About the Book
In their book Foolproof Hiring, business leaders and hiring experts Brad Smart and Chris Mursau give readers an easy-to-follow instruction course in Topgrading. This nationally - known and time-tested hiring methodology has been a proven winner in finding A players for thousands of businesses for more than thirty years.
Smart and Mursau distill the key tenets of Topgrading -- a systematic and comprehensive process – into simple explanations of the most common hiring problems. Then they offer clear and practical solutions to each problem. Deploying an effective mix of narrative, anecdotes, third-party research and more, the authors bring real-life hiring scenarios into sharp focus while offering a clear path for hiring managers to jump-start their efforts to find and hire more high performers.
Any hiring manager – not just HR managers – can benefit from the tools and processes in Foolproof Hiring. It’s your key to streamlining your hiring so that you’re seeing fewer but better candidates so you can pack your team with A players. That’s a formula that’s better for you, your career, and your organization. Why settle for mediocre hiring methods when you can leverage the knowledge and experience of proven results in the world of finding and hiring top talent.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: You Can Hire a Lot Better
Your Hiring Experience Is Disappointing
Set the Standard—Hire A Players in Every Job
Measure Your Hiring Results
Hiring Problem #1—Not Enough Applicants
Hiring Problem #2—You Are Fooled into Hiring Low Performers
Hiring Problem #3—Shallow, Unrevealing Interviews
Hiring Problem #4—Worthless Reference Calls
Hiring Problem #5—Applicant-Screening Tools Don’t Work
Resources
Summary: Foolproof Hiring and the Future
About the Author :
DR. BRAD SMART, the CEO of Topgrading, has often been described as one of the world’s leading experts on hiring. Brad has written seven books on hiring, including Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and Amazon best sellers.
CHRIS MURSAU joined Brad in 2000, rose to VP and EVP, and since 2018 has served as President of Topgrading, Inc. Chris directs Topgrading professionals who provide three services: (1) assessing candidates for senior positions, (2) conducting virtual and in-person training of all managers in Topgrading methods, and (3) advising companies on how to roll out Topgrading.
Review :
“Topgrading is the foundation of our hiring practices at Advantage Media. Brad Smart and Chris Mursau’s new book Foolproof Hiring brilliantly encapsulates the key concepts that can put your company on the fast–track to hiring and retaining A Players.”
ADAM WITTY
Founder & CEO of Advantage Media
“I’ll tell you straight up—Foolproof Hiring is by far the best book I’ve seen on how to fill your organization with high performers. It’s tight, compelling, and research based. You get surprising statistics, captivating stories from Brad and Chris’ decades of professional experience, plus a piercing look into the why and how-to of Topgrading. The book is absolutely crammed with the mechanics for epic improvements in how you hire people. This is how you build a 5-star organization!”
PRICE PRITCHETT
CEO, Pritchett, LP
“Research shows that most of the people hired in companies are mis-hired, typically costing your company hundreds of thousands, to millions of dollars for each mis-hire. Foolproof Hiring gives you tools and questions to start hiring a lot more superstar A-Players (and keep that money to add to the bottom line!).”
EBEN PAGAN
Founder, Go Meta Media; Investor;
Author, Opportunity: How to Win in Business and Create a Life You Love
“Foolproof Hiring is the easy-to-read and understand reference guide to Topgrading that CEOs have been clamoring for! Hiring A-Players is one of the fastest ways to increase your company’s profits, and the success and happiness of your existing team. Our company has been using Topgrading, combined with precise rifle-shot recruiting, for the last decade to help our Scaling Up clients achieve a greater than 90 percent A-Player hiring success rate. By following the advice in Foolproof Hiring and adopting the Topgrading methodology, you can achieve similar results.”
RICK CROSSLAND
President, A Player Advantage, LLC
“In order to have the right people doing the right things the right way, we first must hire and onboard well. In Foolproof Hiring, Brad and Chris detail the five major hiring problems we’re all faced with today, and then provide a practical, easy to implement set of solutions and tools to solve these problems and ensure you consistently hire more A-Players, more often. It’s a must-read for any leader wanting to build a high-performing team.”
BRAD GILES
Author, Onboarded: How to Bring New Hires to the Point Where They are Effective, Faster
“An excellent and timeless resource for CEOs and other leaders of high growth, middle market companies. Getting our people right is critical but not easy. Foolproof Hiring has proven tools to significantly improve your hiring effectiveness, and overall approach to managing your talent more strategically.”
ETHAN MARTIN
President and head coach, PFD Group, Inc.
“Foolproof Hiring is a terrific new book and makes it extremely easy for CEOs and all managers to “test drive” Topgrading. It’s like driving a Ferrari for an hour; it doesn’t make you an expert, but you just know this is better than an average commuter car. As an Advisor & Coach to CEOs of fast-growing companies, I always recommend Topgrading because when you hire high performers, everything else gets easier.”
KEVIN LAWRENCE
CEO, Lawrence & Company Growth Advisors;
Author, Your Oxygen Mask First;
Key contributor, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make it… and Why the Rest Don’t
“Topgrading is the foundation of our hiring practices at Advantage Media. Brad Smart and Chris Mursau’s new book, Foolproof Hiring, brilliantly encapsulates the key concepts that can put your company on the fast-track to hiring and retaining A-Players.”
ADAM WITTY
Founder and CEO, Advantage Media
“Hiring is inevitably imperfect, because human judgments are fallible. But it’s our conviction at Avenues that Topgrading is the best approach there is for making high-impact hires at all levels, but particularly at senior levels where bad hires are extremely costly. This book gives a clear, accessible explanation of Topgrading while addressing common concerns and misconceptions about hiring practices. Every leader concerned about improving hiring results should read it and try out its recommendations.”
DIEGO MERINO
Global Director of Recruitment, Avenues: The World School
“Foolproof Hiring gives anyone who needs to fill an open position the tools they need to fill the job with an A Player. Not only do you dramatically increase the chance of hiring the right person, Foolproof Hiring shows you how to do it as efficiently as possible.”
GEOFF WOODS
Chief Growth Officer, Jindal Steel & Power
“Brad Smart and Chris Mursau are back with ‘Foolproof Hiring’, an invaluable resource in leveraging Topgrading concepts that produce the best possible hiring results! If you read ‘Topgrading’ and employ those concepts in hiring, you’ll love ‘Foolproof Hiring’ as a back to basics follow-up; If not, it’s a must read to provide the right tools in hiring ‘A’ Players.”
GEORGE RABLE
Chief Culture & People Officer, Benco Dental
“Brad & Chris nailed it as “first aid for your hiring ailments”. This is a fantastic book to use as your initial learning about Topgrading or as a boost of learning if you have already been using some of the methods. In particular, the chapter on Applicant Screening Tools was very helpful and we are implementing two of the ideas immediately.”
KEVIN RHODES
CEO & Founder, Fragrance Manufacturing Inc
“At Scaling Up we’ve coached thousands of entrepreneurs on best practices, and Topgrading has always been one of our pillars. With A Players on their team, all the other Scaling Up methods work better. Foolproof Hiring is perfect—a quick read busy CEOs can absorb in a couple of hours and implement right away, to avoid bad hires.”
VERNE HARNISH
Founder, Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO);
Author Scaling Up (Rockefeller Habits 2.0)
“Topgrading has definitely made two companies I’ve run more profitable. Nothing has been more important for my career success. Really —at least half my career success is attributable to Topgrading and Brad Smart’s counsel.”
SCOTT CLAWSON
CEO, Culligan Water
