A compact, well-constructed, and self-contained playbook for novice and experienced hiring managers.
A strong debut that aims to demystify the talent acquisition process for hiring managers.
Weyerhauser, a professional executive recruiter, has more than two decades of executive search experience, mostly at large firms, and he has an intimate knowledge of what it takes to hire top people. In this work, he shares his wisdom in clear, well-organized prose, presenting a logical, thorough approach to talent acquisition. He begins with the notion that it’s the hiring manager, and no one else, who must take ultimate responsibility for securing the right person for a particular position. The author intriguingly notes that some managers remain disengaged because “if the search fails, blame can be shifted to HR and the recruiters.” Active commitment on the part of the hiring manager is essential, he says, because it leads to improved decision-making, “drives focus, energy, and momentum,” and also motivates candidates. In addition to commitment and engagement, one must also embrace a methodical approach, which is the strength of this book. It covers what the author calls “the physics” of search, discussing such things as how to analyze candidates and the job market; it also offers a smart way to select a recruiter and outlines a 12-step search process, including “likely problems” and “solutions” for each step. The author also addresses, in comprehensive detail, which characteristics of a position are most important for the manager to understand as well as how to “craft a compelling value proposition” for candidates. The section on creating a position description may be one of the most valuable in the book, as it includes examples of both “standard” and “enhanced” descriptions that one may use as models. Weyerhauser’s wise counsel regarding candidate interviews is also helpful; instead of just listing typical questions to ask, he delves into the psychological aspects of the process, such as how to assess emotional intelligence, how to ask about behavioral issues, and how to evaluate the questions that candidates ask interviewers. The author’s authoritative advice about references could also come in handy; he says that he prefers to think of them as “referees” instead of “references” because they keep “the issue of objectivity close to mind.” Weyerhauser deftly wraps up the book by noting two additional, important areas: First, he talks about the art of compromise when making a job offer, and then he discusses how managers can approach talent acquisition in a broadly strategic manner. For instance, he believes that hiring managers shouldn’t overestimate the importance of the time and cost of the hiring process, because these aspects “diminish over time, while the quality of the hire remains important in perpetuity.” Throughout this book, Weyerhauser offers several useful tools to help hiring managers do their jobs, and he articulates them clearly. As a result, the members of his target audience will not only want to engage more fully in the recruitment process—they’ll also better understand the importance of their own roles.
A compact, well-constructed, and self-contained playbook for novice and experienced hiring managers.Pub Date: June 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9915908-0-3
Page Count: 266
Publisher: Kensington Stone
Review Posted Online: Aug. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.
The legendary booze-addled metal rocker turned reality-TV star comes clean in his tell-all autobiography.
Although brought up in the bleak British factory town of Aston, John “Ozzy” Osbourne’s tragicomic rags-to-riches tale is somehow quintessentially American. It’s an epic dream/nightmare that takes him from Winson Green prison in 1966 to a presidential dinner with George W. Bush in 2004. Tracing his adult life from petty thief and slaughterhouse worker to rock star, Osbourne’s first-person slang-and-expletive-driven style comes off like he’s casually relating his story while knocking back pints at the pub. “What you read here,” he writes, “is what dribbled out of the jelly I call my brain when I asked it for my life story.” During the late 1960s his transformation from inept shoplifter to notorious Black Sabbath frontman was unlikely enough. In fact, the band got its first paying gigs by waiting outside concert venues hoping the regularly scheduled act wouldn’t show. After a few years, Osbourne and his bandmates were touring America and becoming millionaires from their riff-heavy doom music. As expected, with success came personal excess and inevitable alienation from the other members of the group. But as a solo performer, Osbourne’s predilection for guns, drink, drugs, near-death experiences, cruelty to animals and relieving himself in public soon became the stuff of legend. His most infamous exploits—biting the head off a bat and accidentally urinating on the Alamo—are addressed, but they seem tame compared to other dark moments of his checkered past: nearly killing his wife Sharon during an alcohol-induced blackout, waking up after a bender in the middle of a busy highway, burning down his backyard, etc. Osbourne is confessional to a fault, jeopardizing his demonic-rocker reputation with glib remarks about his love for Paul McCartney and Robin Williams. The most distinguishing feature of the book is the staggering chapter-by-chapter accumulation of drunken mishaps, bodily dysfunctions and drug-induced mayhem over a 40-plus-year career—a résumé of anti-social atrocities comparable to any of rock ’n’ roll’s most reckless outlaws.
An autobiography as toxic and addictive as any drug its author has ever ingested.Pub Date: Jan. 25, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-446-56989-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2009
IN THE NEWS
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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