Nick Corcodilos: Top Management Authority, Author, Writer, Speaker, and Headhunter

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Nick Corcodilos.

Nick Corcodilos is the host of Ask The Headhunter® and author of How to Work with Headhunters (2009).

Nick is also the author of Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing The Interview to Win The Job (Plume, 1997), the #1-selling interview guide on Amazon for 26 consecutive months. (Also published in several foreign editions.)

Nick started headhunting in 1979 in one of America's most competitive job markets: California's Silicon Valley. Using the methods described in his book and on the ATH blog, he has helped people win management and staff jobs in companies including IBM, GE, Hewlett-Packard and Merrill Lynch.

Featured in The Wall Street Journal, Reader's Digest, USA Today, The New York Times, Fast Company, Working Woman, on CNN, CNBC and MSNBC, Nick's iconoclastic techniques for job search, hiring and career development are used by job hunters and employers alike. Publishers including IDG, CNet and CMP Media have licensed Nick's work for use by their millions of members in the fields of information technology and electronics engineering. Since 2008, Ask The Headhunter features have been distributed worldwide by Universal Press Syndicate.

The Ask The Headhunter approach to job hunting and hiring has been recognized by management gurus including Peter Drucker and Tom Peters.

President of North Bridge Group, Inc., Nick Corcodilos has been retained by companies including AT&T, Merrill Lynch, Becton Dickinson, and Procter & Gamble to teach managers to recruit and hire more effectively, and to help groom employees for promotions and career transition. Companies using his books as a hiring tool include Disney, Marriott, Microsoft, Merrill Lynch and the U.S. Government.

Nick holds a Bachelors Degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Rutgers College where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar, and a Masters in Cognitive Psychology from Stanford University (where his academic bent was quickly corrupted by the Biz School and Silicon Valley). He plays music (keyboard and guitar), and enjoys Chi Gung and T'ai Chi, backpacking and kayaking. He loves his work, but would rather be in Alberta climbing big rocks.

To learn more, go to: www.asktheheadhunter.com/whoisnick.htm.

You can listen to Nick in his latest Microsoft TechNet Webinar (select the Selling Yourself tab): http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/cc837417.aspx

WEB: www.asktheheadhunter.com
BOOK: "How to Work with Headhunters"
LATEST BOOK: "How Can I Change Careers?"

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

The latest blog on the interview can be found in the IT Managers Connection (IMC) forum where you can provide your comments in an interactive dialogue.
http://blogs.technet.com/cdnitmanagers/

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic
:00:35:		Looking back, what were your biggest career challenges and why? "....My biggest challenge was figuring out how to get out of academia and into the business world...."
:01:58:		What were your biggest career wins and why? "....Shedding the fear of getting into the business world and trying something completely different....Turning my headhunting business into a publishing business...."
:03:18:		What are your key messages in the Microsoft Webinar delivered in September 2009? "It's less a question of looking at yourself and selling who you are and it's more about identifying what the problem is and reaching into your skill set and figuring out how to sell that...."
:04:56:		How has your work evolved since we last chatted and can you profile the services you currently offer? "....I've written my second book in twelve years....I wrote a new book called 'How to Work with Headhunters and How to get Headhunters to Work for You'...."
:08:06:		How do you view the current job landscape? "....The job landscape for those who are very good at what they do never really changes....The best companies out there, even if they are laying people off out of one door (for whatever reason) continue to hire top quality people in through the other door because they are not expecting to go out of business...."
:09:45:		Provide your predictions of the job market in 2009, 2010, and 2011? "....I think rather than being afraid of what's happening...ask yourself, what are you really best at and what motivates you the most, then pursue opportunities in that direction. I think it's almost irrelevant where the so-called job market is going...."
:10:40:		What are some longer term work trends? "....I think more people will be working from their homes. More people will be working as contractors. More people will be working for multiple companies at a time, providing specific kinds of expertise....Jobs are not going to be as traditional as they have been...."
:11:49:		Tell us more about your latest book and why it is a must read today. "....When a company retains a headhunter what they are really paying for is not the résumés of the candidates, they are paying for that headhunter's personal contact. What I try to teach in the book is how to use and exploit (in a positive way) the personal contacts that you can develop out in the professional world. Headhunters tend to be hubs of great contacts...."
:14:33:		What role do headhunters play in the current economy in filling jobs? "....They act as the first level filter, the personal contact who brings the credible candidate into a company...."
:15:37:		How should the audience incorporate headhunters in their career development strategy? "....A headhunter can be a valuable tool but you don't call headhunters, they call you. You need to be someone who is visible enough that headhunters will recognize you out in the market....."
:17:28:		What are some "gotchas" about working with headhunters that can cause problems? "....Knowing whether you are working with a good headhunter or an unsavory individual who is out to make a quick buck. What I talk about in the book is there is a list of qualifiers that help people to figure out whether you are dealing with someone credible - and some of tips are so fundamental that people just don't think about it...."
:19:00:		Can you give us some good tips about how to making working with a headhunter most profitable for a job hunter? "....Check the headhunter's references....Establish some ground rules....Know how to negotiate with a headhunter...."
:21:06:		Headhunters are paid by their employer clients. How can I ensure that a headhunter is acting in my interest, too? "....The best headhunters out there really earn their living and develop their business not so much by having great client companies but by having good credible access to the pool of professionals in the community that they recruit from...."
:22:16:		Nick shares some stories and experiences from his work.
:25:35:		Provide your predictions of future trends and their implications/opportunities? "....If you are really good at what you do there are some fantastic opportunities out there..."
:26:14:		Which are your top recommended resources and why? "....Ask the Headhunter....LinkedIn....Richard Bolles' 'What Color is your Parachute' is a good tool....Mentoring....Go hang out with people who do the kind of work you want to do. That's the best way to network and to get in the door and find the opportunities...."
:27:43:		If you were doing this interview, what added question would you ask and then what would be your answer? "....'What's the single best way to find the job you really want to do?'...."