101 Strategies for Recruiting Success

Where, When, and How to Find the Right People Every Time

Author: Christopher W. Pritchard
Pub Date: 2007
Your Price: $24.95
ISBN: 0814474071
Format: Hardcover

• Overview
• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• Request an Evaluation Copy, INSTRUCTOR ONLY!

Introduction

I have written this book to support the HR professional who is in dedicated pursuit of recruitment excellence. By definition, mediocrity is the norm. The word mediocre is derived from the Latin word mediocris meaning "middle." Those who pursue excellence are not satisfied with the middle. They are dedicated to rising above the commonplace to soar with eagles.

Over the course of the past twenty-three years, I have experienced the recruiting profession from a variety of perspectives. In 1983, I went through my baptism of fire as a rookie recruiter at Sid Kaufman's Management Recruiters' (MRI) office in Akron, Ohio. MRI's recruiter-training program taught me how to be an organized, creative, and street-smart professional. It taught me how to make a living in the competitive world of contingency recruiting. Sid Kaufman and his wife, Helene, have my heartfelt gratitude.

In the mid 1980s, I moved to Philadelphia and worked as a part-time research assistant within a respected retained search firm while establishing my own recruiting firm. The retained recruiters I encountered considered themselves a cut above their peers on the contingency side of the business. After spending time on both sides of the retained versus contingency divide, I concluded that any attitude of superiority was unjustified. I proceeded to build my own firm with a blended service model—that is, offering retained and contingency services specific to my clients' needs.

Over the next five years, I enjoyed a great deal of success as a trainer and manager of recruiters. Throughout this time, I personally worked on a wide variety of recruiting assignments to keep my own recruitment skills sharp. Despite many accomplishments, I did not have the general business expertise needed to grow my company. In late 1989, I decided to shut down my entrepreneurial venture to accept an offer of full-time employment with a client company, LDI Corporation, and its young, dynamic, and exceptionally capable president, Michael Joseph. I owe much of my general business education and success to Michael. I will always be grateful for the personal and professional investment he has made in me.

I have spent the better part of the past seventeen years managing recruiting programs inside corporate America. During times of career transition, I have relied on my recruiting street smarts to earn a living as a consultant to companies such as General Electric, Coopers & Lybrand, Ernst and Young, Lotus Development Corporation, Dell Corporation, Boeing Corporation, and The May Company, among others.

I have endeavored to weave personal and professional lessons learned into the fabric of this book. I've divided 101 strategies for recruitment success among a half-dozen topics of discussion. Chapter 1 offers insight into general recruiting operations through fifteen specific strategies. Chapter 2 is a goldmine of hard-hitting techniques regarding when, where, and how to find the right candidate. I trust you will find these twenty-five strategies an eye-opening and challenging introduction to outside-the-box recruitment sourcing. Chapter 3 advocates less talk and more action in this common sense–based approach to diversity-minded recruitment and retention. Chapter 4 features ten strategies for successful hiring. We'll take a constructively critical look at hiring processes and procedures within the typical U.S. corporation. Chapter 5 explores fifteen strategies to encourage retention within our organizations. We are often guilty of focusing all our recruitment-related energies on welcoming new employees in the front door while disregarding the hemorrhaging of experienced employees out the back door. Optimal recruitment success is undermined anytime we fail to retain the employees we already have. Finally, Chapter 6 encourages practical application of lessons learned in the first five chapters via thirty-five strategic exercises.

I'm looking forward to sharing the journey with you. Roll up your sleeves and let's get started!

© 2007 Christopher W. Pritchard
All rights reserved.
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