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eBook Category: Business
eBook Description:
The most important thing you'll ever do if you are trying to build, rebuild, or even turn around an organization is hire the best people--and keep them. Jeffrey E. Christian has learned this lesson by working on hundreds of executive search assignments and building his own headhunting firm into a nationally recognized company, one of the top ten in the nation. In The Headhunter's Edge, he reveals his secrets for excelling on either side of the desk--as a leader trying to build a great company, or as a job seeker in search of the next big position. In this practical manifesto, Christian shows how essential it is to have the most talented people on your side. But how do you find the best? And how do you become the best? Christian's solution: Think like a headhunter. He gives readers the benefits of his twenty years of experience interviewing thousands of CEOs and potential CEOs, and tells you • how to conduct an interview and spot great leadership qualities in job candidates; exactly what to do and say to keep a valuable employee from resigning; how to expand your network to find the best emerging talent; key strategies and instructions for choosing and getting the most out of a search firm; what it takes for ambitious and talented people to get noticed and get the next big job or promotion Practical, impassioned, and wise, The Headhunter's Edge is an indispensable guide to advancing your career--and making your business more successful and profitable.


eBook Publisher: Random House, Inc.
Fictionwise Release Date: August 2002

Available eBook Formats:
Words: 90000
Reading time: 257-360 min.
All formats: Printing DISABLED, Read-aloud DISABLED

Advance praise for The Headhunter's Edge

"If you want to build a successful business, Jeffrey Christian's book offers the most essential lesson: Invest in the best people and do everything you can to hold on to them. The Headhunter's Edge is illuminating and inspiring--it teaches us, in valuable ways, that people make all the difference."--Vinod Khosla, general partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers

"If you've ever wondered why some people get the job and others don't, read this book. If you've ever wondered how certain companies attract great talent, read this book. If you want to know how a top headhunter thinks, read this book. Executive summary: Read this book."--Susan Bowick, senior vice president of human resources, Hewlett-Packard

"Christian's writing style is engaging and his advice is sound."--Publishers Weekly

ts for the candidate to fly in for a meeting with the CEO at his office. Simple, right?

Not when the CEO refused to pay for a limo to transport him to the company's offices. The candidate ended up taking a taxi?and getting lost. And as if that weren't bad enough, when he finally arrived at the company's offices, he had the pleasure of sitting and waiting, and waiting, in the reception area. A half hour past the appointed time, and with no sign of the CEO, the job candidate rose from his chair in disgust and walked out the door. And thus my client lost the one person available who was, in the opinion of his high-priced search professional, perfect for the job. Why did my client lose Mr. Right? Because like too many CEOs?and general managers of engineering, vice presidents of sales, directors of marketing, and managers of whatever with hiring responsibility?he had not committed his brain, his heart, and the future of his company to what I call the Talent Principle:

The company with the best people thrives.

What about the best product? What about marketing or sales? Strategic thinking? What about all those wizard business models coming out of the B-schools? They do not drive business. Talent does. In fact, there is no such thing as ?sales? or ?marketing? or even ?product? without people. If, for example, you have a marketing problem in your company, then my advice would be to hire a more talented person to run the marketing department. The real art of building a successful company is to bring together so much talent that no one would want to work anyplace else, and that those who do will want to be part of your winning team. I would even go so far as to argue that you can build a major career in business simply by surrounding yourself with the best people you can find. Talent will draw more talent. It is the kind of virtuous circle you want in your career and your company at every level, from CEO right down the pyramid. If you are at the beginning of your career, attach yourself to the best people in your company; find mentors. If you're already in a position of power, recruit the best people you can possibly find and keep them at your side. If you hire talented lieutenants, they'll tell you what to do. All you have to do is listen. It's that simple.

Finding all those talented people is a bit more difficult. So is interviewing for talent and persuading the best people that their future is with you. The most difficult challenge of all can be to keep the great talent you have from accepting another job offer. How do you get the best people and keep them? How do you create a career so that you will be identified as ?talent??

You have to learn to think like a headhunter.

That is the goal of this book. If I can help some of the most successful companies in the world find the smartest, most creative, and hardest-working talent available, then I think I can help you, too. In 1980, I founded Christian & Timbers, the first search firm specializing in information technology. Our work has affected thousands of companies, ranging from such Fortune 50 legends as IBM, Microsoft, and Apple Computer to such Internet and e-commerce pioneers as Lycos, Netscape, Cisco, Amazon, and Yahoo. When Hewlett-Packard's chairman, president, and CEO, Lew Platt, decided in 1999 to replace himself, HP chose us to do the search. I brought them one of Lucent's rising stars, Carly Fiorina, who as HP's new president and CEO has injected new life into one of America?s...