Smart Staffing: How to Hire, Reward and Keep Top Employees for Your Growing Company (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Hiring is routine for anyone who owns or manages a small to medium-sized business..." (more)
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Little of today's management literature addresses or even acknowledges the specific problems and concerns faced by small businesses when it comes to human resources and personnel management questions. Outlaw left a marketing management position with Xerox to start his own consulting practice, and he specializes in teaching hiring skills to business owners and managers of companies of all sizes. Here, though, he addresses the special needs of companies that are not large enough to have their own trained human resources staff. Outlaw shows how to establish job definitions and hiring criteria, and he contrasts full-time, part-time, temporary, and outsourcing employee options. He explains how to create job applications, develop a recruiting plan, locate and screen qualified applicants, and check references. Outlaw also considers how to retain and reward top employees and advises that it is important to understand the reasons behind an employee's decision to leave. This guide is filled with forms, work sheets, and frequently asked questions and is a must for any small-business collection. David Rouse

Product Description

Wayne Outlaw, a seasoned employment professional, has prepared an accessible, easy-to-use guide to finding, hiring, and keeping top-notch small business employees. "Smart Staffing" is like an entire human resources department in one book and a comprehensive guide to hiring and retaining top employees.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Kaplan Business; 1 edition (July 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1574100955
• ISBN-13: 978-1574100952
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #317,998 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Staffing and succeeding, March 25, 1999

By A Customer

"Smart Staffing" took it's place on my shelf and quickly became the number one read book in the office! Because of increased business needs, it became necessary to increase our manufacturing personnel by approximately 25 people in a short period of time. The number of people interested was overwhelming (over 115 showed up in one day!) -- and no one had much experience in interviewing. "Smart Staffing" was our answer. The basic guidance was easy to read -- and easier yet to apply. Staff members who were asked to help with the onslaught of applicants quickly read through the material and were able to assist with the screening process with minimal training. The foundation has been laid and ideas and techniques are being expanded to encompass our needs while still holding on to the basic values offered in the book. Especially helpful were the "do's and don't" and list of acceptable questions. As of today, our staffing needs are 100% filled -- production is at its best -- and we continue to be the number one plant in our division. Thanks for the help, Wayne!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars highly practical how-to book on staffing, March 9, 1999

By A Customer

It is no secret that finding, rewarding, and keeping employees is a tremendous problem for companies of all sizes and industries, and does not appear to be getting any easier. For a long time now, there we've needed a book that integrates the major elements that affect staffing. Many that address the individual topics are either very dry and technical or lightly gloss over these key with anecdotes and stories. Now, there is a book that does justice to this very vital topic.

Smart Staffing is a very readable, yet extremely practical, in-depth, "how to" book. It gives practical strategies that can be implemented. It can be read and appreciated at all levels. For the line manager, it is not only good reading, but it is an excellent desktop reference for advice about handling situations or for reviewing prior to taking action. For HR professionals, its examples and insights will challenge them to improve their processes and practices.

The book begins with the importance of human capital and how to match the employee to the position. It uses the logical process of following an employee through hiring, orientation, training, rewarding, and retention. It outlines into numerous valuable strategies, resources, case studies, and examples.

The book's content is organized into five steps: 1) Think before you hire 2) Locate qualified applicants 3) Interview and select your new employee 4) Keep and reward top employees 5) Learn from your losses.

Its forty pages of appendices provide valuable tools, such as an Exit Interview Worksheet, Final Exit Interview Format, and Applicant Reference Sheets.

Strategies, such as the Executive Interview, provide ways not only for the executive to keep in touch with employees, but also ways to spot problems and reduce turnover as well. For example, Outlaw does not just suggest this strategy, he gives a logical, easy-to-follow format that an individual reader or a corporation can put to use right away.

Smart Staffing is written by a professional who understands how to recruit and keep top employees. His experience with Xerox and his own firm, which began as an executive search firm in 1984, comes through clearly in this well-written, practical, easy-to-implement, "how to" guide. His writing style has converted this important topic into a lively text, designed to be read, enjoyed, absorbed, and referred to frequently. With a retail price of $19.95, this book is a real bargain!

Workforce Stability Alert newsletter, October 1998

5.0 out of 5 stars Very informative book on hiring in the new age, October 2, 1998

By A Customer

I found this book to be a very detailed guide to hiring qualified\ people and keeping them. In today's low unemployment atmosphere , this\ was a refreshing perspective.