Pam:               I’m Pamela Wasley, CEO of Cerius Executives, one of the largest North American providers of contract executives for part-time, temporary, interim and consulting assignments. These executives are available to step in the companies on short notice to fill sudden gap in leadership, to run a key initiative, or to provide specialized skills and knowledge for a temporary period of time. Today we'll be talking to members of the Cerius team who are experts in either hiring or placing executives in full-time, part-time or on a consulting basis. So let's meet the Cerius team. First we have Kristen McAlister, President of Cerius, next is Matt Saur, Chief People Officer, and then we have Maria Hillman and Kim Person, both Vice-Presidents of Client Solutions. Let's get right to the questions, shall we? Let’s do a rapid fire session here and each of you give me one answer to each of the next 3 questions. Things to avoid when hiring an executive. Maria, let’s start with you.

Maria:                   Anyone that uses the word “I” too much and not “we”, meaning they’re not a team player.

Pam:                      Excellent. Matt?

Matt:                     Don’t hire somebody in my image.

Pam:                      Ah yes. Kristen?

Kristen:                I would like to be careful from recycling within your industry. You may have an expert in your industry but they’re just going to recycle ideas and other concepts that are within it and not bring a great outside innovative perspective.

Pam:                      Great. Great answer. Kim?

Kim:                       Hiring an executive that cannot talk about his or her accomplishments.

Pam:                      Alright. Next one. Things to ask an executive that you want to hire? Maria?

Maria:                   I would ask them, what would you do in the first 30 days on your job.

Pam:                      Ok. Matt?

Matt:                     What were you brought in to do on your last assignment, and what did you accomplish?

Pam:                      Right. Thanks Matt. Kristen?

Kristen:                Ask them about the results from their last couple of assignments or positions. Some one can’t come up top of their head. What type of numbers, what type of impact that they’ve had? Especially using numbers other than, I just increased morale. They weren’t measuring it then, and they’re not going to measure it for you.

Pam:                      So you want specifics. Correct?

Kristen:                I want specifics. Better have it all on the top of your head because if you don’t have it from your past, how are you going to measure it and monitor it for me, and get me results.

Pam:                      Exactly. Kim?

Kim:                       I’m just going to reiterate. You’ve got to talk to executives what can you do for the company, not what you can do for the executive.

Pam:                      Oh perfect one. Thanks Kim. Alright next one. Company X needs to diversify its revenue stream. What type of an executive should they be looking for? Expertise, duration of contract, etc.

Maria:                   I would think expertise would be a marketing person or an innovation officer, and 3-6 months. And somebody from, that has some industry experience but that also has other verticals that you may be looking at.

Pam:                      Right. Thanks Maria. Matt?

Matt:                     I don’t know that I could add any more than what Maria said. I agree completely. To me it’s sales marketing, it’s experience. It’s having experience and multiple, looking at multiple organizations and being able to look at where they’ve been, where they need to go and how to get them from here to there. So still the marketing will be the obvious but I do think that there are other disciplines that could also get, make that happen.

Pam:                      Great, thanks Matt. Kristen?

Kristen:                Let’s start off with a very specific strategic product individual. Someone who