A forward-thinking and enlightening view of hiring practices.
The co-founders of human resources software firm Greenhouse Software make a strong case for systematizing talent acquisition.
“Hiring is the mother of all variables,” write Chait and Stross in a candid debut that’s directed not at HR managers but at business leaders who “must become the Talent Maker and catalyst for [their] team.” Their fervent belief that senior executives need to be more engaged in the staffing process, rather than simply delegate it to human resources, is the cornerstone of their approach, which aims to help readers to identify, attract, and retain the best talent. This message is conveyed in a tightly organized work comprised of three logical parts: Part 1 walks the reader through the reasons why a “structured approach to hiring” makes sense (“The ‘Why’ ”); Part 2 addresses four specific hiring competencies (“The ‘What’ ”); and Part 3 lays out the tactics for becoming a “Talent Maker” (“The ‘How’ ”). Each section contains observations based on the authors’ experiences with scores of organizations. In addition, Chait and Stross include insights by senior HR experts that validate the book’s emphasis on involving leaders at every level in the process. In Part 1, the authors introduce their company’s “Structured Hiring Framework,” which references concepts that are explained in further detail later in the book, including “Employee Lifetime Value,” the “Hiring Maturity Curve,” and “The Four Competencies,” which include “Finding talent,” “Hiring experience,” “Decision making,” and “Operational excellence.”
The Hiring Maturity Curve is particularly intriguing because it identifies HR practices on a spectrum that ranges from “Chaotic” to “Strategic.” Chait and Stross use lively, appropriately detailed descriptions to effectively contrast what operations look like at each point in this curve; “Chaotic,” for instance is defined as “the Wild West, or a free-for-all,” in which “hiring painfully gets done when circumstances force the issue.” The bulk of the book is in Part 2, in which the authors explain the concept of structured hiring in detail—from the corporate brand that attracts prospective candidates through the job posting and application process and, finally, onboarding. Not surprisingly given the authors’ professional positions, one of this section’s strengths is its lucid discussion of data usage and analytics. Another strong point is the vital emphasis on diversity in acquiring new employees. Part 2 also offers a useful template for a “Scorecard” that can be used to objectively evaluate job candidates. Part 3 defines the term Talent Maker and describes some of the key attributes of a person who wants to become a “talent leader” and eventually develop into a “talent magnet” and a “talent partner.” The authors close the book with an excellent overview of issues surrounding organizational change. Chait and Stross make the point that using HR software—even theirs—is less important than approaching the process in a systematized manner, and they conclude that, for those organizations who figure out how to recruit and hire effectively, “the ability to hire great talent at will is very much a competitive advantage.”
A forward-thinking and enlightening view of hiring practices.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-119-78527-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Wiley
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...
A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.
The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.
Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
IN THE NEWS
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.
Want to get ahead in business? Consult a dictionary.
By Wharton School professor Berger’s account, much of the art of persuasion lies in the art of choosing the right word. Want to jump ahead of others waiting in line to use a photocopy machine, even if they’re grizzled New Yorkers? Throw a because into the equation (“Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine, because I’m in a rush?”), and you’re likely to get your way. Want someone to do your copying for you? Then change your verbs to nouns: not “Can you help me?” but “Can you be a helper?” As Berger notes, there’s a subtle psychological shift at play when a person becomes not a mere instrument in helping but instead acquires an identity as a helper. It’s the little things, one supposes, and the author offers some interesting strategies that eager readers will want to try out. Instead of alienating a listener with the omniscient should, as in “You should do this,” try could instead: “Well, you could…” induces all concerned “to recognize that there might be other possibilities.” Berger’s counsel that one should use abstractions contradicts his admonition to use concrete language, and it doesn’t help matters to say that each is appropriate to a particular situation, while grammarians will wince at his suggestion that a nerve-calming exercise to “try talking to yourself in the third person (‘You can do it!’)” in fact invokes the second person. Still, there are plenty of useful insights, particularly for students of advertising and public speaking. It’s intriguing to note that appeals to God are less effective in securing a loan than a simple affirmative such as “I pay all bills…on time”), and it’s helpful to keep in mind that “the right words used at the right time can have immense power.”
Perhaps not magic but appealing nonetheless.Pub Date: March 7, 2023
ISBN: 9780063204935
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Harper Business
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
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