewee lost ...

We have met with tens of thousands of people over the past 25 years--clients, prospective clients, candidates, network sources. Some of the meetings were bad--really bad, most were good and some were so good that we remember them years later. Here are some of our memories.

Someone who is flexible always makes a good impression. We have had candidates who took time away from attending professional conferences to meet with us and our clients. We ...

A search firm and client can spend 15 minutes or 15 hours drafting a position specification, but it can emerge a useless document either way. A well-crafted spec is the foundation stone upon which a successful search is built. Without the right approach and investment of effort - clearly assessing, defining, and communicating the opportunity - the entire search risks collapse down the road.

"I once had a search firm take a job description our human resources ...

Beth Ehrgott is Director of the firm's New York office. Beth has 22 years of executive search experience. Prior to joining The Alexander Group, she spent two years as head of talent acquisition for Europe/ROW for Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics. Beth shares her thoughts about the difference between working in an in-house staffing role and with an executive search firm.

How has your corporate staffing experience shaped your approach to executive search?

Once you ...

Questions, we get questions. "What should I do?" "Who should our company hire?" "How should our company structure this position?"

The most important question of the week is not any of the above. Not surprisingly the question is "how can I help my son or daughter who is a recent college graduate get a job?" One recent report indicates that only 22% of college graduates have secured jobs this year. Although this is not our ...

Welcome to the newly fashioned website for The Alexander Group. We are delighted by and proud of our new Internet home, and hope that you found (quickly) what you've been looking for. If you haven't, well, please feel free to offer some (kindly worded) constructive feedback.

We also introduce to you a newly fashioned and just plain new TAG blog. We hope that with this page we can give you a more interactive ...