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THE RARE FIND by George Anders

THE RARE FIND

Spotting Exceptional Talent Before Everyone Else

by George Anders

Pub Date: Oct. 18th, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-59184-425-9
Publisher: Portfolio

How-to for headhunters seeking raw, undiscovered talent from the New York Times bestselling author of Perfect Enough.

With a maddening number of applications to sift through each day, how can a talent hunter be sure that the best candidate on paper is really the best one for the job? Anders argues that tomorrow's high-performing executives aren't necessarily found on the higher rungs of existing company ladders. In a digital environment driven by keywords, his guide offers a welcome lifeline for candidates who rarely make the top of the search results by taking a refreshingly personal rather than objective approach to making hiring decisions. Comparing the top performers in arenas like professional sports, Hollywood and the military to those with less glamorous occupations, Anders explains the subtler clues wise recruiters use to spot a future star—and charisma is not on the list. He offers fascinating insight into why companies like Goldman Sachs prize ambition over Ivy League educations and how Jeff Bezos scraped together his first million to create Amazon. The result is not so much a formula for finding talent as it is a mindset of being willing to take a risk on prospects with limited experience in order to create—not just poach—potential stars. A lively and nuanced look at the hiring process.