Whether your organization is hiring and retaining many or few, the importance of quality of hire and the difference in output from top performers is real. Although this is not news, new research and reiteration of the best methodologies is always welcome – especially when articulated in top-tier business media.

Harvard Business Review provides an outstanding set of information resources in its article, The Definitive Guide to Recruiting in Good Times and Bad, the accompanying podcast interview with author Claudio Fernández-Aráoz, and a Recruiting Practices Self-Assessment Quiz.

Although focused on the senior level (the lead author is a partner with executive search firm Egon Zehnder International), the emphasis on the significance of hiring and the issues around selection of the best candidate resonate across all levels. And, equally significant—instead of virtually preaching to the HR choir—the audience for this publication is executive leadership themselves.