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Hire With Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Outstanding Diverse Teams
Discover the secrets of one of the world's leading talent acquisition experts
In the newly revised Fourth Edition of Hire With Your Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, influential recruiting and hiring expert Lou Adler delivers a practical guide to consistently identifying and hiring the best people and scaling that process throughout your company.
This book will help you address your hiring and recruitment issues, not just by making you more efficient, but also by reforming your entire process to align with how top talent actually look for new jobs, compare offers, and select opportunities.
You'll
Discover what it takes to ensure more Win-Win Hiring outcomes by hiring for the anniversary date rather than the start date How to use a "High Tech, High Touch" approach to raise the talent bar Expand the talent pool to include more outstanding, high potential and diverse talent by defining work as a series of key performance objectives Perfect for hiring managers, recruiters, and HR and business leaders, Hire with Your Head is a must-read resource for anyone seeking to improve their ability to find, attract, and retain the top talent the world has to offer.
In the newly revised Fourth Edition of Hire With Your Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Great Teams, influential recruiting and hiring expert Lou Adler delivers a practical guide to consistently identifying and hiring the best people and scaling that process throughout your company.
This book will help you address your hiring and recruitment issues, not just by making you more efficient, but also by reforming your entire process to align with how top talent actually look for new jobs, compare offers, and select opportunities.
You'll
Discover what it takes to ensure more Win-Win Hiring outcomes by hiring for the anniversary date rather than the start date How to use a "High Tech, High Touch" approach to raise the talent bar Expand the talent pool to include more outstanding, high potential and diverse talent by defining work as a series of key performance objectives Perfect for hiring managers, recruiters, and HR and business leaders, Hire with Your Head is a must-read resource for anyone seeking to improve their ability to find, attract, and retain the top talent the world has to offer.
319 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 1998
114 people are currently reading
1525 people want to read
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June 26, 2009The most suitable or the best person rarely gets the job; instead, the person with the best interviewing and presentation skills does. The best candidates don’t typically have the exact mix of skills, experience, and education. They make up for this with traits like potential, self-motivation, leadership, tenacity, and vision.
It takes from three weeks to three months after a candidate starts to determine true competency, although most managers think they have assessed this during the interview. If you like a candidate, you tend to go into chat mode, ask easier questions, and look for information to confirm your initial impressions. You also tend to ignore negative data, globalize strengths, begin selling, and stop listening and evaluating competency.
Many top people get nervous when interviewing, which may lead to poor eye contact, short or shallow answers and lack of poise. There is no correlation between interviewing and presentation skills and on-the-job performance.
Redefine the purpose of the interview – it is just to collect information, not to decide. The most important secret of hiring success is to avoid making a hiring decision within the first 30 minutes of the interview. Overcome the natural tendency to judge based on first impressions, personality, etc.
It takes from three weeks to three months after a candidate starts to determine true competency, although most managers think they have assessed this during the interview. If you like a candidate, you tend to go into chat mode, ask easier questions, and look for information to confirm your initial impressions. You also tend to ignore negative data, globalize strengths, begin selling, and stop listening and evaluating competency.
Many top people get nervous when interviewing, which may lead to poor eye contact, short or shallow answers and lack of poise. There is no correlation between interviewing and presentation skills and on-the-job performance.
Redefine the purpose of the interview – it is just to collect information, not to decide. The most important secret of hiring success is to avoid making a hiring decision within the first 30 minutes of the interview. Overcome the natural tendency to judge based on first impressions, personality, etc.
March 8, 2019
О ЧЕМ КНИГА:
Книга на тему, в которой большинство считает, что они разбираются лучше других, а на самом деле мало что понимают. Это про подбор персонала. Американский консультант с 20-летним стажем описал свой метод подбора, основанный на выводах из тысяч собеседований с кандидатами. Очень много примеров из практики с раскладом, как и на основе чего принимались решения при выборе людей.
КАКАЯ БЫЛА ЦЕЛЬ ЧТЕНИЯ:
Получить несколько новых методов для поиска сотрудников, так как у меня сейчас идет активный процесс подбора команды для нового бизнеса.
ГЛАВНЫЕ ВЫВОДЫ:
- Лучшие кандидаты подходят к поиску работы не так, как большинство. Топовые кандидаты не водятся там, где все и поэтому обычные методы подбора к ним неприменимы.
- Лучшим кандидатам нужна не работа, а карьера. Их интересуют не функции и обязанности, а цели, которые надо достигнуть и их профессиональный рост.
- Надо различать навыки кандидата по прохождению интервью и его навыки для работы на которые я его нанимаю. Часто, к сожалению, мы нанимаем на основе умения проходить интервью)
- Если у меня мало хороших кандидатов, то какими бы мощными навыками оценки кандидатов я не обладал, всё будет впустую. Первое необходимое условие - это создать поток кандидатов класса А.
- Собеседование с кандидатом больше всего похоже на раскопки фактов о его достижениях и результатах на предыдущих местах работы.
- Если я собрал крутую команду топов, то быть лидером легко. Если меня окружают слабые и некомпетентные сотрудники, то никакие мои усилия не сделают эту команду звездной.
ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ В ЖИЗНИ И БИЗНЕСЕ:
- Перестану при оценке кандидата придавать большой вес его поведению во время интервью.
- Разработаю новую систему привлечения топовых кандидатов. Освежу чек-листы на проверку компетенций во время интервью и рекомендаций. Структурное интервью с 8 базовыми вопросами.
- При описании вакансии больше обращать внимание на те результаты, которые компания ждет от кандидата, а не на его навыки, знания и опыт. Помнить про достаточность 70% навыков и 120% энергии достижения результата.
ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Jeff Hayman «Recruit Rockstars»
Книга на тему, в которой большинство считает, что они разбираются лучше других, а на самом деле мало что понимают. Это про подбор персонала. Американский консультант с 20-летним стажем описал свой метод подбора, основанный на выводах из тысяч собеседований с кандидатами. Очень много примеров из практики с раскладом, как и на основе чего принимались решения при выборе людей.
КАКАЯ БЫЛА ЦЕЛЬ ЧТЕНИЯ:
Получить несколько новых методов для поиска сотрудников, так как у меня сейчас идет активный процесс подбора команды для нового бизнеса.
ГЛАВНЫЕ ВЫВОДЫ:
- Лучшие кандидаты подходят к поиску работы не так, как большинство. Топовые кандидаты не водятся там, где все и поэтому обычные методы подбора к ним неприменимы.
- Лучшим кандидатам нужна не работа, а карьера. Их интересуют не функции и обязанности, а цели, которые надо достигнуть и их профессиональный рост.
- Надо различать навыки кандидата по прохождению интервью и его навыки для работы на которые я его нанимаю. Часто, к сожалению, мы нанимаем на основе умения проходить интервью)
- Если у меня мало хороших кандидатов, то какими бы мощными навыками оценки кандидатов я не обладал, всё будет впустую. Первое необходимое условие - это создать поток кандидатов класса А.
- Собеседование с кандидатом больше всего похоже на раскопки фактов о его достижениях и результатах на предыдущих местах работы.
- Если я собрал крутую команду топов, то быть лидером легко. Если меня окружают слабые и некомпетентные сотрудники, то никакие мои усилия не сделают эту команду звездной.
ЧТО Я БУДУ ПРИМЕНЯТЬ В ЖИЗНИ И БИЗНЕСЕ:
- Перестану при оценке кандидата придавать большой вес его поведению во время интервью.
- Разработаю новую систему привлечения топовых кандидатов. Освежу чек-листы на проверку компетенций во время интервью и рекомендаций. Структурное интервью с 8 базовыми вопросами.
- При описании вакансии больше обращать внимание на те результаты, которые компания ждет от кандидата, а не на его навыки, знания и опыт. Помнить про достаточность 70% навыков и 120% энергии достижения результата.
ЕЩЕ НА ЭТУ ТЕМУ:
Jeff Hayman «Recruit Rockstars»
March 8, 2020
Предлагает фреймворк для системы найма. Есть хорошие идеи. Реализация предложенного фреймворка целиком сделает процесс найма очень медленным и трудозатратным. От этого не все советы в книге стоит применять на практике.
February 12, 2024
ملخص الكتاب :
"Hire with Your Head" is a book written by Lou Adler, a renowned expert in the field of recruitment and hiring. Published in 2007, the book provides valuable insights and strategies for making effective hiring decisions.
The book emphasizes the importance of shifting the focus of the hiring process from solely relying on resumes and interviews to a more comprehensive approach that evaluates the candidate's skills, abilities, and potential for success in the specific role and organization. Adler introduces a performance-based hiring methodology that enables recruiters and hiring managers to identify top talent and make informed hiring decisions.
Key themes addressed in "Hire with Your Head" include:
1. Defining job requirements: The book emphasizes the significance of clearly defining the specific skills, competencies, and behaviors required for success in a particular position. By establishing precise job requirements, organizations can better align their hiring process with their strategic objectives.
1. Sourcing and screening candidates: Adler provides practical advice on sourcing potential candidates and implementing effective screening techniques. He encourages recruiters to focus on the candidate's achievements and track record of success rather than relying solely on their past job titles or educational qualifications.
1. Competency-based interviewing: The book highlights the importance of conducting competency-based interviews that assess the candidate's skills and capabilities relevant to the job. Adler provides guidance on structuring interviews, asking probing questions, and evaluating responses to make more accurate assessments of a candidate's potential fit.
1. Making the final decision: Adler emphasizes the significance of making hiring decisions based on objective data rather than gut instincts or personal biases. The book explores techniques for evaluating and comparing candidates objectively, such as using scorecards and conducting debriefing sessions with interviewers.
1. Onboarding and retention: "Hire with Your Head" also covers the critical post-hiring phase, emphasizing the importance of a well-designed onboarding process to ensure new hires integrate smoothly into the organization. The book provides insights into reducing early turnover and increasing employee retention.
Overall, "Hire with Your Head" offers a comprehensive framework for improving the hiring process. It empowers recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals to make more informed decisions based on a candidate's potential for performance and cultural fit rather than relying solely on traditional hiring practices.
"Hire with Your Head" is a book written by Lou Adler, a renowned expert in the field of recruitment and hiring. Published in 2007, the book provides valuable insights and strategies for making effective hiring decisions.
The book emphasizes the importance of shifting the focus of the hiring process from solely relying on resumes and interviews to a more comprehensive approach that evaluates the candidate's skills, abilities, and potential for success in the specific role and organization. Adler introduces a performance-based hiring methodology that enables recruiters and hiring managers to identify top talent and make informed hiring decisions.
Key themes addressed in "Hire with Your Head" include:
1. Defining job requirements: The book emphasizes the significance of clearly defining the specific skills, competencies, and behaviors required for success in a particular position. By establishing precise job requirements, organizations can better align their hiring process with their strategic objectives.
1. Sourcing and screening candidates: Adler provides practical advice on sourcing potential candidates and implementing effective screening techniques. He encourages recruiters to focus on the candidate's achievements and track record of success rather than relying solely on their past job titles or educational qualifications.
1. Competency-based interviewing: The book highlights the importance of conducting competency-based interviews that assess the candidate's skills and capabilities relevant to the job. Adler provides guidance on structuring interviews, asking probing questions, and evaluating responses to make more accurate assessments of a candidate's potential fit.
1. Making the final decision: Adler emphasizes the significance of making hiring decisions based on objective data rather than gut instincts or personal biases. The book explores techniques for evaluating and comparing candidates objectively, such as using scorecards and conducting debriefing sessions with interviewers.
1. Onboarding and retention: "Hire with Your Head" also covers the critical post-hiring phase, emphasizing the importance of a well-designed onboarding process to ensure new hires integrate smoothly into the organization. The book provides insights into reducing early turnover and increasing employee retention.
Overall, "Hire with Your Head" offers a comprehensive framework for improving the hiring process. It empowers recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals to make more informed decisions based on a candidate's potential for performance and cultural fit rather than relying solely on traditional hiring practices.
April 21, 2025
A thoughtful and practical guide to hiring, Hire with Your Head offers unique perspectives that go beyond the typical recruitment mindset. One of the biggest takeaways is the emphasis on hiring for long-term success, specifically envisioning the one-year anniversary of a new hire rather than focusing solely on the start date. The book provides a strong framework with strategic interview questions and a performance-based hiring approach that shifts the focus from resumes to real potential. A worthwhile read for hiring managers, recruiters, and leaders looking to elevate their talent acquisition process.
November 21, 2024
"If you want to hire superior people, first define superior performance."
This quote made me appreciate my career opportunity even more. A lot of times, stakeholders and hiring managers don’t fully involve the talent team during critical planning, assuming our job is just about filling requests.
Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to dig deeper into job requests—asking tougher questions, following up for more details, and really understanding the role's goals and progression. Knowing the KPIs and building a solid performance profile is a game changer. It helps me not only find the right talent but also sell the dream and give real purpose to what we’re building. It’s definitely something I’m working to do better.
This quote made me appreciate my career opportunity even more. A lot of times, stakeholders and hiring managers don’t fully involve the talent team during critical planning, assuming our job is just about filling requests.
Lately, I’ve been challenging myself to dig deeper into job requests—asking tougher questions, following up for more details, and really understanding the role's goals and progression. Knowing the KPIs and building a solid performance profile is a game changer. It helps me not only find the right talent but also sell the dream and give real purpose to what we’re building. It’s definitely something I’m working to do better.
August 22, 2016
Really got a lot out of this book.
Main ideas -
The way we hire people needs to change from hiring based on how well someone interviews to how well someone performs.
Hiring top people is the only way to become a great company. (See also, Good to Great) Top people choose jobs based on different metrics than other people do. Compensation isn't their primary motivation, and someone else can always pay more money. Therefore, your jobs must represent significant career moves, and you must provide plenty of room for growth.
Interviews must be designed to gather information, not form judgements. Assessment must be based on evidence only.
I really enjoyed this book. A little heavy on anecdotes, perhaps, but there is a lot to learn here. Very excited to put this into practice.
Main ideas -
The way we hire people needs to change from hiring based on how well someone interviews to how well someone performs.
Hiring top people is the only way to become a great company. (See also, Good to Great) Top people choose jobs based on different metrics than other people do. Compensation isn't their primary motivation, and someone else can always pay more money. Therefore, your jobs must represent significant career moves, and you must provide plenty of room for growth.
Interviews must be designed to gather information, not form judgements. Assessment must be based on evidence only.
I really enjoyed this book. A little heavy on anecdotes, perhaps, but there is a lot to learn here. Very excited to put this into practice.
January 30, 2018
Filled with great information.
However, the first few chapters were all about What the book is all about, which made me lose faith in the whole context.
However, the first few chapters were all about What the book is all about, which made me lose faith in the whole context.
January 12, 2025
Good content, horribly written.
I really want to like this book. It has great ideas. Deep inside, there's an outstanding framework waiting to be adopted. I think the method in Hire With Your Head is better than one in the other book I read (Who: The A Method for Hiring).
The author makes it very difficult to follow their advice and their methodology. The main reason is that this book organizes every idea poorly:
- The organization of chapters is bad. The book is not chronological or ordered by importance or ordered to tell a story. The first and last chapter's placements makes sense from an importance and chronological perspective; but every other chapter is ordered randomly.
- The organization within each chapter is bad. Instead of going deep into the subject of the chapter, the book dances around with shallow ideas. Just when you start to get a good grasp on what the author is talking about, you're thrown into a different subsection which doesn't seem to be a part of the same whole. For example, chapter 10 talks about the candidate rating rubric, but you wouldn't be able to tell what the rubric is after reading the chapter because the pieces feel so disconnected from one another.
- The book repeats itself regularly, and not in meaningful ways that build depth or understanding. Instead, it looks like each chapter was built to stand alone, but that doesn't make sense for this kind of book in my opinion. You end up getting teased throughout the book ('we'll discuss this in a later chapter') which is constant distraction. (But of course, I can't just skip past the repetition, because maybe there's new content sneakily introduced.)
Many of the advice and anecdotes leave me scratching my head. Is it just poor writing or editing, or do I not get it?
- Chapter 10's "it's important to ask the hiring manager what the essential or most important skills are the person must possess" is confusing after a lengthy discussion in Chapter 2 to not talk about skills at all (and instead focus on KPOs).
- "[A] VP asked me how much experience a person needed to have. [...] If the person had too much, they might not be motivated to do the work required, and if too little, likely unable to do it. The more serious answer is less than typically on the job description but enough doing comparable work." How do you parse that last sentence?
- In defining a candidate persona: "Two to three most critical skills: Highlight the essential few. Consider all-inclusive “master” terms." What is an all-inclusive master term? I have no idea.
- "My first retained search was with In-N-Out Burger [...] for their CFO. The CEO [...] tried [my] technique [of waiting 30 minutes before making a decision] and it worked as described. While he liked the person at first, [...] he realized the person wouldn't fit the company's culture [...]. We not only placed the CFO with his firm, but also [...]." Why did you place this CFO with his firm if the CEO didn't like them? Oh right, it's just poorly written.
The appendix includes templates for the hiring framework. However, they're poorly organized as well. They don't serve as a good reference either because lots of pieces are missing (such as the components of a good career move) so you need to make your own cheat sheets anyway.
I really want to like this book. It has great ideas. Deep inside, there's an outstanding framework waiting to be adopted. I think the method in Hire With Your Head is better than one in the other book I read (Who: The A Method for Hiring).
The author makes it very difficult to follow their advice and their methodology. The main reason is that this book organizes every idea poorly:
- The organization of chapters is bad. The book is not chronological or ordered by importance or ordered to tell a story. The first and last chapter's placements makes sense from an importance and chronological perspective; but every other chapter is ordered randomly.
- The organization within each chapter is bad. Instead of going deep into the subject of the chapter, the book dances around with shallow ideas. Just when you start to get a good grasp on what the author is talking about, you're thrown into a different subsection which doesn't seem to be a part of the same whole. For example, chapter 10 talks about the candidate rating rubric, but you wouldn't be able to tell what the rubric is after reading the chapter because the pieces feel so disconnected from one another.
- The book repeats itself regularly, and not in meaningful ways that build depth or understanding. Instead, it looks like each chapter was built to stand alone, but that doesn't make sense for this kind of book in my opinion. You end up getting teased throughout the book ('we'll discuss this in a later chapter') which is constant distraction. (But of course, I can't just skip past the repetition, because maybe there's new content sneakily introduced.)
Many of the advice and anecdotes leave me scratching my head. Is it just poor writing or editing, or do I not get it?
- Chapter 10's "it's important to ask the hiring manager what the essential or most important skills are the person must possess" is confusing after a lengthy discussion in Chapter 2 to not talk about skills at all (and instead focus on KPOs).
- "[A] VP asked me how much experience a person needed to have. [...] If the person had too much, they might not be motivated to do the work required, and if too little, likely unable to do it. The more serious answer is less than typically on the job description but enough doing comparable work." How do you parse that last sentence?
- In defining a candidate persona: "Two to three most critical skills: Highlight the essential few. Consider all-inclusive “master” terms." What is an all-inclusive master term? I have no idea.
- "My first retained search was with In-N-Out Burger [...] for their CFO. The CEO [...] tried [my] technique [of waiting 30 minutes before making a decision] and it worked as described. While he liked the person at first, [...] he realized the person wouldn't fit the company's culture [...]. We not only placed the CFO with his firm, but also [...]." Why did you place this CFO with his firm if the CEO didn't like them? Oh right, it's just poorly written.
The appendix includes templates for the hiring framework. However, they're poorly organized as well. They don't serve as a good reference either because lots of pieces are missing (such as the components of a good career move) so you need to make your own cheat sheets anyway.
March 12, 2023
The main premise and initial tactical outline is very useful: build hiring around the key objectives of the job and focus the entire process on evaluating whether someone has already achieved similar objectives. I think this is overly simplistic and misses a lot, but it's a helpful premise that will adjust how I approach job descriptions and some aspects of hiring. I also appreciate the framing of focusing on the approaches that work rather than making processes that don't work more efficient (similar to the Lean Startup). However, this could all have been accomplished in ~30 pages. The book is incredibly repetitive, not well written and lacks nuance. Would recommend a shortened version of the principles with some examples rather than reading this book.
September 16, 2021
Great book for figuring out hiring. It was my first hiring book. Told me a lot of the things I was doing wrong.
I didn't fully read the book. It was too much. It introduces a lot of new skills which need to be practiced and implemented. I only acquired a few of the skills while reading it. As I make progress on those skills I will go back to acquire and practice some of the other skills in this book.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to increase the efficiency of their hiring process.
I didn't fully read the book. It was too much. It introduces a lot of new skills which need to be practiced and implemented. I only acquired a few of the skills while reading it. As I make progress on those skills I will go back to acquire and practice some of the other skills in this book.
I recommend this book to anyone who wants to increase the efficiency of their hiring process.
May 27, 2017
A reference read for those who wish to hire high performing candidates.
Anyone who interviews a candidate for their company will find this structured method easy, using the performance-based concepts described in this book. The three core tools are key to hire level 3 or above candidates—a performance profile, a structured performance-based interview, and a formal debriefing process using the 10-Factor Candidate Assessment template
Anyone who interviews a candidate for their company will find this structured method easy, using the performance-based concepts described in this book. The three core tools are key to hire level 3 or above candidates—a performance profile, a structured performance-based interview, and a formal debriefing process using the 10-Factor Candidate Assessment template
January 29, 2022
A very insightful book for a junior recruiter. It helps me understand role-based hiring.
It shows how much of our system is dominated by the premise that performance is one-dimensional, which it absolutely isn't. Context has great weight in an individual his/her performance.
The book is also very pragmatic. I enjoy the practical side of it. The aspect which I don't like is the amount of repetition and self-promotion. This caused me to put the book aside at times.
It shows how much of our system is dominated by the premise that performance is one-dimensional, which it absolutely isn't. Context has great weight in an individual his/her performance.
The book is also very pragmatic. I enjoy the practical side of it. The aspect which I don't like is the amount of repetition and self-promotion. This caused me to put the book aside at times.
September 13, 2025
I am currently reading this book, and like other readers, I find the frequent mentions of what we will learn later to be distracting and somewhat nonsensical. While there is a wealth of valuable information in the book, I wish the author had organized his ideas more logically and provided a thorough exploration of each stage of the recruitment process in order. He frequently references future chapters, so I'm doing a quick read-through and making notes of sections worth rereading later.
May 21, 2019
Out of all the books on hiring I've read, this is my go to book. I got a lot out of this and use this as a basis for hiring now with strong results. I'd recommend using the online resources referenced in the book, too.
November 2, 2022
Lots of things inside of the book aren't applicable to either my position or my company at all, but still among the many ideas there a lots of gems. And the general switch from describing the person to a proper description of the actual job is something I really have to consider.
January 5, 2024
Lou! I loved your book. I love how it peppered the key messages through out the book to help you learn and reinforce key messages. I learnt a lot and have implemented a lot of what you have said already.
July 22, 2024
A must read for anyone who wants to improve their Recruting practices. The Hiring Formula that Adler describes it's a powerful framework to build a true partnership between recruiters and the business. I liked so much that book that to every new member of my team I gift them a copy.
June 23, 2018
Good book on performance based hiring
March 2, 2020
Some pieces were very useful, others were easily skimmed past. Did take some notes on good interview questions for my own prep and any future involvement I have with interviewing others.
February 3, 2023
This is an extremely important book for any individual looking to start a business. It allows you to become an HR expert in a couple days.
December 21, 2024
A basic need for any HR practitioner.
April 17, 2013
Every now and then a book comes along that offers a radically new and better approach to something that has been unquestioned for years. Lou Adler has some paradigm-shifting thoughts about effective hiring. We've doubled-down over the years on better interview questions and better screening. The end result is not better hires! I speak from vast experience, with over 30 hires to my teams in the past 3 years alone.
The standard interview technique is the "behavioral" interview in which we are asking general questions about skill and personality. We want to know if the person is a technical, cultural, and financial fit. Adler calls his approach a "performance-based" hiring model. It starts with a different type of job description and ends with a different type of interview.
The job description is re-written so that rather than being skills-based, it describes in detail what the person in the role will be expected to accomplish. Dare I say most of us couldn't do this when we're hiring? But it seems obvious in hindsight that this is a better way to construct the job description. I liken it to hiring a contractor. A good contractor requisition should specify the deliverables in detail.
Then the interview changes so that the person interviewed is asked questions designed to map her experience to the performance-based job description. It's that simple!
This will be my hiring model going forward. Additionally, I was recently let go from a company in a large down-sizing and used this book in my job search. I eliminated several companies from consideration with one question: "If the person in this role is successful, ______ will happen." Hiring managers that couldn't answer that question---oh, you'd be surprised how many there are!---were politely told that I was withdrawing from consideration.
Conversely, those hiring managers that could answer that question elicited a focused response from me, mapping my prior experience to their greatest need. I got call-backs in every situation and offers from 3 of the companies.
If you're on LinkedIn, I suggest you find Lou Adler and follow him. He posts articles a couple of times a month for both job seekers and hiring managers that are well worth reading.
The standard interview technique is the "behavioral" interview in which we are asking general questions about skill and personality. We want to know if the person is a technical, cultural, and financial fit. Adler calls his approach a "performance-based" hiring model. It starts with a different type of job description and ends with a different type of interview.
The job description is re-written so that rather than being skills-based, it describes in detail what the person in the role will be expected to accomplish. Dare I say most of us couldn't do this when we're hiring? But it seems obvious in hindsight that this is a better way to construct the job description. I liken it to hiring a contractor. A good contractor requisition should specify the deliverables in detail.
Then the interview changes so that the person interviewed is asked questions designed to map her experience to the performance-based job description. It's that simple!
This will be my hiring model going forward. Additionally, I was recently let go from a company in a large down-sizing and used this book in my job search. I eliminated several companies from consideration with one question: "If the person in this role is successful, ______ will happen." Hiring managers that couldn't answer that question---oh, you'd be surprised how many there are!---were politely told that I was withdrawing from consideration.
Conversely, those hiring managers that could answer that question elicited a focused response from me, mapping my prior experience to their greatest need. I got call-backs in every situation and offers from 3 of the companies.
If you're on LinkedIn, I suggest you find Lou Adler and follow him. He posts articles a couple of times a month for both job seekers and hiring managers that are well worth reading.
February 22, 2021
In order to hire the best people for your company, think outside the norms of employee recruitment.
That is one of the things Mr. Lou Adler suggests to readers in his book "Hire With Your Head". Aimed at people who are already set in business and looking to hire people, the book contains useful information to give readers a head start in the process of employing only the best prospective job seekers.
The central idea Mr. Adler tells readers to follow is the re-evaluation of their organization's hiring tactics. He basically encourages them to throw the existing tactics outside the window, and instead to focus on changing them all to more effective techniques on interviewing higher performing candidates. More scrutiny is placed on the interviewers rather than the candidate as he places much more responsibility on the hiring managers to find the ideal people to hire. This is an interesting angle to take and perhaps should be explored by more companies in the modern age.
The author also provides great tips on reaching out to employees. Although the internet is mentioned as one of the ways to attract job seekers, he suggests even more effective ways to reel in the best performers using networking and many other ideas. All are explained thoroughly via real life examples of companies using these hiring strategies and the author even tells readers his own experiences in utilizing the strategies.
I would say this book is meant to be studied more than a casual read as it contains business terminology and some technical steps in the hiring process. The author simplifies things as much as possible, but I still found myself having to check the dictionary every once in a while to find out the meaning of certain words. This made it a bit difficult to remember some of the steps described in the book.
Overall, "Hire With Your Head" is a decent book that acts as a good guide to improving the employee hiring process within a company. It has several useful techniques that can be used to help increase the likelihood of hiring people that are good performers for your company. It should be standard reading for business owners, human resources staff, and business students.
That is one of the things Mr. Lou Adler suggests to readers in his book "Hire With Your Head". Aimed at people who are already set in business and looking to hire people, the book contains useful information to give readers a head start in the process of employing only the best prospective job seekers.
The central idea Mr. Adler tells readers to follow is the re-evaluation of their organization's hiring tactics. He basically encourages them to throw the existing tactics outside the window, and instead to focus on changing them all to more effective techniques on interviewing higher performing candidates. More scrutiny is placed on the interviewers rather than the candidate as he places much more responsibility on the hiring managers to find the ideal people to hire. This is an interesting angle to take and perhaps should be explored by more companies in the modern age.
The author also provides great tips on reaching out to employees. Although the internet is mentioned as one of the ways to attract job seekers, he suggests even more effective ways to reel in the best performers using networking and many other ideas. All are explained thoroughly via real life examples of companies using these hiring strategies and the author even tells readers his own experiences in utilizing the strategies.
I would say this book is meant to be studied more than a casual read as it contains business terminology and some technical steps in the hiring process. The author simplifies things as much as possible, but I still found myself having to check the dictionary every once in a while to find out the meaning of certain words. This made it a bit difficult to remember some of the steps described in the book.
Overall, "Hire With Your Head" is a decent book that acts as a good guide to improving the employee hiring process within a company. It has several useful techniques that can be used to help increase the likelihood of hiring people that are good performers for your company. It should be standard reading for business owners, human resources staff, and business students.
August 22, 2022
Mostly repetitive. Might be useful for recruiters, but only had one or two good ideas that were consistently rehashed.
May 28, 2014
This book made me rethink a lot of what I thought I new about hiring. Adler advocates a radical approach to creating job descriptions and ads - focus on the outcomes you want versus qualifications. After all, is it more important that an employee delivers results or have X years of experience?
The heart of the book is a complete end-to-end approach to hiring great staff. There is a nice balance of general guidance, examples, and specific tips. It also is useful for thinking about how to be a more effective interviewee.
This is not a long book, so there is no excuse not to read this if you are involved in interviewing at all - or want to be!
The heart of the book is a complete end-to-end approach to hiring great staff. There is a nice balance of general guidance, examples, and specific tips. It also is useful for thinking about how to be a more effective interviewee.
This is not a long book, so there is no excuse not to read this if you are involved in interviewing at all - or want to be!
October 12, 2011
The advice seems sound and useful... but only time will tell if it works! I am going to try out Lou's process in the very near future.
As for the way the book is written, it is redundant and could be shortened into a more succinct text. Also, although the book says the forms in the back are available online, I could not locate them. It would be great to have the forms electronically available.
As for the way the book is written, it is redundant and could be shortened into a more succinct text. Also, although the book says the forms in the back are available online, I could not locate them. It would be great to have the forms electronically available.
January 13, 2015
If you have a large corporation this is a great text to systematize the hiring process. Very detailed and well done. If you have a small business you would be better off reading the executive book summary pick up a few points and move on to other business concepts. I own three small businesses and with the exception of two key positions all I needed to properly hire most of my staff could have been gleaned from the last 15 pages.
March 23, 2011
I only wish more companies would adopt this clear-thinking method of hiring. It's not easier on the candidate, necessarily, but would at least make it more likely that both parties end up happy with the hire. And for those who think these ideas wouldn't work in a recession, think again. It may be even more critical to hire a 3, 4, or 5 than ever.
November 11, 2014
It was great getting the author's perspective on something I've been doing for years, and I got some great ideas I'd like to implement. Most helpful was rethinking job descriptions and some interview questions to target greatest accomplishments. I will be referencing this a lot in the future until I've absorbed and transitioned our process.
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