Cambridge Business Association
Talent Makers
Book

Talent Makers

How the Best Organizations Win through Structured and Inclusive Hiring

Jon Stross and Daniel Chait
Wiley, 2021
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Comprehensive
  • Well Structured
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

Too many organizations suffer from outmoded or ineffective hiring systems. According to recruiting experts Jon Stross and Daniel Chait, technological tools like applicant tracking software (ATS) will do little to help your hiring woes in and of themselves. The authors offer practical guidance to help firms transform chaotic hiring practices into strategic systems. The authors may slightly overstate the rewards you can expect from investments in hiring, but they make a convincing case that better recruitment practices yield a solid return on investment.

Summary

Most organizations suffer from broken or nonexistent hiring systems. 

In a broken hiring process, unprepared and ill-trained interviewers ask random, even illegal, questions, take no notes and offer subjective assessments. Recruiters work with too little information. They schedule interviews, and hiring managers either don’t show up or come unprepared.

Hiring managers feel held hostage by recruiters. No one tells them the status of their open requisitions, so they often go rogue, filling positions themselves. Alternately, they retain poor performers to avoid the hiring process altogether. Organizations with broken hiring processes fail to exploit the most accessible and valuable component of hiring: employee referrals.

Establishing a structured hiring process and system takes effort.

For most firms, a well-structured hiring system represents a transformation, and requires continual improvement and vigilance. Organizations that excel at hiring produce enticing job postings that draw more and better talent. Interviewers work from prepared guides, ask meaningful questions, listen closely to candidate...

About the Authors

Daniel Chait and Jon Stross are co-founders and, respectively, the CEO and President of Greenhouse, a recruiting technology firm.

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