Having hosted The Elite Recruiter Podcast for well over 100 episodes, I've had the distinct privilege of engaging in profound discussions with top recruiters in the industry. Time and again, we dive deep into strategies, tactics, challenges, and victories that make the recruitment landscape so dynamic. Many of these top recruiters that we have hosted have put their thoughts and experiance into books. So I wanted to put together a list of great recruitment books that you should check out.
These books, recommended and even written by some of our guests, offer a treasure trove of insights. Whether you’re just beginning your recruiting career or you’re a seasoned pro looking to refine your craft, these titles are essential reads.
I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have.
Talk Tech To Me: The Non-Technical Guide to Technology Recruiting by Brian Fink
In Talk Tech To Me: The Non-Technical Guide to Technology Recruiting, Brian Fink takes on the stress and strain of difficult technology concepts and simplifies them for the modern recruiter. Fink's impassioned wit and humor tackle the high's and low's of technical recruiting with a unique perspective - a perspective that is intended to help you find, engage, and partner with tech professionals.
The Elite Recruiter Podcast Episode with Brian Fink:
Hiring Greatness by David Perry
The Unprecedented Tell-All Guide Through the Intricacies of Executive Recruitment by David Perry. He also has another amazing book worth reading called Executive Recruiting for Dummies.
The Elite Recruiter episode with David Perry:
How to Become a Technical Recruiter by Jonathan Kidder.
This book was written to help turn the generalist recruiter into an IT Technical Recruiter by Jonathan Kidder. After completion, you will be able to understand each technical-skill requirement within every role, understand additional search terms, help improve job descriptions, and gain confidence when you are assessing a candidate’s skills over a technical phone screen call and become a great recruiter. On top of this book Jonathan Kidder has numerous other books worth checking out!
The Elite Recruiter Episdoe with Jonathan Kidder:
Sprint Recruiting by Trent Cotton
Part of the problem is that the recruiting processes are often inefficient and lack direction.If you find yourself working tirelessly to attract and retain the top talent in your industry, you are not alone. Without an efficient process with checks and balances, organizations look more chaotic mayhem than finely tuned machines. A large part of the dysfunction starts with the lack of efficiency in what is known as traditional recruiting. Trent Cotton talks about the 4 pitfalls of recruiting and how to fix them.
The Elite Recruiter Episode with Trent Cotton:
The Automatic Recruitment Agency by James Blackwell
Automatic Recruitment Agency provides an actionable, replicable blueprint for starting, scaling, and automating your business. Leaving behind old, tired business models and looking to a new era, it will take you from recruiter via recruitment agency owner to seven-figure CEO by James Blackwell.
The Elite Recruiter Episode with James Blackwell:
Top Biller: The Life of a Recruiter by Steve Guest
Steve Guest's Top Biller is a refreshing and timely insight into the recruitment industry, for both seasoned professionals and those new to the game. Guest breaks down his technique and breathes life into the method that has caused himself, and those he mentors, to become highly successful 'Top Billers'.
The Elite Recruiter Podcast episode with Steve Guest 🔥:
Full Stack Recruiter by Jan Tegze
Whether you are already working in recruitment, new to the industry, or just hoping to begin your career as a recruiter, there are essential strategies used by successful recruiters that will help you accelerate your career. Of course, no one is born knowing these things; they come from years of experience in the field. That’s exactly what this book is: years of practical, real-world experience distilled into one comprehensive guide to succeeding in your recruiting career in the digital era with Jan Tegze.
The Elite Recruiter Podcast episode with Jan Tegze
The Robot-Proof Recruiter by Katrina Collier
The Robot-Proof Recruiter shows you how to use a human-first approach to hiring that will help you grab and hold a candidate's attention better than a robot! It contains essential guidance on overcoming obstacles, including how to recruit without an existing online presence, how to work effectively with hiring managers to improve the outreach and candidate experience, and how to use technology to support the candidate's journey from initial outreach, through to application, successful onboarding, and later to alumnus with Katrina Collier.
The Elite Recruiter Podcast episode with Katrina Collier:
Winning the Staffing Sales Game by Tom Erb
Sales is harder now than ever before. Your prospects aren’t answering the phone or calling you back, there is more competition than ever, and you just seem to be running up against one brick wall after another. In this book, staffing sales expert Tom Erb explains why sales has become increasingly more difficult, talk about the key mistakes that most staffing sales reps are making, and details a systematic sales process that is proven to get more appointments and land more new business in the staffing industry.
Hire With Your Head by Lou Adler
Hire with Your Head: Using Performance-Based Hiring to Build Outstanding Diverse Teams, influential recruiting and hiring expert Lou Adler delivers a practical guide to consistently identifying and hiring the best people and scaling that process throughout your company.
The Savage Truth by Greg Savage
The Savage Truth is the story of Greg Savage, his stellar career in recruitment and the lessons he has learned on leadership, business and life over a career spanning four decades. The Savage Truth is a must-read for next generation leaders and lovers of business biography. It is a book in two parts. The first part covers Greg's early life - the people and events that shaped him - and follows his career path, which took him from his hometown of Cape Town around the world before settling in Sydney, Australia. He gives an honest, open, often humorous account of his experiences, which reflect how much business has changed over the past 40 years. In the second part of the book, Greg distils his learnings into guidance and advice for his successors in the recruitment industry and, more broadly, to anyone working in business.
Breakthrough! 2.0 by Steve Finkel
Innovative approaches and new techniques are essential to keep the best recruiters on a fast learning curve and to yield increased billings in today's market. This thirty-chapter book by the industry's leading author and trainer is specifically designed to present advanced-level material which has been proven to greatly benefit high producers. Successful recruiters need more than a strong foundation and years of experience with Steve Finkel. Steve also has numerous other books on his website talking about all other aspects of the recruiting process to help level yourself up. https://www.stevefinkel.com/books/
Recruiting 101: The Fundamentals of Being a Great Recruiter
Why are some recruiters successful while so many others fail and leave the industry? Why do other recruiters spend their whole careers bouncing around from company to company with little orno success? The answer: they never learned fundamental recruiting skills.Recruiting 101 explains how to develop 15 fundamental recruiting skills. Learn how to excel in sourcing, social media, recruitment marketing, candidate engagement, cold calling, interviewing and selection, and more. In addition, step-by-step instruction is includedon how to become efficient in using these major recruitment tools: LinkedIn, Indeed, Facebook, Monster, and CareerBuilder.From the junior recruiter just starting out to the senior recruiter looking to improve, Recruiting 101 is for all professionals who aim to take their career to the next level with Steven Mostyn.
Grow Your Recruiting Business by Mike Gionta
Recruiters and recruiting firm owners are overwhelmed, frustrated with their clients, candidates, and by completely unpredictable revenue. Most training simply puts recruiters in more overwhelm with marginal results. It’s possible to go from annoying vendor to trusted adviser, from rollercoaster revenue to predictable income, and from total overwhelm to clarity. It’s possible to build a recruiting business that runs without you there with Mike Gionta.
Search in Plain Sight by Somer Hackley
In Search in Plain Sight, author Somer Hackley shares a candid view of the world of executive search. She uncovers the key players and their roles in the search process from how to develop relationships with executive recruiters to landing that dream job. It's a great walk through of the Executive Search Process.
The world of recruiting is as challenging as it is rewarding. To stay at the top of this industry, continuous learning is crucial. These books, endorsed and even written by guests on the Elite Recruiter Podcast, provide a solid foundation and advanced techniques to guide every recruiter's journey. So, grab a book, dive in, and let’s grow together.
Need to hire? We can help! This article was written by Benjamin Mena who is a Managing Partner of Select Source Solutions which is a boutique executive recruitment firm specializing in Data Science, Cloud, Cyber Security, Talent Acquisition, and Government Contracting.
If you’d like to have a conversation about employee retention, growing your team, or hiring plans for the rest of the year, please get in touch! Benjamin@selectsourcesolutions.com
Join me on upcoming episodes of the Elite Recruiter Podcast on Apple or Spotify!
