The Headhunter’s Edge: Jeffrey E. Christian

• Filed under: Recommended

Recruiting and retaining the proper employees is an undeniable key to corporate success, and The Headhunter’s Edge offers proven advice for those on either side of the process. Want to attract the best skills to your company, or find the best company for your skills? Jeffrey E. Christian, a high-level search consultant for corporations like Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, says we’ve entered a talent economy in which thinking like an executive recruiter can make the difference whether you’re hiring or looking for work. The bulk of the book details suggestions for finding the right people (don’t rely too much on academic credentials, do seek résumés displaying upward movement), uncovering the candidates who can sell more than themselves (prepare interviews for specific positions, craft questions that show decision-making and problem-solving aptitude), ensuring that potential employees are who they claim to be (go beyond the references initially supplied, meet personally with critical sources), and retaining those you ultimately select (don’t be stingy with compensation, benefits, responsibility, or recognition). Additionally, it shows how to turn this advice around and advance your own career (use well-prepared phone calls to stand out, pay attention to events inside and outside your organization). Packed with loads of such practical and specific tips, this book is recommended for anyone involved on any level in the job market. –Howard Rothman

From Publishers Weekly
Christian, a headhunter who is perhaps best known for placing Carly Fiorina in the CEO position at Hewlett-Packard, offers a book that is part memoir and part advice tome for job seekers and employers. He begins by describing his first headhunting job, which involved making cold calls to place people in the chemicals and plastics field. Though inexperienced, Christian had a talent for sizing up people and quickly became a success; he did so well that he soon launched his own company. Christian readily admits it was the early 1980s, a time when there were available jobs for almost anyone who wanted to work at the levels he placed. The subsequent boom and bust of the tech field and the dot-coms provided him with more experience; he believes that the lessons he’s learned as a headhunter apply to both employees and employers. For example, he identifies five key traits shared by all effective leaders: they’re honest, smart, passionate about their work, humble and possess the ability to surround themselves with other smart, capable people. Christian offers suggestions for interviewers and would-be employees, such as looking outside their specialties, preparing themselves for all job opportunities and learning to read body language. Christian’s writing style is engaging and his advice is sound. However, since he attempts to cover several topics interviewing, recruiting and retaining the book ends up as an overview of the broad subject of employment rather than a specific how-to guide.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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