For the past year Hawthorne Executive Search (HES) has been working with Century Payments, the excusive credit processing/merchant services provider in the United States for Royal Bank of Scotland to help them grow and develop their sales teams.  Century Payments has been backed by leading venture capital group Austin Ventures, and offers its customers credit card processing, gift cards, loyalty marketing programs and electronic check verification.  Initially HES has been working with Century to help them build a nationwide sales organization that will service the local SMB marketplace. ... (read more)

On my recruiters blog http://jobsnwork.wordpress.com, I recently posted what I think is some good news not only for job seekers butalso for this industry as it could (note key word:could) signal the bleeding may have stoppedin this tough economy (linkto blog).

A key sign in any rougheconomy is the status of the job market. It’s real simple math here - the financial health of the U.S. is crucialto lifting the economy out of recession, as consumer spending accounts forabout 70% of all economic activity.Ifpeo ... (read more)

By Ken Clark, VP - Business Development, Hawthorne Executive Search

At the recent Yellow Pages Association conference , I held a workshop to cover several key subjects directly related to the status of employment in the industry. First, I provided the results of our third annual survey of Yellow Pages industry local sales and sales management employees to gauge their view about their current jobs. In t ... (read more)

By Robert Hawthorne, Founder – Hawthorne Executive Search

If you listened to the mainstream media you would assume that no one was hiring, that the majority of Americans were cashing unemployment checks on a weekly basis, and bread lines will soon be forming in most major cities. While it is true that certain sectors have been devastated, most notably financial services and construction, the overall job landscape is down, but not totally bleak.

At read more)

Ken Clark – Hawthorne Executive Search

The title of this article may sound a little strange given the higher overall unemployment resulting from a tough economy. Yet even in rougher economic times, every business has to continue to work hard to retain their top people.

Robert Hawthorne from Hawthorne Executive Search gave a presentation at the recent Kelsey Group conference (link to conference review), and in his presentation he focused on a recent sales survey tha ... (read more)

By Ken Clark, Hawthorne Executive Search

Careful. They are watching. Is your cubicle plastered with Post-it notes or neat as a pin? Do you prominently display or discretely position family photographs? A green plant fanatic? How about those recent little toy give-aways from Burger King – do you have the whole set? You may not know it, but your workspace could be saying a lot of things about your personality.

Analysising personal workspace characteristics aren’t a new thing. Did you know that ... (read more)

By Ken Clark, VP – Business Development, Hawthorne Executive Search

At the recent Yellow Pages Association conference, I held a workshop to cover several key subjects directly related to the status of employment in the industry.

First, I provided the results of our annual survey of Yellow Pages industry employees to gauge their view about their current jobs. In last year’s survey, resul ... (read more)

By Ken Clark, Hawthorne Executive Search

Americans are becoming a very dull lot. We have a reputation of all work and no play. We actually receive less vacation time on average than our peers in many other countries. Worse yet, most people don't even take the time they are allotted. Howard Shapiro, writing for the Philadelphia Inquirer recently wrote that Americans gave up a stunning 438 million vacation days which they failed to take in 2007. T ... (read more)

By Robert Hawthorne, President - Hawthorne Executive Search

The Regional Sales Manager for the Midwest has taken a job with a competitor. The seat has been open for two months, the sales force is losing focus, key clients are uncertain about the company’s direction, and the ideal candidate is dying for the job, just waiting for an offer.

You would think that the story has a happy ending, with the candidate getting the offer, the company being proactive in filling the position with a top manager, and the sales force getting the d ... (read more)

By Robert Hawthorne, President - Hawthorne Executive Search

At the upcoming Kelsey Group’s Directory Driven Commerce 2007 conference (DDC2007: The Future of Yellow Pages), which takes place in Reston, Virginia next week, I will have a unique opportunity to address the Yellow Pages community on a topic that is near and dear to every publisher in this industry – what are the sales reps, the people are so critical to their future business really thinking about. This ar ... (read more)