How to Navigate the Talent Pool Paradox and Avoid Hiring Shipwrecks
This book is guaranteed to help you make better hiring decisions and is a must-read for anyone who influences or is directly involved in search, selection and hiring.
Unfortunately most organizations don’t have enough of two crucial elements – engagement and retention. The fact is, charting the course for high levels of employee engagement and retention begin long before the first interview. Moreover, most professionals find themselves making or influencing hiring decisions are ill-equipped to do so. External factors, internal biases and the Talent Pool Paradox work in sync to stack the odds against long-term, successful hires.
The Hiring Compass is authored by Bluewater founder Mark Debinski, who drew the inspiration and content for the book from his decades of leading businesses by leveraging the talent within and hiring based upon job match. The book provides simple yet effective tools to help turn the negative tides of search and selection into a positive blue water journey, resulting in happy hires, happier hirers, and significantly increased employee engagement and retention in any organization.
Three lessons from The Hiring Compass:
About the Author
Mark Debinski is an accomplished leader and C-level executive. As founder of Bluewater Advisory and co-founder of Bluewater Search, Mark focuses all his efforts on helping organizations and individuals operate at their highest and best opportunity. Mark and his team at Bluewater Search have developed a unique and award-winning methodology for search and selection, the results of which are extremely high employee engagement levels and unparalleled employee retention rates. Whether working with small management and executive teams or speaking to national groups, Mark enthusiastically shares why so many hires lead to misfires, and how to avoid hiring shipwrecks in the future.
REVIEWS
“Mark’s insight and expertise is evident from page one and his knowledge rings true throughout the book. One of the most interesting sections is the Talent Pool Paradox, (the reality that the challenge of finding the right talent has increased exponentially over the past few years) it’s one topic more companies need to be understand and learn to navigate in order to create a competitive advantage in recruiting. The Hiring Compass I was reminded how wrong most hiring goes in all organizations. I hear, to coin Mark’s word, shipwrecks all the time and that is why I will be recommending Mark Debinski’s new book, The Hiring Compass.
Mark’s insight and expertise is evident from page one and his knowledge rings true throughout the book. One of the most interesting sections is the Talent Pool Paradox, (the reality that the challenge of finding the right talent has increased exponentially over the past few years) it’s one topic more companies need to be understand and learn to navigate in order to create a competitive advantage in recruiting.
Use The Hiring Compass as a blueprint and you will surely reap the rewards. Better yet, weave The Hiring Compass into a hiring procedure for your employees and recruiting initiatives. Keep this book within reach, refer to it often, and stay on course.”
Colleen McKenna
Principal | Marketing + Sales + LinkedIn Coach & Trainer
“I was confident Mark’s approach to the selection market would bring much-needed integrity to the field. I was sure that, as an end result, his unique approach would help businesses select better employees and help individuals find their perfect job match.”
Bill J. Bonnstetter
Founder and Chairman of Target Training International
“Began reading and enjoyed it so much I read it through in one sitting. More so than any other function, a business’ success is clearly dependent upon our people selection. Why do we focus day in and day out on every other function while still neglecting this critical one? Through The Hiring Compass, you’ve given us a great practical guide to immediately improve this process. I begin using it today. Thank you!”
Len Bush, CEO
Len the Plumber
“I just received an advance copy of yesterday and couldn’t wait to read it. I am just starting Chapter 3, but I can tell already that this book will serve not only our Human Resources Department well, but also our entire Management Team. In fact, having reviewed the table of contents, I can tell already it will be deemed a required reading by all of our managers and that by doing so it will make them better managers in the hiring process. It will also serve to bridge the gap that can exist between HR and the rest of Management on the do’s and don’ts of the recruiting and hiring process.”
Marty Smith,President & CEO
Alarm Tech Solutions
“Mark Debinski does a superb job in The Hiring Compass of helping any executive who has ever wondered “Why didn’t I see that coming?” after a painfully bad hire to learn from the experience. I know that I do not feel so alone after reading Mark’s book but I also see that avoiding mistakes in the future is not miraculous – just dependent on a common sense discipline that Mark describes in a highly readable series of stories. If we all believe that the RIGHT people are any company’s most valuable assets , this book is a must have to creating the dream team.”
Mary Ann Scully, CEO
Howard Bank
“While it may be hard for all of us to admit, we have all hired the wrong person. We have our reasons… and excuses. And we know that the wrong hire can have devastating effects on culture, employee engagement and company results. In The Hiring Compass , we learn that we are not alone, but that we must change how we think about hiring. By understanding our own biases, and infusing objectivity into the process, Mark leads us through a better approach to hiring. Thankfully, we can stop wasting our time on trying to make the wrong candidate fit – because we can avoid hiring the wrong candidate. I have been through Mark’s hiring process and have seen how this method of hiring provides a greater probability of success. I am so happy to have this book as a guide and a tool for our team. Do your company a favor, and incorporate the lessons in The Hiring Compass into your process.”
Tricia Huneke, President & CEO
Ruby+Associates
“The Hiring Compass is spot on and very much needed in business. I would like to buy copies for all my senior staff and HR recruiters. A quick read but packed with common sense and yet often ignored practices that would raise the odds of finding successful matches in the recruitment process.
I made the absolute worst hiring decision myself three years ago. The cost to morale and the hard dollars it took to onboard and then part ways with the executive cannot be underestimated as Mark points out in the book. I chose to ignore the warning signs and my own gut because the position needed to be filled as fast as possible. Several Executives were also part of the decision process (no single Project Leader) and a difference of opinion combined with varying degrees of influence muddied the process and contributed to the poor hire decision. If I had only read your book sooner!
I suggest this book be read by and on top of every hiring managers’ desk before they embark on a new hire process.”
Chuck Langmead, President
Global Industrial Business
McCormick & Company, Inc.
“Again Mark demonstrates his signature sprint to common sense. The illustrations of good and bad hiring practices hit home – both! I am grateful to my friend and professional advisor for his wit and wisdom on the single most important decision to be made in my business, in any business – who and how to hire!”
David Dillard, President
D2 Architecture
“All too often, CEOs of privately-held businesses rely on their gut when it comes to making critical hiring decisions. The result is frequently a hire that, if given the opportunity to choose a “do-over” they would not make again.
The Hiring Compass provides a proven process for making wise investments and ensuring the greatest ROI for your human capital. Mark Debinski gives the reader a practical step-by-step process that will resonate with anyone tasked with the awesome responsibility of making the right hiring decision.”
L. Mitchell Vandiver III, President
Strategies, Inc.
“The Hiring Compass gives an experienced-laced documentation of hiring mistakes and its significant cost to business success. Thankfully, it also provides the proven steps and process considerations for hiring success in any corporate culture and structure. Together, this information can change any company’s performance through the right people.”
John “Hinge” Fagnant
Senior Corporate Director for Strategy in major US Defense Industry firm & Board of Directors; Regenedyne LLC.
An Alternative Wind Energy Company
“I’ve only read the first few chapters, but I can already tell The Hiring Compass is a total game-changer! I was lucky enough to learn a lot of this from Mark personally, but even still, this book is a very relevant, very necessary guide & a timely reminder of how to (& perhaps more importantly, how NOT to) make talent decisions within a growing organization. To boot, the typography & casual tone make it a joy to read.”
Chris Mechanic, Co-Founder
WebMechanix