Message to Employers: Recruit or Die

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

The entitled stereotype of Gen-Y

So if you haven't heard the words "entitlement" and Gen-Y" in the same sentence, you've obviously been working somewhere very far away, or living under a rock.

Researchers and career experts say that the ubiquity of job hopping, particularly for Gen-Y (those born after 1979), is partially being driven by their reluctance to painstakingly pay their dues.

This has given way to the coining of Gen-Y as "entitled," a nebulous term that I have always had trouble defining.

My best estimation of what people mean when they label someone as "entitled" is that they've had their first interaction with a 20something who waltzes in and inquires about applying for the marketing manager position that just opened up, when she has barely clocked six months on the job.

It's a sense that I deserve this, even though I haven't paid my dues to get it.

But would a guy who had the same chutzpah—I mean confidence—be characterized as a real "go-getter" or "entitled?"

Think about this way. Would legendary business leaders such as Stephen Schwarzman, the Chairman and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, Jack Welch, the former Chairman and CEO of General Electric, or Bill Gates, the Chairman and co-founder of Microsoft, be perceived as entitled or just confident if they were starting out in 2007?

But let's put gender aside for a moment and pay lip service to the fact that what has been labeled the Achilles' heel of Gen-Y might actually be beneficial for employers.

Research by Bharath M. Josiam, a University of North Texas associate professor in the School of Merchandising and Hospitality Management, found that while a previous generation may have felt that that promotions aren't worth the headaches or hassles, Gen-Y hospitality students believe the advantages of a job promotion outweigh the disadvantages

For employers, the storyline here only seems to read as positive — an aspiring, enthusiastic, hard-working crop of workers is at their fingertips.

"Employers should be heartened that (Gen-Y hospitality) students on the whole are not slackers," Josiam says. "They have a positive attitude toward work, a low level of promotion cynicism and a strong work ethic."

What's wrong with feeling entitled to a position that you worked hard for or intend to work very hard in? Isn't that what they just called "earned" or "ambitious" in previous generations?

Part of this post originally appeard on WomensWallStreet.com.

Forget About Your Shortcomings, Improve Your Strengths

The Strengths Finder 2.0 book and online test by Tom Rath is a must buy for anyone just starting out in their careers. The short introduction stresses focusing on your strengths and excelling in those areas rather than focusing on shortcomings and trying to hard to achieve things that don't come naturally to you.

The author discusses the movie, Rudy. Rudy overcomes insurmountable odds of being too small, too slow and not smart enough to get into and later play football for Notre Dame. He overcomes the odds by practicing religiously and never giving up. Rudy is the typical American Hero, he overcame his shortcomings.

Tom Rath then puts this into perspective. He says, "After all the practice and sweat, blood and tears, Rudy made one tackle on one play in his entire career."

It's an achievement no doubt, but why not put all of that effort into something you have a natural ability for. Why do we put so much stock into celebrating someone who has overcome an obstacle rather than praising people who recognize their talents and excel at something that aligns with these talents?

The most important reason to buy this book is for the accompanying online questionnaire. It takes about 30 minutes to complete. When finished, you receive a Strengths Finder guide with your 5 strengths along with detailed descriptions, examples of others with the same strengths and action plans.

I highly recommend getting the book and taking the course. If you are like me, you tend to focus on areas of weakness and don't try to improve on your strengths. Or worse, you don't even know your strengths. Just in case anyone cares, my top 5 strengths in order are:

1. Futuristic
2. Analytical
3. Arranger
4. Restorative
5. Significance

When reading the descriptions, these strengths seem right on point. Sure this may be feeding into the whole self esteem "crisis" that our generation apparently faces, but everyone needs to know what they are naturally good at if they want to pick that perfect career. Phone cards

Timeless Advice for the Aspiring Individual

Brett Farmiloe travels the country to interview people who are passionate about their work. Read about his 2007 tour at http://www.pursuethepassion.com

I've always been told that if you don't know how to figure something out, then you need to go to the source. You have to ask someone who has figured it out.

Two days after graduation I was trying to figure out life. I decided to go to the source, which I concluded to be successful professionals that had figured life out.

This e-book is a compilation of quotes and photos that I gathered from interviewing inspiring leaders about life's twists and turns. It offers timeless advice to any aspiring individual seeking to determine a direction, or those who wish to better themselves in their careers.

http://www.pursuethepassion.com/ebook/PTP_timeless_advice.pdf

So check it out! It is the end result of one glorious summer journey, and the culmination of approximately three thousand years of life experience (average interviewee age of 40, multiplied by 75 interviews).

It will be five minutes well spent.

Read this Book!: The Four Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferriss

"Most people aren't lucky enough to get fired and die a slow spiritual death over 30-40 years of tolerating the mediocre."

- Tim Ferriss, The 4-Hour Workweek

Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek, starts every chapter with a quote from someone else, so I figured I would borrow one from him to start this review. Simply put, his book will change your life (or at least the way you think about your life). Whether you are an employee, entrepreneur or aspiring entrepreneur, Tim's advice is invaluable.

Before you read further, I must warn you, this book is very dangerous. I literally almost quit my job the morning after reading the first 150 pages. Tim gives inspiring advice on how to leave the cube and become self-employed. He even lays out step-by-step instructions on how to come up with a product to sell.

One of the most useful sections of the book is when Tim describes how to convince your boss to work remotely. He may be making a stretch by assuming you can simply decide to be more productive on the days you work from home, but I think he's right. I could be more productive if I decided to. It really is a choice.

He stresses many of the things we have stressed in previous posts. For instance, nine-to-five work is nothing more than a social norm that people feel they must follow and flexibility/telecommuting can foster greater productivity.

Hands down, the best chapter of the book is about self-automation. Tim lays out exactly how to outsource every part of your life to create more time for the important things. From writing a great business plan, to sending your fianc̩e an apology email Рeverything can be outsourced. I have already contacted one of his outsourcing agencies to do some work for me!

Tim Ferriss is not the average guy. He has some serious ambition, drive and a little craziness in him. Not everyone can be a National Champion in Chinese kickboxing, a world-record holder in tango, an actor in a hit television series in Hong Kong and a wildly successful entrepreneur. However, if we could all figure out what we would do if we had 36 extra hours per week and then pursue it, life would be a lot more interesting.