Best 5 Books for HR Managers and Recruiters to Read in 2021

According to the largest human resources membership organization, the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), “the tide is about to turn.” SHRM refers to a study indicating that “more than half of employees surveyed in North America plan to look for a new job in 2021.”

The war for talent has been ongoing since the dawn of hiring. Companies have been competing to attract the top candidates for decades and one of the best ways to maintain a competitive advantage going into the new wave of post covid hiring is to start building a strategic talent pipeline now. This means recognizing emerging hiring trends, as well as being open and accomodating to new models of work. Just 18 months ago, the idea that office employees could be as productive at home was not in mainstream thinking. yet here we are today in a work and hiring environment that has been turned on its head. By beginning to create connections with potential candidates and strategically reinforcing your talent pipeline today, your company will have a competitive advantage surfing the post-pandemic hiring wave.

I have listed 5 of the best books I have read that will help HR Managers and Recruiters build a strategic pipeline.

1. Recruiting 101: The Fundamentals of Being a Great Recruiter

by Steven Mostyn

Why are some companies wildly successful while so many others fail and struggle at recruiting the best talent? The answer: their Talent Acquisition team never learned fundamental recruiting skills.

Recruiting 101 explains how to develop 15 fundamental recruiting skills that you can build into your pipeline strategy arsenal. Topics cover how to excel in sourcing, social media, digital and traditional recruitment marketing, candidate engagement, cold calling, interviewing, and selection. Tips to improving efficiency using major recruitment tools. From the junior corporate recruiter just starting out to the senior executive recruiter looking for an edge, Recruiting 101 is for all professionals who aim to take their career further and recruit better.

2. Full Stack Recruiter

by Jan Tegze

Great overview of Sourcing and Recruitment.

Equally valuable for both entry-level recruiters and experienced Talent Acquisition professionals alike this book takes years of practical, real-world experience and compiles it into one comprehensive guide to succeeding in your recruiting career in the digital era.

This comprehensive recruitment and sourcing guide is broken down into two areas of focus.

The first part is written entirely about laying the recruitment groundwork — sourcing strategies. You’ll learn fresh and creative ways to source and find great candidates, as well as how to find candidate contact details and approach them in an appropriate and results-based manner.

The second part deals with recruitment. Areas covered include recruitment marketing, candidate engagement, recruitment analytics, candidate engagement, cold-calling, and efficiently handling other essential aspects of your duties.

Written by, Jan Tegze, who is an experienced recruiter with extensive talent acquisition expertise and demonstrated success in start-ups and fast-growth environments. In this book, he shares methods, tips, and strategies that he has learned through testing and implementation, throughout his career.

3. The Robot-Proof Recruiter: A Survival Guide for Recruitment and Sourcing Professionals Paperback

by Katrina Collie

Gain skills that no machine will ever be able to learn.

This book offers alternative ways to compete with AI and digital sourcing strategies and become an expert who excels in a recruitment world sending mass Linkedin messages.

The Robot-Proof Recruiter shows you how to reveal information that can be used to grab a potential candidate’s attention among the staggering and short attention span data online. Full of expert guidance and practical tips, this book explains what works, what doesn’t, and how you can get your recruitment message out in a world of digital information overload.

4. A Guide to Diversity Talent Sourcing: How to attract and hire diverse candidates using Boolean strings and tools

by Jonathan Kidder

This one is for the experienced Recruiter that wants to level up their technical Game.

In-depth technical recruitment advice from Jonathan Kidder, who is a top-ranked technical talent sourcing recruiter, staffing expert, and corporate trainer who assists organizations of all sizes in identifying and attracting top talent. A “wizard” in the effectiveness of social networking, Boolean strings, search aggregators, deep web searching, scrapers, and other advanced technology tricks and tools.

Back in 2015, he founded a recruiting blog called WizardSourcer. Which has become one of the leading knowledge resources for recruiters online. His stated mission is to help Recruiters and Talent Sourcers stay updated on the latest sourcing trends within our community.

Sourcing leaders must pursue continuous learning to stay current on the latest sourcing trends and to guide clients across industries to maximize the use of the latest high-tech recruiting tools ranging from browser extensions to AI automation.

5. Who

by Geoff Smart

This is a classic, although a bit older publication (2008). This was an instant New York Times Bestseller, the authors provide a simple, practical, and effective solution to “the single biggest problem in business today”: unsuccessful hiring. Still a great read, backed by excellent studies, for anyone that tracks the metrics associated with failed hiring and the effect it has on the bottom line.

This well-researched book proves that that “who” problems are preventable, based on more than 1,300 hours of interviews with more than 20 billionaires and 300 CEOs. Through the largest research study of its kind ever undertaken, the “A Method” reveals fundamental elements that HR and recruiters can implement–and it claims to have a 90 percent success rate.

No matter whether you’re hiring for a board of directors, C-level positions in your organization, or an entrepreneur searching for the right people to make your start-up grow, it’s all about Who. Inside you’ll learn how to avoid “voodoo hiring” methods and ask the right interview questions to improve your ability to distinguish the right candidate.

Are you part of the coming post pandemic wave looking for a new position? Have a look at our current job openings