Author: Margaret Dale
Price: £18.95
Publisher: Kogan Page
Pages: 233
ISBN: 0749444746
Buy this book at Amazon
This book has been written to support one of the most critical of HR functions – recruitment. Margaret Dale takes you through the complete process, including why you want the best person for the job, preparation, questioning techniques, how to choose the best person, and how to retain the best talent.
The problem with this book is: do we really need it? There’s already a host of publications and websites dedicated to this topic, providing helpful acronyms to remember the process, questions to test behaviours and ways to practise before doing it for real.
So does this book build on these? Is it structured in an easy-to-use format? Is it a quick reference guide? Yes and no.
It touches on acronyms you might have seen before, and guides the recruiter through the complete cycle. When it comes to looking at questioning techniques, it does come into its own and it gives the reader plenty of opportunities to practise these, as well as other methodologies, at the end of each chapter.
But – and here is the major stumbling block for anyone considering buying this book – it is very dry and wordy, which makes it less usable.
If you are new to management, then you could plough through it and find it useful. However, if you just want to brush up on your skills then look for something else as, unless you have lots of time to read it, this book is not for you.
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Useful? Three out of five stars
Well-written? Two out of five stars
Practical? Two out of five stars
Inspirational? Two out of five stars
Value for money? Three out of five stars
Overall? Three out of five stars
Reviewed by Fiona West, senior training and development adviser, MCPS-PRS Alliance
