Dear President Obama,

I am a private business owner in Los Angeles, California operating a health care executive search firm, Premier Search, Inc.  We are in the employment business assisting health care organizations nationwide in finding staff. 

Although the current economic conditions have affected my business, I think that it is important to share with you some bright spots with regard to employment that might not show up in national labor statistics.

In the past two weeks alone my firm has been responsible for securing employment for more than 12 Americans.  That number might not seem a lot, but I assure you that there are 12 families whose lives have been changed.  We anticipate similar, if not higher numbers in the coming months.

In essence, my firm is directly responsible for putting Americans back to work.  

There is a message here that our fellow citizens urgently need to know.  There needs to be more of a spotlight on small businesses just like mine that are directly making a difference in America not just in employment, but the economy.

Small businesses are the foundation that America was built upon and the lifeblood of our economy.   I began my business from my dining room table in 1987, a classic American story.

It has been written that helping someone find a job is the greatest charity of all.   My firm course is not a charity but it is symbolic of what America stands for: opportunity.

Mr. President, I would welcome an opportunity to meet with you at the White House as a positive symbol of a small business that is directly putting America back to work.  Americans need to feel inspired about the future.  I would be honored to help put forth this message.

Yours truly,

Bernie Reifkind, CEO/Premier Search, Inc.

Any questions or comments? I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc.  I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com

Your an employer and you have narrowed your search down to 2 outstanding candidates.  Who do you pick?

Picking people is one of the most difficult challenges that a manager or business owner has to make.  For example, you are a Regional Director of Operations for a national chain of assisted living properties.  You need to hire an Executive Director for a very challenging community.

You’ve probably looked at many resumes, had many telephone interviews and narrowed your search down to the top 2 candidates- and you’ve had several interviews with them.  Both are terrific, but you can only hire one.  You know that both of them want the job and you also know that your choice will effect both candidates- either positively or negatively.

Time to make your pick.

Research from dozens of essays all the way from staffing agencies, healthcare career advisors to anyone in the healthcare jobs field will ususally boil it all down to the bottom line: there is no bottom line!

Sometimes you have to flip a coin or go with your gut but you have to make a decision.  When you’ve made the decision, make it decisively and don’t look back.

In summary, picking people is different every single time and the best that you can hope for is that you are right more times than you are wrong.  That being said, if you do pick the wrong person, cut your loss immediately and terminate right away.

Most employers know within the first week if they’ve picked the right person!

As a healthcare executive recruiter with more than 20 years of experience, you might imagine the countless conversations that I have had with my clients- looking to fill job openings- and my candidates- looking for jobs!

After an interview I usually follow up with both the employer and the candidate to debrief and find out how the interview went.  My first question is usually to ask how long the interview went.  Obviously if the interview was less than 10 minutes long than chances are great that the interview was a disaster.

If however an interview lasts longer than an hour, that is a pretty good sign of some mutual interest.

There are so many questions that are asked by both candidate and employer during an interview as each party is learning about each other.  Some questions by employers are so completely lame that it is almost comical.

Here are the top 4 most annoying interview questions to a candidate:

1.  What are your weak points?- Like someone is really going to tell a complete stranger something incriminating about themselves.  Would someone really say  “I come to work late sometimes” or  “Sometimes I spend the entire day surfing the net” or “I am really lazy”? Of course not.

2.  Where do you see yourself in 5 years?- If you want the job bad enough you’re going to almost certainly lie and say something politically correct such as  “If it’s with your company, then where you feel my abilities will be of most benefit to the organization.”  Yeah, right.  Most people have no clue where they see themselves tomorrow!  It is such an annoying question.

3.  How would others describe you?- Well doesn’t that depend on who the “others” are in question?  If the “others” are your friends and family, they’ll say great things- they’ll would even lie for you.  If “others” are your co-workers, than each one would have a different description of you because each has had different experiences with you- and they too would lie for you.

4.  Why do you want to work here?- Wow, how original.  Another completely annoying question that does not provide for any useful information in getting to know someone at an interview.  Is anyone going to tell the truth and say “I’m unemployed and I’m broke- I couldn’t care less who I work for” or “I want to work here because I’ve been turned down by every one of your competitors”?

If you want some great responses to these difficult questions, feel free to contact me!

I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at

1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com

Recruiter, Headhunter, Counselor, Agent…….what ever you want to call us, the bottom line is that we are professionals that find outstanding people for our outstanding clients.  

Do I mind being called “headhunter”?  No of course not.  I think the name has some charm to it.  Most people feel very uncomfortable with calling me a headhunter because they think that the word has some type of derogatory tone.

Not at all.

In fact if you google the word “headhunter” you’re likely to get 3,370,000 results.  If you google the word “recruiter” you’re likely to get 17,900,000 results.

Clearly recruiter is a much more common term, but headhunter gets over 3 million search results.  So what is the conclusion to be drawn?

“A rose is a rose is a rose.”

When you need help in filling a critical job opening, contact a recruiter or a headhunter and please do not feel uncomfortable with the word headhunter!

Any questions or comments? I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc.  I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email me at ceo@psihealth.com 

1.  Be Bold.

2.  Grab it, now.

3.  Step Out of Your Comfort Zone.

4.  No One Walked On The Moon Before Neil Armstrong.  Oh, And He Didn’t Have Prior Experience.

5. “No” means “Not Yet.”

Any questions or comments? I am Bernie Reifkind, CEO and founder of Premier Search, Inc. I can be reached at 1(800) 801-1400 or email at ceo@psihealth.com