Recruiting to Retain
A Principle-Centered Strategy to Win the War for Talent
Recruiting to Retain is a revealing leadership guide to finding the right people, keeping top talent around, and attaining long-term success.
The informative business guide Recruiting to Retain—written by John William Wright II, a managing partner of a corporation with billions of dollars in assets—is about attracting and keeping great employees.
With guidance for recruiting financial advisors, investing time in mentorship, and fostering long-term engagement to ensure success, this memoir–cum–leadership guide draws on examples from Wright’s decades-long career, such as of how he screened candidates through mutual selection, to discuss effective hiring. It recommends an extensive screening process, including rigorous in-depth interviews that gauge prospective employees’ interest and excitement in the jobs at hand. There is also advice for helping one’s hires attain control over their own career arcs to become strong company fits. All is aimed toward boosting organizational retention and revenue to benefit clients and the bottom line.
Topics including poor retention, candidate assessment, and methods for nurturing employees’ careers are considered in turn, alongside stories from Wright’s rise in the workplace. The related advice, distilled from personal lessons, evinces narrow focus, though. Indeed, much of the book’s tips feel specific to the life insurance and financial advising industry. Still, some of its suggestions have wider applicability.
The tone is candid, reflecting the fact that the processes of recruitment, screening, onboarding, and mentoring have to be painstaking to be successful. Frank assessments of candidates deemed unsuitable are included, with red flags named: People who have not committed to other jobs, or who blame external causes for their problems, are recommended against. On such topics, it is blunt; it includes scripts for letting down ill-suited applicants in a humane way, though. Indeed, prose is straightforward and direct throughout, even when it comes to relating personal anecdotes. It does an able job of including snippets from Wright’s years of interviews alongside insights into his decision-making process.
Further, some of the book’s considerations are broad, such that its advice related to retention, attraction, mentorship, and the creation of workplace cultures feels oversimplified. Its tips have an actionable quality, though the guidance they relate is not often easy to implement. Indeed, the book asserts that its advice requires investment, ample face time, and lots of energy. Developing one’s employees to reach their full potential is not a simple task.
An edifying leadership guide, Recruiting to Retain is about interviewing and hiring long-term employees to ensure a company’s lasting success.
Reviewed by
Joseph S. Pete
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
