The Effective Hiring Manager

Introduction

Hiring is the most important managerial practice.

The purpose of this book is to help you become an effective hiring manager. Effective hiring is the most important contribution a manager makes to his or her organization.

Great CEOs are often quoted as spending as much as 30% of their time on people. How are individual managers and executives doing with their responsibilities? Who’s “ready now” for more responsibility? Who will be “ready next”? Who needs different responsibilities? Who is at risk for leaving the firm? Who, external to the firm, may be worthy of recruitment or a relationship?

With all that CEOs have to do—strategy, customer relations, governmental relations, investor relations, structure, finances, internal and external communications—most will say that the area they spend most of their time on is people. Despite the cynicism that accompanies the phrase, “People are our most important asset,” CEO behavior tells us that it’s true—even if the rank and file often don’t feel that way.

CEOs do so because they have learned that every organization’s engine of success is its talent: people. It’s people who create, manage, and improve upon all the systems, processes, and policies that those people use to generate growth, revenue, profit, mission accomplishment.

In the long run, it’s people that make the difference. Every result in every organization comes from people. It’s not algorithms, or equipment, or software, or proprietary trading models, or cost ...