Essays and insights from the work.
← Writing March 2026 Job boards create depression. Job boards create depression. I’ve talked about writing this post for years. With candidates in transition. With leaders trying to understand their talent pool. With anyone who’d listen. I’d say “this is the post I need to write.” Well, it’s time. If your shoulders just dropped reading…
← Writing March 2026 The most important work I do doesn’t happen in a search. Some of the most important work I do doesn’t happen in a search. It happens in a conversation with someone who has forgotten who they are. Think about the last time you came home from work with more energy than…
← Writing March 2026 The strongest leaders share one trait. Accountability. The strongest leaders I’ve worked with share one trait consistently. Accountability. It’s also the thing I’ve most often seen break them. I spoke with four leaders this week. Different industries. Different organizations. Different situations on the surface. Same story underneath. Each of them is…
Stop overcorrecting. When people tell me why they’re leaving, I don’t believe the first answer. Usually not the second one either. Because it’s almost never one thing. It’s a pile of things. Ego. Fatigue. Money. Boredom. Resentment. A bad boss. Lost confidence. Real ambition. Fake urgency. So I keep digging. Even when I’m the one…
I named Hawthorne Recruitment after the street I live on. Before I launched, I’d walk around Banook Lake most days at lunch, working through the business. Some of it was big thinking. What’s broken in this industry. How I’d do it differently. Some of it was wondering how many steps it takes to offset an…
Am I staying because this is still right, or because I have gotten too good at explaining why it is not wrong? You know the answer before you admit it. You know it every Sunday night. You know it in the way you edit yourself before you speak. I had a candidate say it out…
Nobody writes this in a LinkedIn announcement: “Thrilled to accept a role that sounds impressive, pays well, and slowly turns me into someone my family avoids between 6 and 8 p.m.” A lot of people are living it. Salary is easy to compare. Title is easy to congratulate. Both hide the cost. I get the…
You didn’t get the job. Maybe they told you why. Maybe they told you nothing at all. And if they did give you feedback, there’s a decent chance it was abstract nonsense. “Too Toronto.” “Didn’t align with the culture.” “We went with someone who had an MBA.” Some of it may be true. Little of…
Care less. This is one of the most annoying pieces of career advice I give to high performers. Someone is frustrated with leadership. Or misaligned with their boss. Or angry about how slow things move. Or carrying way more than their job actually requires. And I’ll say: “I know how to fix this. Care less.”…
The biggest driver of retention isn’t compensation. It’s trust. I’ve had hundreds of conversations with candidates who would be a strong fit for an opportunity. Better title. Better compensation. Real upside. They say no. Politely. Cite timing. When I get curious and probe a bit, nobody says it the same way. But it usually lands…