James Zinman, Founder and Managing Director

While James has very few flaws, one of them is a glaring lack of respect for the power of brevity.  In addition to the salient biographical details such as his BA in Economics from McGill, his 13 years of experience in high tech recruiting and past experience in building and subsequently selling a successful children’s entertainment firm, James would like to tell you more.  He believes for some reason that it is vital that you know that about his recent ‘Top 3 coolest dads on the street’ award, his prowess in pick-up hockey (don’t believe it ~ his 6 year old son is better than him), the fact that he has taught drums, as well as his illustrious career as a ‘summer camp section head’. 

What you need to know is that James is a passionate recruiting professional who truly thrives on the inherent challenge of matching the best and most qualified candidates with the most exciting challenges in the advanced technology marketplace.  James is the leader of an extremely skilled team of dedicated professionals who are as fanatical about understanding the marketplace and delivering the utmost in value and level of service to their clients.  Critical Hire is small but nimble ~ by working with only a select group of high quality clients, we are able to truly understand the unique needs and benefits of each individual client and take the time to truly dig deeply into the passive talent pool, giving our clients access to top talent who are not actively seeking new opportunities.  Because of our focus, we are able to offer the applicants with whom we work targeted and rewarding opportunities.  The first step to success, be it working with a client or assessing a candidate, is taking the time to truly understand what’s going on beneath the surface.  The true difference between Critical Hire and most other recruitment firms is our total commitment to building and maintaining relationships built on a solid base of respect.  Respect for the relationships, respect for the process, and respect for the quality of the level of service that Critical Hire delivers.

James likens his leadership style to that of ‘Braveheart’.  He is not the type of  leader who hides well back of the action.  James is a face-painted, on the front lines, fighting right beside his team type of leader.  The strength of the Critical Hire team emanates from his knowledge and hands-on leadership, and his commitment to tried and tested methodology.  We also think that he wanted to include this analogy because he believes he looks like Mel Gibson (it’s not true ~ he is more reminiscent of Ben Stiller.).