Chris Resto, Ian Ybarra, & Ramit Sethi - Recruit or Die

This book isn't aimed at me, but I thought it may be useful anyway. I'm not a recruiter. I'm not looking for a job fresh out college. Rather, I'm one of the between people who help recruiters find students and students find their first job out of school. That being the case, Recruit or Die was very frustrating for me initially. After about 80 pages I was ready to give up and move on to read something else. But things got better.

Initially, the authors talk almost exclusively about recruiting at MIT, Harvard, Stanford, and similar schools. They also talk almost exclusively about what a Microsoft, McKinsey, or Goldman Sachs has to do to obtain the best of the best. This wasn't useful information for me working at a small university. Nor is it very useful for most universities or recruiters. However, later in the book, things improve.

By the end of the book, there is something for any recruiter or facilitator, like myself, to use. Having served as the middle man for seven years now, most of the contents seem like common sense to me. For someone new to the "game" or for a company looking to recruit for the first time on campuses, or improve their methods if they aren't working, this book is very valuable.

I'm not sure if a book-length treatment is really necessary. The authors make it easy for the reader to skim past much of the common sense and anecdotes if needed though by having a one paragraph "take home message" or I believe they called it "Chapter Takeaway" at the end of each chapter. The end of the book may be the most useful part. "Free Consulting" includes a large FAQ aimed at recruiters. The appendix contains sample job postings with analysis.

What a company needs to do to attract the best and brightest can be summed up in one anecdote found on page 61.

"They were so persistent and made me feel so valuable that I was ecstatic ... that I could consult for them."

from the publisher:
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.