Jean-Michel Wu

More than a decade ago, I told someone they hadn't got the job. Last week, they wrote to thank me for it. The role was junior, the kind of seat that keeps an agency running rather than the kind that makes its name. They were a strong candidate, but their instincts pointed somewhere else, towards the creative work itself rather than the scaffolding around it. So I said no, and I told them why. The honest version: this role would box you in, your real interest lies elsewhere, you would be...

Most leaders see a departure as a loss. The best ones see proof they built something worth talking about. How to build an employer brand that brings talent back.

A client called me last year about a senior role they could not fill. They had been at it for months. Three recruiters had worked the brief in parallel. Shortlists had arrived. Candidates had been interviewed. And they had landed on nobody. When I asked who actually existed in the market for this role, nobody could tell me. The conversation had been about the people who happened to be available, not the people who were right. Three firms had been racing each other to the same finish line, and...