Hiring Greatness How to Recruit Your Dream Team and Crush the Competition

The single greatest opportunity that an organization has to improve both performance and culture in one stroke lies in the hiring of a new executive—the right executive. The fresh thinking of a skilled leader has the potential to unleash innovation, empower employees, and generate wealth for the company. Similarly, a bad hire may mortally wound the organization and cause ripple effects throughout the entire economy.

Hiring Greatness contains valuable insider strategies and tactics—previously only known to a handful of America's wealthiest, elite head-hunters—to attract, recruit, and retain star executives. Authors David E. Perry and Mark J. Haluska have completed more than 1800 search projects across five continents, maintaining a 99.97% success rate, and negotiating more than $380 million in salaries. Like magicians unveiling the hidden ‘tricks of the trade,' Perry and Haluska reveal:

• How to systematically secure—and retain—the perfect talent for your company
• How to keep recruiters from poaching your star executives (a good hire is relatively meaningless if they leave the company)
• Twenty-three questions you must ask a potential headhunter
• The language that makes your company the most compelling, and how HR lingo can repel the best talent
• Four critical turnoffs that drive great candidates away from top companies

One company created $3.8 million of market value each hour, for six months, simply by hiring the right leader. Hiring Greatness takes you behind the scenes of one of the world's most profitable and secretive industries, meticulously showing how any organization can make monumental hiring decisions that lead to massive success.

DAVID E. PERRY, nicknamed the 'Rogue Recruiter' by the Wall Street Journal, has three decades experience recruiting senior executives as Managing Partner of Perry-Martel International Inc. He has closed more than $300 million in deals on 5 continents with a 99.97% success rate. He pioneered the professional practices described in this book.

MARK J. HALUSKA is an executive search professional who has drawn attention from many of North America's better-known boutique recruiting firms and choice corporate clients.

How to Maximize Your Use of this Book xvii

Foreword xix

Preface xxiii

Chapter 1 Great Expectations: Defining Value 1

Why Hiring Greatness Matters 7

Height of Value: KnowingWhat’s Important 10

Sight of Value: Finding What’s Important 12

Flight of Value: Get What’s Important 14

The “Perfect Storm” 19

Chapter 2 Architects of Success: Setting Up the Search Committee 29

How to Form a Functional Search Committee 31

How to Select a Search Committee

Chairperson 32

Duties of the Search Committee Chairperson 34

Chapter 3 Preparation: RecruiterNomics 39

The Importance of Due Diligence 40

The Job Description—Your Foundational Document 43

Creating the Position Profile 51

The Confidential Candidate Brief 57

Your Interview Guide 62

Chapter 4 Positioning the Opportunity: The Quick and the Dead 65

It’s Go Time! 69

Search Research: The Black Box 70

Benchmarking 83

Attracting the A-Players 90CONTENTS

Recruiting and Screening 91

Closing on the First Face-to-Face Interview 99

Tradecraft 99

Chapter 5 Finding the Right Fit: Lions Don’t Need to Roar 101

The Importance of Planning 104

Interview Etiquette—Putting Your Best Foot Forward 106

How to Shape a Robust Interview Process 108

The Quick and the Dead 112

The Five Pillars of Success 115

Four Common Failures to Avoid 121

A Progressive Two-Stage Interview Process 123

Face-to-Face Interview with Two Recruiters 129

The Search Chair Interview 134

The Ultimate Hiring Authority’s Interview 139

The Search Committee Interview 143

The Candidate’s Business Presentation 145

Chapter 6 Due Diligence: Don’t Hire a Liar 149

Catch Me If You Can 154

Negligent Hiring 159

Profile of a Good Reference 161

The Main Event 168

Setting the Stage 168

Tactics to Enhance Your Reference Checking 172

How to Evaluate References Effectively 176

Chapter 7 Sealing the Deal: The Future Is in Your Hands 181

Five Rules to Developing aWinning Offer 183

Presenting the Offer 186

The Best Candidates Have the Shortest Shelf Lives 187

How to Extend the Honeymoon Period Indefinitely 189

Counteroffers 193

Conclusion 194

Epilogue: All In 197

Acknowledgments 201

About the Authors 203

Appendix A Position Profile 205

Executive Search Mandate 205

Appendix B Confidential Candidate Brief 211

Working with Perry-Martel International Inc. 211

Index 217

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