Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for YoungTalent [Hardcover]

Chris Resto (Author), Ian Ybarra (Author), Ramit Sethi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2007

Microsoft, McKinsey, and Goldman Sachs will get 100 Résumés for every one that Your Company Receives. SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

The recruiting game has changed. It now takes more than simply attending a campus career fair, hosting an information session, and posting job descriptions to draw the best young talent to work for your organization. Companies often make simple mistakes that cost them recruits. They schedule information sessions on exam night.They are unclear about their most attractive features and often highlight the wrong ones.

Recruit or Die provides a powerful, inside look at the entry-level college recruiting game. You don’t have to be the biggest and most well known company to scoop up the best and the brightest on campus. Small, young, or even nonprofit companies can also get top graduates—without a Wall Street budget—if they learn the secrets of America’s top recruiters. Based on surveys and interviews of more than one thousand students, Recruit or Die provides dozens of anecdotes and case studies to show how successful recruiters work their magic and how unsuccessful recruiters blow it.

Straight from the front lines of elite recruiting, Recruit or Die shows how any company can conquer the campus.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Recruiting exceptionally talented and accomplished college candidates has never been more competitive or more important. Recruit or Die provides proven, practical solutions that will help any company, including Microsoft, compete with the strongest college recruiting organizations.”
— Kerry Olin, senior director for college recruiting, Microsoft

“Recruit or Die should be a college recruiter’s bible! Everyone on the IBM team will get a copy!”
— Eletta Kershaw, IBM Universit y recruiting and relations

“If you want a great organization, you need to hire amazing people. These days, if you want amazing people, you need to earn them. This book shows you how. I can’t imagine hiring on campus without a copy.”
— Seth Godin, bestselling author, The Dip

“Great recruiting takes great relationships. Recruit or Die is chock-full of ways to build trust on campus and recruit the best.”
— Keith Ferrazzi, bestselling author, Never Eat Alone

“Recruit or Die is a thorough and complete guide to successful recruiting for companies large and small. Recruiting is an ongoing process that does not stop once the candidate arrives for their first day of work, and this book drives home that important point.”
— Aaron G. Flores, Ph.D., director, Cordis Cardiology, a Johnson & Johnson Company

“If your company believes in recruiting and growing young talent, this book will provide you with insights on how to do just that.”
— Rajesh Setty, serial entrepreneur, investor, and author, Beyond Code

"A detailed guide to attracting and winning top entry-level job candidates. Their advice rings true ..."
—Kirkus

"Recruit or Die offers strategies that can help level the playing field between Wall Street darlings and companies with lower profiles and lesser budgets."
—Washington CEO

About the Author

CHRIS RESTO, founding director of MIT’s largest professional development and internship program, the Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program (UPOP), has advised hundreds of companies and thousands of college students on recruiting. Previously, he recruited and managed new graduates for Capgemini.
IAN YBARRA, a recent MIT graduate, assisted Resto with UPOP as an undergraduate and has since written for publications such as Inc., Forbes.com, and FastCompany.com.
RAMIT SETHI, a recent Stanford graduate, is cofounder and vice president of marketing for the online start-up PBWiki and writes a personal finance blog for young people.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Portfolio Hardcover; 1 edition (August 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591841615
• ISBN-13: 978-1591841616
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.1 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,189,338 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best (only!) book on selling your company to recruits, August 10, 2007

By 

Stever Robbins - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for YoungTalent (Hardcover)

It just makes so much sense. If you want new customers to buy your product or service, you start by understanding your potential customers.

This is the only book I've read on recruiting that start inside the heads of top recruits (1000 of them interviewed for the book). Only knowing their perspective can you sell top talent on working for you.

The first part of RECRUIT OR DIE does a great job of telling you exactly what you need to know about today's young people to successfully recruit them. And the authors back up their points with stories straight from the mouths of current students and recent grads.

The second part of RECRUIT OR DIE lays out the recruiting process from start to finish--including what to do AFTER THEY ACCEPT YOUR OFFER to make them more productive and happier at work to give you the best chance of keeping them in your company.

The best part is that Resto and his co-authors demonstrate how effective recruiting should be as rigorous as sales. In fact, you could probably just replace "recruit" with "customer" and the book becomes a sales management handbook! And a pretty good one at that.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Approach to Recruiting!, August 11, 2007

By 

Ryan J. Geist (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for YoungTalent (Hardcover)

If you recruit for your company in any capacity, you need this book. It is literally a step-by-step guide to recruit the best talent from universities around the country.

Here are few of my favorite parts:

1. "Their Lives are Their Careers" - This section calls out the fact that recent college grads don't draw a bold line between work/life balance; WORK IS LIFE for this new generation, and in order to recruit the best talent, you must embrace this new way of life in your company. The authors suggest rotational programs, special project assignments, and an informal work culture to bring out the best in your new recruits.

2. "Gossip Hounds and Constant Communicators" - Ah, word of mouth! These guys have been doing their reading. The authors accurately assess that with online social networks you can bet that your recruits are talking about their experience with you the second they leave your boardroom. In fact, they may be doing it WHILE THEIR IN YOUR BOARDROOM!!! In order to make sure they're telling their freinds about the good stuff, you have to pay attention to details. It ends up being the most topical stuff that makes a big impression: the money, the perks, powerful people, execution of the recruiting process (call them back on time!)

3. "Improving Your Recruiting Staples" - This truly is a step-by-step, highly detailed section that will allow you to fine-tune your career fair booth, information sessions, and job postings. Some VALUABLE ADVICE from this section: (1) All about location, (2) Have recruits RSVP, (3) Get the RIGHT speaker, (4) Talk up the glamour, (5) Haul in the Alumni, (6) Be clear about next steps. This is just a taste - this section really lays it out for anyone participating in recruiting activities.

I have a lot of exposure to recruiting at my company, and everyone that has read this book (about half of our recruiters at this point) seems to "get it". We have changed our approach to campus recruiting in many ways, and I truly recommend that you get this book if you are serious about recruiting the best talent to your company.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Contribution, August 11, 2007

By 

James Ngai (Cambridge, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Recruit or Die: How Any Business Can Beat the Big Guys in the War for YoungTalent (Hardcover)

Recruit or Die is a fantastic read with a fresh perspective on recruiting. In fact, it's the only work I've seen that covers college recruiting so comprehensively. As a student right now, it has also helped me to gain much more clarity in understanding the recruiting arena. Definitely worth every page.