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6 Recruiting Books You’ll Love to Read
Even those of us who love recruiting have to admit that the field can get a little dry, particularly where books are concerned. If you’ve struggled with recruiting materials in the past, fear not: The following books are entertaining enough to keep you engaged while still giving you plenty to chew on in your professional hours.
- The Professional Recruiter’s Handbook: Delivering Excellence in Recruitment Practice by Jane Newell Brown and Ann Swain
Our first selection comes with a warning: Don’t bother with this book unless you’re in the recruiting game. Its insights are too rich to be appreciated by the layman, but don’t let its lack of accessibility fool you—The Professional Recruiter’s Handbook is packed with value for those in talent procurement. The book pays special attention to recent advancements in recruiting, and we particularly enjoy the attention it gives to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO)—a topic near and dear to our hearts.
- Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
Who has received much acclaim for its grounded approach to the hiring process. The book’s reputation is certainly deserved—few other recruiting volumes lay out the fundamental elements of effective hiring so clearly. The book claims that its hiring process boasts a 90 percent success rate for its users, and while we can’t say for sure if this is accurate, the method is certainly worth looking into for those wanting to test it for themselves.
- Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams by Lou Adler
Adler’s take on the hiring game promotes the value of performance-based hiring: An end-to-end, four-step process for sourcing, screening, interviewing, and recruiting top talent. On the surface, it’s a practical approach to assessing each candidate based on his/her competency rather than certifications, but the methodology digs deeper and addresses the core issues facing recruiters who struggle to retain top talent. Check it out.
- Blink by Malcom Gladwell
Our world is becoming oversaturated with data, analytics, and numbers—even in an industry as personal as recruiting. As such, Blink is a refreshing change of pace. Fans of Gladwell’s other works won’t be surprised by his philosophy here: The human mind is capable of split-second decision making that can be more accurate than weeks of analysis. Even for those outside the world of recruiting, this one’s worth a read.
- Hiring for Attitude: A Revolutionary Approach to Recruiting and Selecting People with Both Tremendous Skills and Superb Attitude by Mark Murphy
This recruiting book presents a bold claim: 89 percent of hires who fail within their first 18 months fail because of their attitude. From a cultural fit standpoint, we appreciate this book for that reason alone. Candidate attitudes are one of the most important factors determining their success, and yet are nearly impossible to assess in a typical interview situation. Hiring for Attitude offers solutions to address these issues and strategies for getting it right the first time.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Carnegie didn’t write about recruiting, but what he did write about is just as valuable to the HR expert: People.
Nearly every business-literate person has heard of this book, but surprisingly few have taken the time to read it. Its pages are filled with insights into the human condition, strategies for handling coworkers without building resentment, and management tactics that support team development. In these terms, How to Win Friends is essential for any recruiter’s playbook.
Recruiting is where we live
The above selections are just a few of our choices for recruitment books, but in truth, savvy recruiters can find valuable takeaways from nearly any source. To learn more about the recruitment strategies we’d recommend to small business owners, give Urgenci a call.
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