Sean Walters

Work

The Great Leap Forward. Or Backward.

You have to admit; it really is an incredible time to be alive. My Grandad flew RAF bombers during the Second World War. And apart from firebombing the innocent women and children of Dresden, it was the most vivid and defining time of his life. Plucked from a working class…

Sean WaltersApril 3, 2020

Employment Human Resources Politics

A Seemingly Unpopular Opinion on a Global Pandemic

I want to blog about self-isolation. Actually, tell a lie. I'd rather talk about almost anything else. Unfortunately, like Basil Fawlty not mentioning the war to the Germans, it's very difficult to write a blog this week that isn't about Covid-19. However, following on from my previous blog, I still…

Sean WaltersMarch 20, 2020

Employment Human Resources Politics Recruitment

Recruiters – Just Hang On In There

There's a fantastic scene in Forrest Gump. In it, after promising an army buddy on his death bed that he'd set up a shrimping business, Forrest fritters away his savings on a boat. Due to over-fishing from the competition, day after day, all they catch is the occasional gumboot. Then…

Sean WaltersMarch 13, 2020

Employment Human Resources Recruitment

Truly Terrible Recruitment Agency Ideas

Many years ago, I had the idea of creating a meat-flavoured fizzy beverage in a can. Y’know, for those moments when you want the refreshment and sugar rush of a cola, but also the comfort of some good old fashioned home cooking. Sadly, interest in “Lambonade” was weak to say…

Sean WaltersMarch 6, 2020

Human Resources

The problem with References

I love the sound of references being taken. Like the first sight of a rain cloud to a Waikato dairy farmer, it heralds an imminent change of circumstances. Thankfully here at Rice HQ we've had a bumper week, so there's been plenty of "for the purposes of the privacy act..."…

Sean WaltersFebruary 21, 2020

Employment Recruitment

The Most Important Trait of a Successful Recruiter

Maybe it’s the time of year, but I’m still in a thoughtful mood. As I was trying to kick-start my own desk for 2020, I got to thinking about what it really was that I needed to do to make some goddam placements. I asked myself: What single trait, characteristic,…

Sean WaltersFebruary 7, 2020

Recruitment

10 Predictable Predictions for Recruitment in 2020

Apologies for the slightly clichéd blog topic today. Y'see, this is my first blog of the year following two straight months of babysitting my partner's family who have been visiting from the UK. And two months of best behaviour and living cheek-by-jowl with the in-laws is certainly enough to give…

Sean WaltersJanuary 24, 2020

Employment Politics Recruitment

Have you got a seedy past? Don’t worry. So have I.

Judging by my Facebook, Election fever has reached boiling point in the UK. Talking about politics via social media is always a race to the bottom, and if you stick around a thread long enough, someone will demonstrate a surprising level of Islamophobia, "friends" will be deleted, and eventually, at…

Sean WaltersDecember 13, 2019

Recruitment

Commission Critical

Trying to define and then describe the internal culture of a recruitment company is always a nebulous activity. Not until you visit an office do you get a "feel" for what is really happening behind the scenes. And even after this client visit, we still describe what we see in…

Sean WaltersNovember 15, 2019

Employment

What Not to Wear

"I'll teach you. I'll teach you to cover your arms and not be such a lazy, tattooed oaf." Bob Walker, October 2019, Rice HQ The above broadside was aimed at me last week by the inimitable Bob Walker. Bob's been spending a bit of time at Rice Towers recently, working…

Sean WaltersNovember 1, 2019