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Title: Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching and Keeping the Best People by Bradford D. Smart ISBN: 0735200491 Publisher: Prentice Hall Press Pub. Date: 02 February, 1999 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.03
Rating: 5
Summary: An Improvement on Best Practices for Recruiting Top Talent
Comment: Computers and equipment are wonderful tools, but people make the difference. Many companies are too little focused on hiring the best. Research consistently shows that the best 25 percent in any population produce over 80 percent of the economic results. Yet the cost to hire and keep them is much less than the benefit. TOPGRADING is built around that insight. TOPGRADING makes it clear just how valuable it is to hire and work with the best. The mistakes you will avoid make the investment very valuable. Early in our company's history, we did a statistical analysis of how many candidates we had to seriously consider before we could assume that we had seen an outstanding one. It was over 140. Now, most people would stop long before then and will usually hire someone who is not a top performer. TOPGRADING helps with this problem by providing you with a process that reduces that number a lot, but still ensures that you will be able to hire the best. I was very impressed with this book. I think it is one of the few books that goes beyond the current best practice to establish a new and higher standard in any field. It is certainly the only one I have seen that sets a higher standard in hiring. You would be very foolish if you did not read and apply the messages of this book. Some few geniuses may be able to hire the best using intuition, but for the rest of us there's TOPGRADING. When the history of many companies is written in the future, a key turning point will be the day that TOPGRADING was first applied. I wish that I had had this book available 22 years ago when I established my consulting firm! I have recently discussed this book with a number of business executives, and they each found the book to be as valuable as I did. Banish stalled thinking about hiring, and use this process. If you are not years ahead of the competition, the lack of this process could be a major contributing cause. Think about it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Finally someone who understands how business should be run.
Comment: This book represents the mentality we should all be in if we want to succeed as leaders. All too often we settle for someone to "fill the position" rather than using effective tools to interview and hire the best employees. Mr. Smart provides us with a new perspective on how we should approach hiring people to work for us, this includes CEO's. The cost of mis-hires is staggering. Look around your own workplace and see if you can separate the A players from the C players. One thing stands out in my mind, C players don't hire A players. So if you have C player management you will have to settle with mediocrity until something drastic happens--topgrading!
Rating: 5
Summary: The Best Book on this Topic in 21 Years
Comment: I have been a professional recruiter for over 21 years. Topgrading is the best book that I have read on the topic of selecting impact performers. This book is a valuable read for both hiring managers and candidates. The appendix is worth the price of the book by itself.
I have recommended this book to my clients on my recruiting contracts because many have never been taught how to conduct a structured interview. Consequently, they tend to ask one set of questions to one candidate and another set of questions to another candidate for the same job. How will they be able to compare the two candidates? Brad Smart gives them a nice track to run on.
My only major difficulty with the book is the amount of time between the initial interview and the final interview a month later. In my experience as a professional recruiter, that is too long between interviews. In recruitment, time is your enemy. There are too many companies who are searching for A Players. You could lose an A Player easily within a month to another, more efficient company. As our economy moves from the Baby Boomers as the primary workforce to the Gen X'ers, we are about to experience a shortage of workers. If you wait too long to extend an offer, the Recruiterguy will get them!
On the other hand, Brad's reference checking information is so valuable that I have been teaching my clients to use it. I agree with him that it is important for the hiring manager to conduct the reference checks. It's simple psychology. If I call the manager of a candidate and identify myself as a recruiter, the former manager will give me some information about the candidate. However, their perception is that I am not their peer (unless they know me from a previous relationship). However, if the hiring manager calls the former manager, they are peers and the information given and received will be much more valuable.
The 50 manager competencies listed in the appendix are great tools for developing a structured interview and Job Description. They are also valuable for candidates who need to prepare for interviews by giving examples of their competencies.
Is Topgrading perfect for every interviewing situation? There probably isn't a perfect book. However, this one is easy to read. Take the valuable information that he offers on the interviewing process, the reference checks, and coaching (and protecting) A Players and you will be way ahead of most hiring managers.
If you are a candidate searching for your next job, Topgrading is a must read for you. He asks some tough questions. Some people may be offended. However, I agree with his points. Use the sample competencies in the appendix to strengthen your interviewing skills.
Pick up the book. You will benefit from reading it.
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Title: The Smart Interviewer by Bradford D. Smart ISBN: 0471513326 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 07 March, 1990 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: 96 Great Interview Questions to Ask Before You Hire by Paul Falcone ISBN: 081447909X Publisher: AMACOM Pub. Date: January, 1997 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Fast-Growth Firm by Verne Harnish ISBN: 1590790154 Publisher: SelectBooks Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins ISBN: 0066620996 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 16 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, Charles Burck ISBN: 0609610570 Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Pub. Date: 11 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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