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Ryan Healy graduated Penn State University in the Spring of 2006. He recently left his consulting position to start 
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New here? Employee Evolution is dedicated to helping the Millennial generation answer the hard-hitting questions that come with the biggest transition of our lives. Be sure to visit our about section for the full story. Since you're here, check out our best articles in the archives. We've also put together a list of some Millennial-friendly employers on our jobs page. Any questions? Feel free to contact us.
The title may be a little over the top, but authors Chris Resto, Ian Ybarra and Ramit Sethi are definitely onto something with their new book, Recruit or Die.
Read the subtitle and you’ll discover that Recruit or Die reveals “how any business can beat the big guys in the war for young talent.” The authors use Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, and Mckinsey as benchmarks for recruiting success and break down exactly how your small company can compete with the giants.
I have to admit, having finished the recruiting process from a candidate’s side and not being heavily involved with recruiting for my company, I was curious to find out if this book would spark my interest. Two days and 276 pages later, I was amazed at how spot-on the author’s observations about young people were. It certainly kept my attention.
The authors explain why Microsoft, Goldman Sachs and Mckinsey have in fact attained gold-standard recruiting practices. They won’t settle for anything less than the exact recruits they want, and they work harder and smarter than their competitors to understand these candidates.
These may be fairly obvious observations, but from my experience, most companies don’t have the luxury of only accepting the recruits they want because they struggle to identify with their target audience. Microsoft doesn’t just nab recruits because they’re Microsoft. They’re smart, and they take recruiting seriously.
My favorite quote from the book comes from the section, “Young and Confused, Yet Absolutely Certain”:
You can take the “When I was your age” approach, dismiss their expectations as delusions of entitlement, and go about recruiting them as if they should feel lucky to work for you and have a chance to pay their dues for a while. Or, you can embrace this new paradigm and appeal to their aspirations.
You better believe that in today’s job market, talented young people have a choice in employment. Organizations as a whole must deal with this new paradigm shift, but recruiters, above all, must embrace it.
Another insightful tip Recruit or Die gives is to openly discuss how your company can be a spring board to entrepreneurship. This might seem counter-intuitive, but some of your new hires already plan to leave corporate America in search of their own business. Why not encourage this dream?
Another great tip is to talk about money. Millennials may be more concerned with fulfilling, meaningful work than a slight pay raise, but discussions about salaries, rent and other expenses are not taboo. We don’t keep personal finance on the hush, so go ahead and tell us how much we can potentially earn with the company, one, two and five years down the line.
The authors do offer a warning: Don’t tell young people how much they can retire with! The “R” word is off limits in any recruiting pitch.
Recruit or Die is an absolute must-read for recruiters, human resource employees and small company managers. I also recommend young people pick up a copy. If nothing else, you’ll learn a few techniques for sniffing out the frauds in your next job search. In today’s job market, that’s a skill we can all profit from.
Also, check out my Wall Street Journal podcast with Co-author Ramit Sethi.
Other Book-Related Posts:
Read this Book!: The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss
Read this Book!: My Start Up Life, by Ben Casnocha
Leaderless Organizations Make Sense, Read The Starfish and the Spider
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Ryan,
That sounds like a great book. Since I work in the employment and human resources industry, I know that this message has been being preached for a while, but it never ceases to amaze me how many companies just don’t seem to get it. And then, at the same time, how many do! There really does seem to be a gap - the Googles and Microsofts of the world, and even many small and mid-sized companies, out there, recruiting hard, getting the great workers. Then everyone else. Not doing much at all. Meanwhile, companies that have become gurus at recruiting are able to move on to retention techniques to make sure that when the worker shortage does hit, they’re going to be cool because not only do they already have a solid workforce, they’re so great no one would ever leave them to go work at your company.
I think you’re exactly right that this information is great for young workers, too. The more change happens, the more the workplace will improve as these things become normal business practices. And young workers need to understand how to be recruited, on the flip side.
Great post!
Do I live in bizarro world? I’m curious as to what percentage of the workforce is actively being recruited, because up until recently that never happened to me. I think the majority of job-seekers are working really hard on their own job searches and just wish a company would come talk to them instead of the other way around. Or does recruiting mean techniques to attract young talent and not the actual act of asking young workers to apply?
I feel like you’re making it seem like young workers can get any job they want, but in reality it’s a tough thing to do because we’re all so great and we’re all competing against each other. Chances are that when you find a job that you really want, the rest of us will want it too. Gen Y can’t just sit back, we need to prove our worth as well.
I’ve never had an personal experience with recruiting. But I think an interesting angle that millenials and current C-suites alike should keep in mind are the 40-somethings out there who have having mid-life crises/revelations as well. Perhaps we should all team up together!
Oh, is that the podcast from like 2 months back? I’ve been so out of touch with the WSJ & NYT etc. since leaving my co-op.
This questions is slightly off-topic, but any good book-on-tape recommendations?
Both of you provide very interesting points…..I have just graduated and gone through the recruiting process but I also have a pretty objective view since I now work in the Human Resource field.
I agree with you Rebecca, many of my friends had an extremely difficult time not only getting the job the wanted but a job in general. Unfortunately, in my experience I think that Gen Y is VERY focused on the power of a name or brand. Ryan, I disagree that the Microsofts, Googles, and Goldman Sachs of the world get such a large number of applicants because of there name. Many graduates are asked the million dollar question when they meet with friends or family members….”So, what are you doing after college? Where will you be working?” Many Gen Y’ers do feel that sense of entitlement to land a high profile name, especially those who graduated top universities and colleges. However, the question is, what will those companies doing to retain their employees? (Since our generation is said to change jobs within 2 years if we’re not promoted) The truth is that a name will only go so far after there is a lack of culture that encourages creativity, deficiency of work-life balance, or room for growth. It seems that Gen Y’ers won’t understand the importance of all of those issues until they move on to find their next job. The importance of these topics needs to be stressed in our infancy, beginning with our educators and mentors. After all, it isn’t always about the money…..sometimes our happiness does have something to do with it.
@Rebecca - I apologize, I failed to mention that this book is focused on college recruiting. I know at Penn State, employers were throwing themselves at us trying to sell their companies at career fairs and information sessions. I assume the same happened at Wisconsin? However, this book is also very much focused on “top tier” and ivy league recruiting. The average student probably does not have as many choices.
@Danielle - Yes, that is the podcast from a few months ago. I don’t usually listen to books on tape because I am a music fanatic. However, a few good books I read recently:
- The Trap: Selling Out To Stay Afloat In Winner Take All America. By Daniel Brook. Great book, everyone should read it.
- The Audacity of Hope. By Barak Obama. Im sure this is on tape!
- Please Just F* Off, It’s Our Turn Now. By Ryan Heath. This book completely blasts the baby boomers in Australia and is really expensive and hard to find, but amusing.
@Gina - I think you are right. Google, Microsoft etc. probably do get applicants because of their names. The lesson here is to build a brand name that students can brag about. I also agree that retaining is way more important than recruiting. Recruiting is selling a vision of the company, retaining is selling the actual culture and values. These two practices must be more in line.
Ryan — glad to see that you clarified that this was for campus recruiting. Campus recruiting is really a program, or a project to a company. Specific people go out and recruit just on campuses and hire graduates. Because it’s a one-trick pony, putting together an excellent recruiting message is, in relative terms, easier than recruiting for a position outside of the college environment. (So it makes you wonder why more don’t have a kick-ass recruiting program when they show up on campus, right?)
I think that’s the point Rebecca is making and I agree with her; finding good positions takes a lot of work by the applicant. And the retention side means a smart management team focused on providing good, challenging work for their employees, Gen whatever.
Ah, yes. Career management needs to start early and networking never was as important as now…
@ Gina — Do you think the search for colleges with big names and titles (ie instant recoginition) that we went through somehow parlayed into the initial job search? How many friends do you know that picked a school because it was A GREAT SCHOOL only to drop out, transfer, and end up much happier? I also wonder if part of the search for a GREAT SCHOOL with a big name somehows helps us legitimize ourselves when we’re working with older people. I had never thought of this before moving to Baltimore where my school (Northeastern) isn’t known at all (Oh, so you go to Northwestern in Chicago??) compared to here in Boston (WOW! they have an awesome co-op program). What do you think?
“You better believe that in today’s job market, talented young people have a choice in employment.”
Actually, my experience has been that this statement is only partially true. I have certainly met my share of GenY-ers who balance their talent with the kind of drive and creativity required to write their own tickets, but in real life, those people have been very much in the minority. Most of the talented young people I’ve met have found themselves competing with an enormous pool of other talented young people, and believe me, they aren’t being actively recruited by anybody.
This isn’t to suggest that GenY-ers aren’t actually talented, or that they’re less talented than they think they are, necessarily … but talent and youth simply aren’t unique in a worldwide job market.
Sean,
Again, this book is mainly aimed at high achieving college students looking for a first job. And from first hand experience, I know that nearly every senior with a good major and decent GPA has multiple job offers. Its a fact.
Thanks for the comment.
-Ryan
You’ve had the good fortune to have graduated well into an economic upturn, but I’d guess that 95%+ of college graduates across the US experience what several other posters have pointed out: It’s very difficult to land any kind of job. You are out of touch if you are going to simply dismiss the masses of unfortunates, as out of touch as the Boomers who experienced the steady economic expansions of the 1980s and the Internet Era Gen-Ys who knew no limits during the dotcom boom.
Consider covering offshoring and its effect on the Millenials and the gap between the Ivy League graduates and their State U. counterparts.
GG.
Why should I consider the difficulties people had in the past? The past is over. The only thing you can do is consider the reality of today. If you are going to dismiss today’s job market and not look for new ways to recruit talent, then you are out of touch and the company will not succeed. I recognize that we are lucky to graduate in this environment, but that is reality.
Also, I am a State U graduate. Look for material in the very near future that touches on the growing gap between the ivy leaguers and the State graduates. It’s a big issue.
“Why should I consider the difficulties people had in the past? The past is over. The only thing you can do is consider the reality of today.”
Ryan, I really hope you’re kidding or being sarcastic. You wouldn’t seriously suggest that these kinds of upturns (and downturns) aren’t cyclical, or that there’s nothing to be learned from generations that sought jobs before yours did. In fact, what I think Gordon Gecko is suggesting is that the current economic upturn is similar to upturns in the 80s and 90s … both of which came to difficult and unexpected ends, for which we’d all do well to prepare.
Getting recruited directly out of college is terrific and optimistic news, but it does not set you up for life. There are lots of factors outside your direct control that will have their effects on your career.
Of course these kinds of patterns are cyclical, there is a reason we study history and trends, patterns etc. The point Im trying to get across here is that this book teaches employers how to recruit college students NOW. It doesn’t worry about recruiting students in the ’90s and they don’t discuss how to recruit in 10 years. What would be the point of that? Employers need to know how to recruit in today’s environment. We should all prepare for a future downturn, but you can’t base today’s practices on future assumptions.