The financial gain of hiring A-level talent is probably 10-100 times the person’s compensation.The financial cost of hiring a walking lawsuit is probably 10-100 times their compensation.Assuming the duds and the stars represent 10% of your total hires, it’s what you do with the other 90% that really matters.To get a sense of the enormous financial impact of shifting people from the bottom half into the top half, first categ...

As you know the best people typically don’t look for new opportunities the same way as everyone else does. For one thing they’re looking for careers, not lateral transfers, and they find them largely through some type of networking effort. This suggests a massive shift away from generic job boards to new tools for networking including the implementation of an aggressive employee referral program. It also implies using a...

Maximizing your use of time is the key to hiring more top performers. In a recent webinar with Jobs2Web, I described the sourcing sweet-spot. This is the point just before and just after a fully employed person decides to consider looking for another position. This time-frame represents the window of opportunity to hire the best passive candidates and early-birds with less effort and salary premiums than any other point.If...

In a previous article, I suggested that most companies don’t have a formal hiring strategy in place that drives planning and decision-making. As a result, some default strategy predominates how hiring is done; generally, some mashup of competing ideas. Typically this is hiring manager-driven with individual managers determining who gets hired.Few managers are great at this, and many can’t attract top talent. Lack of oversig...

At an early age I had the unique opportunity to work at the corporate offices of two different Fortune 500 companies. One was number 37 on the list, and the other one 497. While there, I learned a few timeless strategy lessons. They might be useful as you develop the hiring strategy for your company or organization.Some business concepts worth considering when developing a hiring strategy:1. When business conditions change,...

Key trends you need to consider today to hire top talent for tomorrow The Business Week cover story, "The Future of Work," for their August 20 edition is must reading for all recruiting and HR leaders. The basic theme of the series of articles focuses on the impact of technology, globalization, demographics, and the relationship between employees and their employers over the next five to 15 years. Here are the 10 ide...