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Talent Makers: How the Best Organizations Win through Structured and Inclusive Hiring
Powerful ideas to transform hiring into a massive competitive advantage for your business
Talent How the Best Organizations Win through Structured and Inclusive Hiring is essential reading for every leader who knows that hiring is crucial to their organization and wants to compete for top talent, diversify their organization, and build winning teams. Daniel Chait and Jon Stross, co-founders of Greenhouse Software, Inc, provide readers with a comprehensive and proven framework to improve hiring quickly, substantially, and measurably.
Talent Makers will provide a step-by-step plan and actionable advice to help leaders assess their talent practice (or lack thereof) and transform hiring into a measurable competitive advantage. Readers will understand and
A proven system and principles for hiring used by the world's best companies Hiring practices that remove bias and result in more diverse teams An assessment of their hiring practice using the Hiring Maturity model Measurement of employee lifetime value in quantifiable terms, and how to increase that value through hiring The Talent Makers methodology is the result of the authors’ experience and the ideas and stories from their community of more than 4,000 organizations. This is the book that CEOs, hiring managers, talent practitioners, and human resources leaders must read to transform their hiring and propel their organization to new heights.
Talent How the Best Organizations Win through Structured and Inclusive Hiring is essential reading for every leader who knows that hiring is crucial to their organization and wants to compete for top talent, diversify their organization, and build winning teams. Daniel Chait and Jon Stross, co-founders of Greenhouse Software, Inc, provide readers with a comprehensive and proven framework to improve hiring quickly, substantially, and measurably.
Talent Makers will provide a step-by-step plan and actionable advice to help leaders assess their talent practice (or lack thereof) and transform hiring into a measurable competitive advantage. Readers will understand and
A proven system and principles for hiring used by the world's best companies Hiring practices that remove bias and result in more diverse teams An assessment of their hiring practice using the Hiring Maturity model Measurement of employee lifetime value in quantifiable terms, and how to increase that value through hiring The Talent Makers methodology is the result of the authors’ experience and the ideas and stories from their community of more than 4,000 organizations. This is the book that CEOs, hiring managers, talent practitioners, and human resources leaders must read to transform their hiring and propel their organization to new heights.
255 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 30, 2021
33 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 16, 2022
I highly recommend this book to any business leader or hiring manager looking to bring in the best possible talent for their team(s). In Talent Makers, Chait & Stross make a compelling case for reorienting the way most organizations still view recruiting: as a largely administrative function relegated to a single department. Instead, they argue recruiting is one of the most strategic functions in a business -- often the key to staying ahead of your competition -- and that it should involve nearly everyone in an organization to some extent. They then lay out a practical framework for identifying and attracting the best talent, owning every moment of the hiring experience, making informed decisions (while mitigating bias), and leveraging data to drive operational excellence and optimize over time. Overall this book includes several ideas for improving your own organizational culture and processes around hiring and will help you hire more talented and diverse teams.
October 13, 2021
Talent Makers is a solid book for anyone new to the world of recruiting. The book is targeted at hiring managers and executives, but I think it's also a concise summary of best practices for those working in recruiting / candidate experience.
Despite being written by the co-founders of Greenhouse Software, the book does a good job of focusing on typical problems in hiring and foundational, technology-agnostic solutions, and not pushing their product too hard—but if you are interested in a technology solution they happen to sell one. The authors use a bit of hyperbole in describing the status quo—or at least I should say I hope they do, as it seems extremely chaotic—but this again doesn't detract from the robustness of their solutions.
The main ideas of the book are:
WHY
- Hiring is really important. You need to be competitive at hiring to be competitive at whatever else you do.
- Employee Lifetime Value (ELV) is a way of putting an ROI on hiring. Despite making the point this can be done for all roles, not just sales roles, all examples are about sales roles. Actually attaching a number to the ROI of a hire is extremely difficult in practice, and I found this section a bit lacking.
WHAT
- Structured Hiring is a procedure you can follow to consistently both get the relevant information about candidates, setting yourself up to make good decisions
- Competency 1: "Own every moment of your hiring experience" - Candidates are interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them, and they have more choice then ever. You need to wow them, and that's more than compensation and perks. It's about how you make them feel during the process and as they are making a major decision about how to spend the next few years of their lives. Examples: send candidates a thank-you note after an interview; get leadership involved in a post-interview call or on Glassdoor.
- Competency 2: "Identify and attract the best talent" - You need a brand, and you need to put in effort to find candidates. The best candidates are rarely looking. To get referrals, incentivize the action you want and have a tight feedback loop (Pavlovian).
- Competency 3: "Make confident, informed hiring decisions" - Using a standard, rigorous process will allow you to make less biased decisions.
- Competency 4: "Use data to drive operational excellence and improve over time" - Use KPIs (suggested: qualified candidates per opening; candidate survey results; source to close; offer acceptance rate; hires to goal); invest in Recruiting Ops with focus on: data governance; consistent processes; proactive transparency; technology and automation
HOW
- "Talent Makers" - Leader: Build a culture of hiring. Magnet: Attract/pursue top talent. Partner: Enable recruiting team.
- "Changing Minds" - Identify an ally. Identify an entry point. Good data takes time. Great hiring is hard, but it's absolutely worth it.
Additional notes:
Insights from Andres Traslavina @ Whole Foods:
Interview process has three components:
1) Can you do this job?
2) Would you love to do this?
3) Can we work together?
Stages of process:
- Attract
- Hire and Onboard
- Engage and Reward
- Serve
- Perform and Grow
- Exit
Insights from Jan Fiegel @ Sidewalk Labs:
TIP: When writing interview feedback, write up the pros and cons from an interview before writing the conclusion. This will help you form a conclusion based on the evidence, rather than adding evidence to support your conclusion.
Insights from Gerry Alvarez @ Google
Try to close the feedback loop after the onboarding process. Follow the employee and see if strong interview feedback is turning into strong employee performance—is the process working?
Insights from Jill Macri @ Airbnb
Try to find out what differentiates you. Ask new hires why they joined. Find ways to get that feedback.
Ensure candidates understand your business model, that they can grok it and get excited about it.
Insights from Katie Burke @ HubSpot
Don't put required years of experience on a job post. That is not a skill, that's a proxy for an assumed skill. Dig in and determine what you really need.
Despite being written by the co-founders of Greenhouse Software, the book does a good job of focusing on typical problems in hiring and foundational, technology-agnostic solutions, and not pushing their product too hard—but if you are interested in a technology solution they happen to sell one. The authors use a bit of hyperbole in describing the status quo—or at least I should say I hope they do, as it seems extremely chaotic—but this again doesn't detract from the robustness of their solutions.
The main ideas of the book are:
WHY
- Hiring is really important. You need to be competitive at hiring to be competitive at whatever else you do.
- Employee Lifetime Value (ELV) is a way of putting an ROI on hiring. Despite making the point this can be done for all roles, not just sales roles, all examples are about sales roles. Actually attaching a number to the ROI of a hire is extremely difficult in practice, and I found this section a bit lacking.
WHAT
- Structured Hiring is a procedure you can follow to consistently both get the relevant information about candidates, setting yourself up to make good decisions
- Competency 1: "Own every moment of your hiring experience" - Candidates are interviewing you as much as you are interviewing them, and they have more choice then ever. You need to wow them, and that's more than compensation and perks. It's about how you make them feel during the process and as they are making a major decision about how to spend the next few years of their lives. Examples: send candidates a thank-you note after an interview; get leadership involved in a post-interview call or on Glassdoor.
- Competency 2: "Identify and attract the best talent" - You need a brand, and you need to put in effort to find candidates. The best candidates are rarely looking. To get referrals, incentivize the action you want and have a tight feedback loop (Pavlovian).
- Competency 3: "Make confident, informed hiring decisions" - Using a standard, rigorous process will allow you to make less biased decisions.
- Competency 4: "Use data to drive operational excellence and improve over time" - Use KPIs (suggested: qualified candidates per opening; candidate survey results; source to close; offer acceptance rate; hires to goal); invest in Recruiting Ops with focus on: data governance; consistent processes; proactive transparency; technology and automation
HOW
- "Talent Makers" - Leader: Build a culture of hiring. Magnet: Attract/pursue top talent. Partner: Enable recruiting team.
- "Changing Minds" - Identify an ally. Identify an entry point. Good data takes time. Great hiring is hard, but it's absolutely worth it.
Additional notes:
Insights from Andres Traslavina @ Whole Foods:
Interview process has three components:
1) Can you do this job?
2) Would you love to do this?
3) Can we work together?
Stages of process:
- Attract
- Hire and Onboard
- Engage and Reward
- Serve
- Perform and Grow
- Exit
Insights from Jan Fiegel @ Sidewalk Labs:
TIP: When writing interview feedback, write up the pros and cons from an interview before writing the conclusion. This will help you form a conclusion based on the evidence, rather than adding evidence to support your conclusion.
Insights from Gerry Alvarez @ Google
Try to close the feedback loop after the onboarding process. Follow the employee and see if strong interview feedback is turning into strong employee performance—is the process working?
Insights from Jill Macri @ Airbnb
Try to find out what differentiates you. Ask new hires why they joined. Find ways to get that feedback.
Ensure candidates understand your business model, that they can grok it and get excited about it.
Insights from Katie Burke @ HubSpot
Don't put required years of experience on a job post. That is not a skill, that's a proxy for an assumed skill. Dig in and determine what you really need.
June 8, 2021
A quick and practical breakdown of the state of hiring in todays organizations, Talent Makers lays out a pathway that leaders from organizations big and small can follow toward better results from their hiring systems.
Simple solutions such as having a standard set of questions that you ask all applicants, Talent Makers breaks down the systems, the processes and the best practices that teams can take to make sure they are hiring the best possible talent for their teams.
If you touch hiring in anyway, you should read this book and make sure the people understand that talent matters and that your process matters to them.
Simple solutions such as having a standard set of questions that you ask all applicants, Talent Makers breaks down the systems, the processes and the best practices that teams can take to make sure they are hiring the best possible talent for their teams.
If you touch hiring in anyway, you should read this book and make sure the people understand that talent matters and that your process matters to them.
July 2, 2021
Chait and Stross present a clear practice for hiring practices. Many organizations miss the mark in carefully crafting a process that is clear and thorough for candidates and those involved in hiring. Talent Makers provides a checklist that helps HR professionals attract top talent, get hiring managers on board, provide clear instructions to candidates and HR managers, and best utilize ATS systems. When I read this book, I was a newbie to the HR world and in need of a guide like this.
May 27, 2022
This is a book about hiring but NOT mainly for recruiters! Super practical and easy to work through guide for people who hire aka hiring managers & leaders. Something useful in every chapter.
February 18, 2025
Not me reading a corporate book and realizing i do most of the stuff already!!! i better get that raiseeee
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews