Human element always plays a decisive role in the making of an organization, whatever be its size, geographical location or functions. Hence recruiting and absorbing the right kind of people is primary for any organization to sustain its competitive edge in the market.

Companies vying among themselves to unearth talent and employing them, is not a new phenomenon. Employers know that attracting outstanding talent is basic to the success of their companies. But what is necessary is that the company's search for talent must be comprehensive, and a systematic approach for recruitment and retention of candidates be followed. This book endeavors to provide the readers an insight into how companies could compete for talent by adopting necessary changes in management, organization design, and human resource policies in a way that can turn the company into a magnet for top performers.

Employees are internal customers to the organization and the ability of the organization in fulfilling their needs reflects its philosophy and core values. Competing in the labor market requires a proper understanding of employees' needs and evolving right strategies of hiring and retaining them so that the companies are able to collect a band of good workers who can contribute their best to the organization.

The road to tapping talented potential is a difficult one. To remain in the competition the organization must craft a very effective strategy to graduate into a talent powered company comprising highly motivated, trained and sincere employees.

The statement by Narayana Murthy, Chairman, Infosys, "My company's assets walk out of the door every evening" truly captures the dynamics of the new economy. With such a great emphasis on human capital, it is critical for every organization to resort to means that offer quality recruitment solutions at competitive costs.

At this point, it is important to note what Jack Welch, former CEO GE, said in an interview when asked about the secret of his success: "My main job was developing talent, I was a gardener, providing water and other nourishment to our top 750 people." Jack said in the same breath: "Of course, I had to pull out some weeds too". This statement by Jack Welch brings out the significance of talent management.

The objective of this book is to make an attempt to cover the concept of acquiring and managing talent and different strategies, tools and techniques used for the same.

The book is divided into three sections namely, Best Practices in Recruitment, Techniques of Retaining the Hired, and Cases. The first section provides the reader with an idea of how to design the best recruiting plan for an organization, from picturing the right recruit to targeting the best labor sources.

There is no longer an excuse for hiring the poor performer. Bad hiring costs the organization dearly. Prescreening helps employers to assess the real capability of the candidate to perform the job. A detailed aspect of this technique is covered in this article titled "Hiring the Best Person".

Candidates past behavior is the best predictor of his future performance. The article titled "Precision Perfect Hiring Method" explains useful interviewing strategies for the recruiters.

Attracting and keeping top people requires exceptional recruiting skills. First job of the recruiter is identifying the source where the best talent exists. Recruiters need to be proactive to compete effectively in the tight labor market. Some things set apart the best recruiter from the average. The article titled "31 Things that Set Great Recruiter Apart from the Average", covers the criteria that need to be considered by a recruiter, whether he is inside or outside the company.

Business enterprises are continuously facing the challenges in sourcing and attracting qualified candidates. Businesses must use creative ideas to attract top candidates, because best candidates are often difficult to find. This article titled "Getting the Best - How to Find Winners" outlines some innovative recruiting strategies that will enable enterprises to attract the best candidates and compete with the other companies in the industry.

Organizational members are anxious when the top most man in the organization quits or his chair is vacant. This transition period requires a strong interim leadership. The article "Selecting the Right CEO" explains in detail the systematic process of hiring the chief executive officer (for a health care company in America), who is a true leader, strategic thinker and world class marketer.

The second section of the book titled "Techniques of Retaining the Hired" provides details on comprehensive strategies of retaining star performers. This section of the book takes a look at some of the very best techniques used to retain the top performers. Different topics covered in this section are building strong employee value proposition, employee training and career development as tool to retain the employees, building retention culture, developing retention strategies based on essential human needs, good orientation or assimilation program and making retention a marketing issue.

The article titled "Kicking Retention Strategies into High Gear" explains how to build a best employee value proposition, which would encompass building and sustaining a convincing brand image with an alluring culture and inspiring values, modified to the talent segment that one seeks to attract and retain.

Employee needs differ, and a good compensation package may help in keeping those for whom monetary incentives are important. The article "Strategies for Retaining Employees", recommends training and development opportunities as a tonic to retain employees who want to develop their skills and advance their careers in the organization.

HR Professionals whose retention strategies revolve around employee of the month award, cash prizes, fun events and other things that money can buy missed out the point that employee loyalty does not come from Goodies and Gimmicks by David Lee. The article "Stop Using - Goodies and Gimmicks Approach to Retention" brings out the fact that building a long-term relationship with the employees takes something more than just money. Organizations should base their retention strategies on the essential human needs that, when fulfilled, leads to a satisfied, dedicated and dynamic workforce.

The article titled "How to Keep the People you Hire and Promote Retention at the Same Time" , explains the role of induction or assimilation programs in retaining the new entrants. A well developed induction program helps in communicating the cultural values of the organization to the new entrant. Assimilation leads to, lower turnover, and better employee satisfaction. No doubt assimilation costs the organization but it is just a part of turnover cost.

Best employees want their needs to be met by their employer, if organizations fail to do so, they will suffer. The article "Employee Retention a Marketing Issue" deals with the emerging concept of employee-customer, and giving them what they want.

The article titled "Five Strategies for Retaining Employees" explains that the old notion - "people go for gold", does not hold good for today's dynamic workforce. Today for the most part, employees want opportunities to grow, learn, and increased empowerment and recognition for their efforts. Different recruitment strategies like environmental, relationship, support, growth and compensation are covered in detail.

What makes some companies great places to work in and yet surpass others in performance?, the article titled "The Essence of Great Workplaces" written based on the 'best employer in India' study conducted for 2003 answers the question "what makes the best - the best?"

The third section of the book is reserved for cases.
The Section opens with the case titled "Beyond Compensation - The Cognizant Style of Celebrating Work". Cognizant is a global leader in IT Services. Head quartered in New Jersey, with more than 1200 employees worldwide. Over the years, Cognizant has grown to become the most desired company to work for in India, as indicated by student's own rankings at the leading engineering schools in India. With this ability to recruit the best and brightest from India's excellent technical universities, Cognizant is able to provide their clients with access to the latest technology skills, while keeping the development costs low. The strength of company's corporate culture is a key differentiator for Cognizant, that gives it a significant competitive edge in the industry and makes the Cognizant business model difficult to replicate.

Employees are the greatest assets of any organization, and very important for the survival of the business. The case "The Taj's People Philosophy and Star System" covers in detail the Taj group's people practices, and every aspect of employee development such as organizational career planning, right from the day they join till their superannuation.

The Indian BPO (business process outsourcing) industry faced high attrition of 30 to 40% and companies incurred huge losses. The cost competitiveness of Indian BPO companies was eroding because of high costs involved in employees' retention. "Employee Retention in Indian BPO Industry: The New Initiatives" helps in understanding the efficiency of the measures undertaken to curtail employee attrition in the Indian BPO industry.