Tom Talent: The Importance of Better Recruitment Practices and Processes

I have some big news to share today...

I wrote a book.

(And I can use your help in letting people know about it.)

What's the book called?

It's called Tom Talent and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Recruitment Process.

What's "Tom Talent" about?

Business leaders often say their most important assets are their people and insist they want to hire the very best talent...

... then their companies proceed to use terrible recruitment practices that needlessly frustrate job candidates.

The result? Companies sabotage their hiring efforts and hurt their corporate brands.

(And I have some research to back that up... I'll get to that in a moment.)

Tom Talent and the Terrible, Horrible, No-Good, Very Bad Recruitment Process literally illustrates the all-too-common story of a talented professional who decides to consider new job opportunities and then faces one terrible recruitment practice after another.

But this isn't just a fun book satirizing the state of today's worst recruitment practices.

In the second half of the book, you'll find:

• The results of a proprietary survey conducted by Caddle, a consumer and data insights company trusted by Fortune 500 brands and major research firms, that quantifies both the impact a bad recruitment process has on both a candidate's willingness to apply to other roles at that company in the future and how it affects the overall perception of the company's brand;

• "Candidate-experience" recommendations businesses can implement today to improve their recruitment practices and enhance their employer brands.

Who's Tom Talent for?

If you're a talent acquisition professional who believes the process of finding and hiring top talent should be better, a hiring manager who wants to stop discouraging talented people from applying for open roles, or a business leader who knows having the best talent is a true competitive advantage, this entertaining illustrated storybook will help you clearly see things from a candidate's point of view and provide powerful recommendations you can implement to win the war for talent.

How did "Tom Talent" come about?

My regular readers may remember reading about The Big Scary Poem I wrote and delivered to a group of human resource professionals in September 2022.

That presentation didn't go as well as I would have liked. But during the break, a man came up to me to let me know how much he loved it.

"Thanks," I replied. "But I'm really upset with myself for messing it up... I put so much work into writing that thing! Maybe I should publish it as a book so people can read the entire poem as I wrote it."

Eyebrows raised, the man smiled and asked, "Do you have an illustrator?"

And that's how I met the incredibly talented Rafael "RCD" Kriemerman, with whom I've had the pleasure of collaborating on this project for the past year. That gorgeous cover you see above? That was all Rafael, and the book is filled with illustrations that are just as incredible.

When does Tom Talent get released?

You can pre-order the Kindle version of the book right now using this link and the book will be delivered to your device on National Unique Talent Day: November 24, 2023.

Will a print version of the book be available?

YES! Amazon doesn't enable pre-ordering of print editions for independent publishers, but a paperback version of Tom Talent will be ready on November 24th and we couldn't be more excited about it!

How can I support "Tom Talent"?

1. Pre-order a copy of the book.

If you're here because you like my writing, I think you'll really enjoy Tom Talent and I hope you'll consider buying a copy. (Or two. Maybe three, for good luck.)

And if you really like my writing and want to encourage me to write more books in the future, there's no better way to do that than by supporting this one.

2. Tell your friends about it!

Starting tomorrow (Tuesday, September 26th), please share this link with your social networks and encourage them to pre-order a copy.

Why? Pre-orders are REALLY important for Kindle books because all those pre-sales get factored into the popularity of a book on launch day and can rocket a book to the top of the charts in its given category, exposing it to more people.

(And I'd love for my very first book to hit #1 in its category on the week it's released.)

Rafael and I are very excited to finally introduce you to this labour of love.

We hope you'll enjoy it.