The Recruiter's Research Blue Book

Rating:
Summary: Never even made it past the index....
Review: Actually passed on this after hearing about it for years. I was able to connect with many folks who "made the mistake" of shelling out close to 200 bucks for what was described as thoroughly disorganized and stuffed with Internet bookmarks that are all over the web for free in countless research and librarian sites. Kennedy Publications sells this and posts the table of contents, which shows how out of order the information is, like "inside an actual search" - the whole thing feels like some marketing tool for search firms who claim to be highly ethical, but in fact outsource substantial "difficult research" to many people I know who get paid serious money to do telephone based research (aka, 'rusing'). Sort of like an attempt to legitimize the activities (as in, "no, we'd never ruse at (search firm name goes here), we all rely on Jupina's book for training, even though it happens to completely omit the part where you actually have to identify who does what for a living at a company"

save your money. There are better research books out there. Recruiting is not some kind of unique research puzzle to solve - research is research is research.

Rating:
Summary: Very useful demystifying of X Search
Review: Gives very good insight to the tools of professional executive search and research. Many useful forms and tips. Very comprehensive directory of sources, allthough the Internet sources and tools could have been better covered. Well done Andrea!