Comments on: The Strategic Recruiting of Purple Squirrels, Innovators, and Gamechangers

By: The Strategic Recruiting of Purple Squirrels, Innovators, and Gamechangers | ERE.net Dr. John Sullivan — BROKERHUNTER Employer Solutions

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:01:11 +0000

[...] http://www.ere.net/2012/06/18/the-strategic-recruiting-of-purple-squirrels-innovators-and-gamechange… [...]

By: Kay Hughes

Kay Hughes — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 15:00:26 +0000

Purple Squirrels are more plentiful than you can imagine because I’ve seen so many great ideas squashed in meetings. The biggest struggle of a purple squirrel involves getting executives to see the vision and then commit to it which, unfortunately, involves allocating funds and time to the project. The President and CEO may be looking long term but executives and management focus on the short term and play it safe. The purple squirrels and their ideas get squashed before they can be realized.

By: Show Me the Money — the Top 10 Revenue Impacts of a Great Hiring Process - DoDifferent

Sat, 11 Aug 2012 17:05:37 +0000

[...] the average Google employee generates over $1 million in revenue each year, hiring a single “purple-squirrel” top technologist has the potential for adding $300 million to Google’s revenue each and every [...]

By: » Show Me the Money — the Top 10 Revenue Impacts of a Great Hiring Process » SourceMob

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 15:20:36 +0000

By: Show Me the Money — the Top 10 Revenue Impacts of a Great Hiring Process - ERE.net

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 09:01:37 +0000

By: Energizing Your Company with a Purple Squirrel

Energizing Your Company with a Purple Squirrel — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:41:29 +0000

[...] when it comes to netting that big piece of the puzzle for your company. For instance, in a recent ERE Media column, professor of management at San Francisco State University Dr. John Sullivan points to CEO [...]

By: Four Facts Every Recruiter Should Know About Purple Squirrels | HR C-Suite

Four Facts Every Recruiter Should Know About Purple Squirrels | HR C-Suite — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:03:31 +0000

[...] term “Purple Squirrel” was coined to emphasize just how rare these innovative individuals are in the professional world. For any HR professionals who may not be familiar with the phrase, a [...]

By: Les liens de la semaine « kskills

Les liens de la semaine « kskills — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:45:08 +0000

[...] The Strategic Recruiting of Purple Squirrels, Innovators, and Gamechangers Le “purple squirrel” américain est notre mouton à 5 pattes français. Attirer ces super-talents nécessite une remise en cause des méthodes classiques de recrutement. [...]

By: Kaitlyn Brown

Kaitlyn Brown — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:40:32 +0000

Outstanding article! The team at ExactSource enjoyed it so much that we wrote our own blog post about it. We believe that Purple Squirrels are the people who bring something to the table that you didn’t know your company was missing. We’re not talking over achievers – but someone that can make the position their own. Feel free to check out our blog post here: http://info.exactsource.com/blog/bid/173921/How-to-Successfully-Identify-and-Recruit-Purple-Squirrels

By: HR Blogposts der Woche 25/2012 | HR Software Blog

HR Blogposts der Woche 25/2012 | HR Software Blog — Sat, 23 Jun 2012 10:45:33 +0000

[...] können. Welche Wege man gehen muss und welche Methoden gar nicht funktionieren erfahren Sie bei ERE. [...]

By: Need some help finding the elusive Purple Squirrel? | Bird Dog Candidate Acquisition & Management System

Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:35:09 +0000

[...] You can read the whole article by Dr. John Sullivan here. [...]

By: sudharshan rajendhiran

sudharshan rajendhiran — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:33:18 +0000

Great article…! Very few companies have the talent to attract and retain Purple Squirrels. And only very few companies really need those purple squirrels.

By: Klaus Schulz

Klaus Schulz — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 04:19:20 +0000

@Howard – Right. and who knows,. Maybe Companies such as Kodak were just cruising along with the brotherhood staff, much like Rim is doing/was doing for the last 10 years, before things blew up in their faces. Hiring only MBA’s without any practical experience. Without the Human Innovation described here BAU (business as usual) companies will become irrelevant and go under. Smart and visionary companies will hire up and down their relevancy curve and hold productive “all in” brainstorming sessions where everyone can contribute….

By: Howard Adamsky

Howard Adamsky — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:48:45 +0000

This is such an outstanding article.

Sadly, few companies or recruiters will actually do the work required to land these candidates. Those who do, will be rewarded.

By: Klaus Schulz

Klaus Schulz — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:26:41 +0000

Frank said: “Does this link up with the concept of the Purple Cow or did the term just get lifted from Godin’s book ;) ?”

By: Matt Rivera

Matt Rivera — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 15:52:40 +0000

Dr.Sullivan – Great insight into specialized recruiting practices. Regardless of some of the comments on what constitutes a purple squirrel (for the record, I’ve always thought of them as just very specific, hard-to-find skills), what you describe are valuable techniques. Companies need to understand and utilize a variety of recruiting techniques and resources. One size does not fill all. Most companies have several needs: purple squirrels, highly technical skills, general technical skills, support personnel, office personnel, executives, and line managers. While you don’t need a separate process or approach for each, you might need to engage several internal and external resources to focus on specific areas (such as purple squirrels) to ensure that you can meet your skill needs. As some have coined it, it’s no longer a war for talent, it’s a war for skills.

Matt Rivera
blog.yoh.com

By: Craig Shutt

Craig Shutt — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:55:21 +0000

Great article Dr Sullivan and one I’ll be sharing with my clients! This is particularly relevant to the technology space, however you can relate it to every sector. I have worked a lot with professional services firms in Australia and New Zealand to attract their equivalent, which is forward thinking new age Partners (or up and coming Partners) who challenge the status quo, have fantastic leadership and business development skills and most importantly who are passionate about making their professions more appealing for the next generation. Trust me they are hard to find!

Cherie, I don’t think there is any set definition of ‘Purple Squirrel’ and it will differ in every company. For the technology sector I think the article and terminology are right on the money.

Craig

By: Klaus Schulz

Klaus Schulz — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 04:40:39 +0000

The MP3 example was just fate and luck. Nobody hired for such an event.., Like you already said, People still don’t understand the impact of preparing for PS candidates, and won’t play those bets. Futile. All this realization is an observation after the fact. Take SUN, for example. SUN was perceived as a highly intelligent, marquee company to work for, in 1995 to 2005, everybody had respect for SUN. Reality was, that SUN only had about 50 PS smart People at the core, and the rest was fluff. All Code, all Design, Software and Hardware was conceived by 50 smart people. The rest were bookkeepers, assistants, all the fluff you need to run a big company. SUN never planned on hiring the 50 People, they just knew each other and decided to work together. This is different at Google as the opposite example. Google consciously hires PS and will not stop until they find some of them…

By: The Strategic Recruiting of Purple Squirrels, Innovators, and Gamechangers – ERE.net » Talented HR

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 02:29:33 +0000

[...] and Gamechangers – ERE.net Uncategorized Add comments Jun 202012 The Strategic Recruiting of Purple Squirrels, Innovators, and Gamechangers – ERE.net. Posted by John J Thomas at 12:29 [...]

By: Lou Hazim

Lou Hazim — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:04:07 +0000

Very familiar with the term “Purple Squirrels” however most of the industry does not take the time to build their strategy and process to attract these talents. Instead they stay away from these searches and relate to a “Purple Squirrel” negatively.