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Category Archives: Hiring In The News

Recent stories of hiring in the news, both good and bad.

How Target Hires: Process-Heavy And Union-Free

There are two primary types of successful companies in the world: people-based companies, like Google and Apple, which are all about having great people creating amazing things; and process-based companies, like Walmart and McDonalds, which are all about reaching great efficiencies through ingenious structures. Target is definitely in the latter category, to the nth degree. And that shows in its hiring process, which is amongst the most structured around. Clearly, it is working, as the company has grown into one of America’s largest retailers and the stock has been solid, if not spectacular. But it is by no means perfect, …Read more »

What Gets America’s Best CEOs Really Fired Up

In their book, “How Google Works,” former Google bigwigs Eric Schmidt and Jonathan Rosenberg write in a mostly even-keeled, helpful style. While it is certainly obvious that they care deeply about what their saying, they don’t go throwing around exclamation points or proverbially jumping on couches. Except for one part: the part about hiring. Here’s the excerpt, courtesy of Venture Beat: “Never forget that hiring is the most important thing you do. People say this, but then they delegate hiring to recruiters. Everyone — EVERYONE! — should invest time in hiring.” Look at the passion in those words, highlighted by …Read more »

A Lesson From Microsoft’s Outrageous Comment

We don’t want to pile on, but Satya Nadella probably wishes he could have a few of his words back. On Thursday – in front of a group of women in the tech industry – the Microsoft CEO was asked how women should go about getting a raise. His answer: “It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” Nadella said,ReadWrite reported. “That’s good karma. It will come back. That’s the kind of person that I want to trust, that I want to …Read more »

How Fox News Hires: It’s All About the Brand

Love them or hate them, here is a fact about Fox News that no pundit could dispute: they are killing the competition. The New York-based, Rupert Murdoch–owned news channel attracts more viewers than its biggest two competitors – MSNBC and CNN – combined. In fact, a 2013 Gallup poll revealed that Fox News was the leading single source for news. There are plenty of people who criticize the channel, arguing that it is essentially a mouthpiece for the Republican Party. But looking beyond that and viewing Fox News purely from a business perspective, the question is: how are they doing …Read more »

Xerox: A Hiring Process Worth Copying

A few years ago, Xerox became interested in cutting down the turnover rate at its 48,500 call-center jobs. Specifically, the company invests $5,000 in training in each new call center employee, and wanted them to stick around long enough to make that investment worth it. So, Xerox spent six months assessing its own hires, and then coupled that with information about their background and personality types. And what Xerox found was that experience had no correlation to employee longevity, but instead creative types stayed longer at the company than inquisitive types. Naturally, Xerox began targeting employees that were more creative …Read more »

Gates Vs. Jobs: Who Hired Better?

Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. The two men are among the most successful entrepreneurs of the past fifty years. Gates grew richer, becoming the wealthiest man in the world, while Jobs touched more industries, including movies, music, TV and phones. The two men have always been compared to each other, as both men were born in 1955 and have competed against each other as they rose to success. People ask, who was more innovative? (Probably Jobs). Who had a better business mind? (Probably Gates). But who hired better? After all, both men weren’t just superstars by themselves, they had teams …Read more »

Is McDonald’s Headed For A Crash?

When Ray Kroc joined McDonalds in 1955 and built it into one of America’s biggest brands, it was lauded as the quintessential American success story, full of good, high-quality food and happy children. More than half-a-century later, that goodwill is all but gone. The restaurant chain has been a focus of protestors demanding higher wages (most McDonald’s restaurant workers make less than $10 an hour) and people are comparing feeding children a Big Mac to giving them whiskey and cigarettes. The company itself is still strong, with the stocks nearly doubling in the past five years and profits staying strong. …Read more »

Apple’s Big Day Shows How To Live Forever

Tuesday was a big day for Apple CEO Tim Cook and the company as a whole. Cook finally stepped out of Steve Jobs’ looming shadow, as he unveiled the iPhone 6, new payment systems and the new and improved Apple Watch at an Apple event Tuesday at California’s Flint Center for the Performing Arts. Although Cook has done a solid job since taking over as CEO in 2011, this was his coming-out party, where he showed off some news-making innovations. So we hate to do this to Cook, on his big day, because he is a great leader who deserves all kinds of credit. But really, Cook’s …Read more »

Why Pay-For-Performance Plans Don’t Work

Doesn’t pay-for-performance just seem like a great idea? It is simple, basic behavioral psychology, right? A dog does what you want, you give them a bone. A person does what you want, you give them $100. Or some recognition, like Employee of the Month. But, believe it or not, there have been dozens of scientific studies and several case studies that show that pay for performance doesn’t work. And it makes sense, when you really think about it. Because what the real-life examples and the science reveals is that when someone does a task for a reward, it no longer …Read more »

Five of the Worst Hires of the 21st Century

We’ve written a lot about great hires who turned fledgling organizations around with their talent and will. Our point was to show the impact a single hire can make, as one visionary can transform a company on the verge of bankruptcy into a massive success. However, there is also the other side of the coin: the impact one bad hire can have on an organization. One person, given enough power, can take a successful organization and both ruin and embarrass it. The following five people are good examples of that. While there might be worse hires, all five of these …Read more »

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