Talent Tips

Talent Tip #176: The Annual Talent Market Naughty and Nice List

December 16, 2025

As the year winds down and Santa checks his list twice, we at Talent Market figured it was only fair to do the same. After all, no one behaves quite like a hiring manager in December. Some respond to emails faster than Rudolph on a sugar high… and others vanish into the winter fog like they’ve joined the Witness Protection Program.

So grab some cocoa, settle in, and enjoy our completely scientific, highly objective 2025 Talent Market Naughty…

Talent Tip #175: The One That Got Away: What Dating Can Teach Us About Hiring

November 18, 2025

We’ve all had that “one that got away” moment in dating. You meet someone amazing but you hesitate. And next thing you know, they get swept away by someone else.

Hiring isn’t all that different.

One of our clients recently interviewed a development director who was a total catch. She’d led a multimillion-dollar campaign, understood donor cultivation inside and out, and clearly shared their passion for free-market principles. The hiring team was smitten.

Their response after…

Talent Tip #174: Hiring Horror Stories

October 21, 2025

The Shape-Shifting Applicant

Once upon a dark, stormy job search, a candidate submitted six applications to different roles within 24 hours. His resume was consistent, showing a solid career in marketing, but his cover letters were like something out of a twisted AI experiment. One cover letter painted him as an expert in Congressional rules and procedures, while another claimed significant experience with foundation relations. Then there was the expert in employment law letter, the seasoned major gifts…

Talent Tip #173: Romance and Remote Work: Dad Was Right

August 19, 2025

I was recently talking with a nonprofit CEO who was venting about one of the trickiest aspects of modern management: remote workers.

“I can’t see what they’re doing,” she said. “I don’t know if they’re actually working or just folding laundry between Slack messages and sending emails from the wine department at Costco.”

Her frustration isn’t unique. And oddly enough, it reminded me of a conversation I had with my dad years ago when I was struggling through a long-distance…

Talent Tip #172: The DOs and DON’Ts of RTO Mandates: Part 2

May 18, 2025

Last month, we provided our first installment of tips to help your Return to Office mandate go smoothly. This month, we’re back to give you the second and final installment.

Before we jump into Part 2, I have to share some terrific feedback we received after last month’s article.

One legendary leader in the liberty movement told me this:

I’ve found that employers have a couple of pain points with WFH staff:

It takes a lot…

Talent Tip #171: The DOs and DON’Ts of RTO Mandates: Part 1

April 22, 2025

Return to Office (RTO) mandates!

Is there a hotter topic right now? (Ok, maybe how crappy the new Snow White movie is.)

Now that we’re firmly past the peak of the Covid era, more organizations are pushing employees back into the office — whether by transitioning fully remote roles to hybrid, increasing the number of required in-office days, or mandating a full return to five days a week.

Most recently, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon made headlines by requiring…

Talent Tip #170: 5 DOs and DON’Ts of Using AI to Help With Your Job Search

February 18, 2025

Do you remember when mobile phones came on the scene? (Insert blank stare from Gen Z. Just trust me, guys. It was a cool time to be alive.)

I was a kid when my dad got one in his new car. I thought for sure we were rolling in dough. Nevermind the phone itself was as big as a box of Rice Krispies and had a curly cord tethering it to the console.

Immediately, I knew it was going to…

Talent Tip #169: Talent Market Wrapped 2024

January 22, 2025

Welcome to 2025!

It’s shaping up to be quite an entertaining year, isn’t it? I mean, “Gulf of America” wasn’t exactly on your 2025 bingo card, was it?

As we bid farewell to 2024, let’s take a whimsical stroll down memory lane and revisit Talent Market’s escapades from the year gone by.

In 2024, Talent Market:

Advice for Attorneys Interested in Transitioning to the Free-Market Nonprofit World

January 10, 2025

Private law practice can be intellectually stimulating and lucrative, but years of billing hours and working for clients you are not passionate about eventually leads many attorneys to consider a career change.

If you’re starting to wonder if you could ever escape the rat race and feel fulfilled at work for once, the answer is YES! You can use your skills to litigate against the ever-expanding government and maximize liberty by using your legal skills in the free-market…

Talent Tip #168: What My Favorite Christmas Vacation Scenes Teach Us About Career Moves 

December 19, 2024

My Christmas season isn’t complete without at least one viewing of Christmas Vacation. Clark taking a chainsaw to the newel post is a perfect metaphor for most of my holiday misadventures.

And it turns out that my favorite scenes provide some good lessons for job seekers. Just trust me on this.