Jennifer McClure`

Helping Leaders Leverage Influence & Create Maximum Impact.

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Invest in Your Career – Sign Up for The Career Summit!

Five years ago next month, I was fired from my job.

It wasn’t a surprise. I knew my day was coming. In fact, I’d been suggesting the demise of my position for quite awhile. I’d even been encouraged by my CEO to look for a job while still on the payroll – since it was only a matter of time before the axe would fall after the sale of the company where I worked.

But I didn’t do anything to find a new job.

In some sort of Gen X loyalty play gone awry – I told myself it would be wrong to look for a job while still having a job.

Dummy -> Me.

Go ahead. Judge me. (You know you want to).

Now stop judging me. (It’s not nice.)

The truth is, I had quite a few reasons excuses that were causing my career paralysis, including:

  • I’d been “too busy” focusing on what needed to be done in my day job and had developed very few professional relationships outside of my current company.
  • As an Introvert, I found the very thought of “networking” to be exhausting.
  • Job boards, applicant tracking systems – and even email (gasp!) – were all new pieces in the job search puzzle since I’d last looked for a job.
  • I was burned out and not sure what I wanted to do next. (A start up, three high growth environments and one successful turnaround & subsequent company sale can do that to a person.)

So I stuck my head in the sand and I did nothing.

Until the day I was invited to leave.

Once I was forced to confront the process, I reached out to some really smart and wonderful people – including one awesome Career Coach – who shared their expertise, thoughts and advice with me. And with their help I was able to learn how to follow a process for building relationships (i.e. networking) that helped me to identify and connect with the “right” people and even find the courage to try something new in my career – which involved a change that wasn’t even close to being on my radar. Ever.

In other words – it took a Village (of Experts) to help me get my career back on track and headed in the right direction. And I’m grateful for the career wake-up call that getting fired gave me. It’s one of the best things that has ever happened to me. For real.


Maybe you’re stuck in your own version of an Ostrich Moment. If so, then check out The Career Summit – starting online October 26th and running weekly through November 17th. There, you can access your own Village (of Experts) who can help if you are:

  • unsure about how to develop an effective online presence and navigating “job search 2.0”.
  • confused about how to deal with HR and Recruiters (who isn’t?).
  • currently employed and looking to figure out your next career step on the down low.
  • dissatisfied in your current job, but unsure what you want to do next.
  • currently employed and find it difficult to attend seminars or webinars that are held during work hours.

This really is a great opportunity and I’m excited that my friends Laurie Ruettimann and Mark Stelzner have pulled together a stellar cast of characters to help you in your career journey.

I encourage you to register and join us online for the weekly live presentations, or access the recordings as often as you like via the archives. By signing up, you’ll also have access to several free career resources, books and articles.

You can even be proactive about managing your career by eating Cheetos while listening in your pajamas if you want. And you don’t have to get fired to start the process.

How cool is that?

*p.s. – Don’t miss my Session on November 10th at 3pm ET – “Great Brands, Great HR: Demystify the Recruiting Process” – where I’ll be interviewing Richard Cho – Recruiting Lead at Facebook, Jeremy Langhans – Senior Recruiter | Talent Engagement at Starbucks and Heather McGough – HR & Recruiting Professional at Microsoft.  We’re going to break down what happens in the hiring process and how job seekers can get noticed by recruiters, HR pros and hiring managers. It’s going to be awesome! 🙂




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Join Me: The Lost Art of Interviewing – FREE Webinar 9 23 2010

As someone who has spent their entire career sourcing, recruiting, interviewing, selecting and hiring candidates, you’d think I would have learned a thing or two about how to interview well.

But it’s one thing to be the interviewer – and another to be the interviewee. Like most people, I’ve had my share of interviews where I left feeling like I had nailed it – and I may have bombed at least once. I blame Canada. Just because.

But for you – there’s hope! I’m honored to be one of the panelists in a FREE webinar on Thursday, September 23, 2010, where we’ll be sharing tips, hints, do’s and don’ts on the “art” of interviewing.

For more information about the webinar and people involved, see below. For more details and to register – go HERE.

Also be sure to check out more of what’s coming in the future from Mark Stelzner, Laurie Ruettimann and Yasha Stelzner through New Media Services, LLC. They are the Voice of HR. They are the Voice of Careers. Basically, they’ve got you covered!

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The Lost Art of Interviewing

Thursday, September 23, 2010
Noon EST | 9:00am PST

You’ve used all the tools at your disposal, networked until your hands were sore, revised your resume a hundred times, survived the online application process, passed the personality assessments and FINALLY landed a job interview. But did you save enough energy to make the most of this rare occasion?

Let’s face facts – with competition for jobs at an all-time high, how you perform during your interview can either be your shining moment or result in complete self-destruction. The bad news for many is that interviewing is the weakest link in their career arsenal. The good news for you is that we’ve assembled a terrific panel of experts who can offer pragmatic advice and answer your most common questions, including:

  • How do I best prepare for an interview?
  • What are today’s employers likely to ask?
  • What can I (the applicant) ask during the interview process?
  • What are some of the more common mistakes to avoid?

Moderated by JobAngels Founder Mark Stelzner, our panel will address these items and more, including an opportunity for you to pose your own questions directly to our experts. Please welcome recruiting and HR experts Jennifer McClure, Deirdre Honner and John Nykolaiszyn as they help you rediscover the lost art of interviewing. And if you’re on Twitter, please follow our hashtag #voc10 to participate real-time with your fellow attendees. This is sure to be a popular event so sign up today!

Our Distinguished Panel

Jennifer McClure is President of Unbridled Talent, LLC a Cincinnati based consulting firm providing services to clients in the areas of attracting, recruiting, developing & retaining key talent in their organizations. Jennifer is passionate about helping businesses to improve their people strategies through providing consulting and training services and she’s also a popular speaker who is regularly engaged to present at conferences, associations and to HR, Recruiting and leadership teams at a variety of organizations – including Fortune 100 clients. Prior to launching her own consulting business, Jennifer led the life of a full-time Human Resources Pro with leadership and executive-level experience in privately held and Fortune 500 companies and also worked as an Executive Recruiter and Executive Coach partnering with C-level leaders to find, recruit and develop key leadership talent. She writes frequently about a variety of talent management topics on her personal blog Unbridled Talent and can be found on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

John Nykolaiszyn is an accomplished human resources professional living and working in South Florida. He started his recruiting career working for The Maxim Group, a division of Aerotek. Capitalizing on a unique opportunity for growth, he joined a boutique firm in 1999, becoming a partner in 2000. He then made a successful transition into corporate HR in two very challenging industries, healthcare and quick service restaurants. He’s been a senior recruiter at one of Miami’s largest private, teaching hospitals and a generalist at a high tech laboratory startup owned by one of the largest private hospital chains in the country. In addition to his corporate recruiting responsibilities at Burger King Corporation, he was a key member for promoting the employment brand in the social space. John is now an Associate Director at Florida International University where he is responsible for representing the College of Business Administration to employers on a local, national and yes, even international level. John’s direct recruiting background totals over twelve years. He has an MS in Health Services Administration from Barry University, and is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR). An avid reader, and lifelong learner, John also writes about his professional and personal experiences at his blog; “Fast Food HR”. In his spare time, you’ll find John spending time with his wife and daughter, smoking cigars, and cooking or grilling on his deck. John can also be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Deirdre Honner is the Associate Director of Human Resources at Calvin College in Grand Rapids MI. Joining the college in 2001, she is responsible for staffing, training and development, immigration, classification, HRIS and employee relations. Prior to Calvin College, she worked in human resources in southern California for a large semiconductor company; and spent years in staffing and training and development. She is active on all social networking sites and writes three blogs. She has a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and has received the SPHR (senior professional Human Resources) certification. When not writing about HR or technology, she usually has a camera in her hand. Deirdre can be found on Twitter and LinkedIn.

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What Are the Best Interview Questions to Identify Leadership Potential?

Question In my role as a Consultant focused on recruiting, coaching and developing Leaders, I think I know a good Leader when I see (i.e. get to know) one. This super-power comes from a combination of my experiences – I’ve worked with several great Leaders and I’ve also had exposure to some pretty bad ones too – and the formal and informal training that I’ve received throughout my career.

However, sometimes for me – and I’ve certainly seen it with hiring managers and clients – it’s hard to guard against that “gut feel” you get when you just know that someone has what it takes to be a successful leader. In short, we’ve all fallen victim to the “I just like ’em” syndrome that almost never is a predictor of actual results.

Recently, Dan McCarthy shared Three Questions for Potential Managers to Ask Themselves over on his blog Great Leadership. While the three questions Dan posed are good ones an aspiring leader should ponder before pursuing a managerial role (“Why do I want to be a Manager?”, “Do I have what it takes to be successful?” and “What do I want to become?”), I found the listing he shared of predictors of leadership success to be of particular interest. Here’s a snippet from Dan’s post:

We know there are certain skills and attributes that can be demonstrated in a non-managerial role, that if done well, are predictors of managerial success. For example, Development Dimensions International (DDI) has developed a set of criteria that they say will accurately predict executive success, based on their own experience and research, and research by others.

According to DDI, the “right stuff” for future managerial success includes:

  1. Propensity to lead. They step up to leadership opportunities
  2. They bring out the best in others
  3. Authenticity. They have integrity, admit mistakes, and don’t let their egos get in their way
  4. Receptivity to feedback. They seek out and welcome feedback
  5. Learning agility
  6. Adaptability. Adaptability reflects a person’s skill at juggling competing demands and adjusting to new situations and people. A keyhere is maintaining an unswerving, “can do” attitude in the face ofchange
  7. Navigates ambiguity. This trait enables people to simplify complex issues and make decisions without having all the facts
  8. Conceptual thinking. Like great chess players and baseball managers,the best leaders always have the big picture in mind. Their ability to think two, three, or more moves ahead is what separates them from competitors
  9. Cultural fit
  10. Passion for results

Try assessing yourself against this list of criteria. Better yet, ask your manager and others to assess you. If you’re lacking in any key areas, that’s OK – most of these things can be improved with awareness, practice, and feedback. Other management skills are learned and mastered once in the role and with experience.

While I think most would agree that no checklist of characteristics will be a 100% predictor of future success as a Leader, I like using this approach as a starting point for both individual assessment and for developing some interview questions when selecting individuals for leadership roles. I can think of several ways to get at these qualities through the ever popular “Tell me about a time..” behavioral interviewing questions, but I’m not a big fan of interviews that rely solely upon those types of questions – especially with non-skilled interviewers.

I’m interested in your feedback and ideas in regards to the questions that you ask candidates, or have been asked as a candidate, to identify potential for success as a Leader. What questions would you suggest asking in an interview to assess the leadership qualities listed above?

Hit me in the Comments section with the best questions that either you are asking or have heard and let’s do some crowd-sourcing to come up with a great list. And it’s o.k. to share your best “Tell me about a time…” questions too – just be sure to use them wisely.

Question Mark uploaded by Marco Belluco

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Your Interview Process – Too Hot, Too Cold or Just Right?

Fistful_of_talentToday over on Fistful of Talent, I share the true story of an interview for a senior level candidate gone wrong (only the name has been changed to protect the innocent), as well as some suggestions for companies and recruiters to ensure that their interview process enables them to attract top talent.

Check out my post to learn how the 2008 version Goldilocks (of Goldilocks and The Three Bears fame) needs to be treated in order to find your interview process “just right”.

I’d love for you to add your comments, additions  or suggestions to the post as well!

I’m thrilled to be a part of the motley crew over at FOT – a smart and generally snarky gang of Recruiters, HR, Consultants and Corporate types who share information, opinions and occasional rants on all things related to Talent Management. Our fearless leader is Kris Dunn – The HR Capitalist – who is to blame has been a big supporter to me in getting the Unbridled Talent blog off the ground.

If you haven’t already subscribed to Fistful of Talent and The HR Capitalist… well what are you waiting for? Click on the links, follow the instructions and add both to your RSS feed or subscribe via email today!

On some days, you’ll thank me. 🙂

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