Publications

24 Apr 2014
News

Necessity became the mother of invention for staffing-firm founder

When she became a new mom, Allison O’Kelly (MBA 1999) wanted to have more flexibility in her life, and realized that other parents did as well. As founder and CEO of Mom Corps, O’Kelly turned a personal challenge into a profession. As a mom of three boys, she leads a... View Details

2024
White Paper

Hidden Workers: The Case for Caregivers

By: Joseph B. Fuller, Manjari Raman and Francis Hintermann

Keywords: Labor; Work-Life Balance; Selection and Staffing; Retention

2025
Working Paper

Choosing and Using Information in Evaluation Decisions

By: Katherine Baldiga Coffman, Scott Kostyshak and Perihan O. Saygin

We use a controlled experiment to study how information acquisition impacts candidate evaluations. We provide evaluators with group-level information on performance and the opportunity to acquire additional, individual-level performance information before making a... View Details

Keywords: Discrimination; Beliefs; Stereotypes; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Performance Evaluation

June 2024
Background Note

Do Companies Overvalue External Talent?

By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

When looking to fill a position above entry level, companies have two choices: transfer/promote an internal candidate, or hire from the outside. Anecdote and research alike show that external hires are usually offered a higher starting salary than internal candidates. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Selection and Staffing; Job Offer

Educators

Purchase

February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry

Educators

Purchase

2010
Article

Hiring for Strength, Hiring for Weakness: Evidence of Internal Strategic Fit from the NFL

By: Andrew Hill

Firms may hire senior managers to shore up a weakness or to build on a strength. Using evidence on the hiring of NFL head coaches, this paper finds that teams that hire for strength outperform teams that hire for weakness. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Performance; Sports; Sports Industry

January 1989
Case

IBM Corp.: The Full Employment Practice (A)

By: D. Quinn Mills

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Human Resources; Management; Computer Industry

15 Mar 2021
Blog Post

REFLECTIONS ON MY TIME AS BEI DIRECTOR

capacity. BEI began in 2010 with one full-time administrator. A Coordinator was added in 2013, and in 2019 we added an Associate Director, tripling the staffing from early years. These changes have made possible important accomplishments.... View Details

01 Dec 2022
News

Flying High

shortages and fuel prices on the rise, travel became a more costly and time-consuming undertaking. Aero was spared the worst of those challenges. Private terminals avoided mass layoffs during the pandemic—and the staffing crunch that... View Details

Keywords: April White; aviation; airlines; entrepreneurship; leadership; innovation; Air Transportation; Transportation

September 22, 2008
Article

How to Minimize the Risks of Hiring Outside Stars

By: Boris Groysberg, Lex Sant and Robin Abrahams

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Selection and Staffing

2025
Working Paper

Discrimination, Rejection, and Job Search

By: Anne Boring, Katherine Coffman, Dylan Glover and María José González-Fuentes

We investigate how candidates’ willingness to apply responds to (potential) discrimination and rejection using a simulated labor market. Past work has shown that “blinding” job applications reduces discrimination and increases the rate at which women are hired. Our... View Details

Keywords: Job Search; Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Demographics

December 23, 2022
Article

What the World Cup Can Teach Business Leaders About Top Performers

By: Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, Abhijit Naik and Harry Krueger

Our people are our greatest source of competitive advantage." This sentiment is often heralded in companies by everyone from middle managers to HR professionals to CEOs. It is a great sound bite. The problem: It is not true—at least, not entirely. View Details

Keywords: Soccer; Performance; Business; Leadership; Competitive Advantage; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management

November 15, 2021
Article

What Do Black Executives Really Want?

By: Frank Cooper III and Ranjay Gulati

Recruiting and retaining Black talent is a priority for many organizations. Most are committed to and investing in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). And yet, according to interviews and focus groups with Black executives working in a variety of blue-chip... View Details

Keywords: Black Executives; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Race; Organizational Culture; Change Management

Register to Read

01 Feb 2017
News

New Regional Offices Broaden HBS’s Intellectual Reach

Development. These regional offices—including the one previously established in Mexico City—are staffed by a local researcher and are aligned with one of HBS’s global research centers, which range in size from 3 to 12 people. Many of the... View Details

September 2019
Supplement

pymetrics (B)

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In March 2013, pymetrics CEO Frida Polli visited Harvard Business School to listen to a section of MBA students from the class of 2013 discuss her business plan and provide feedback on the tests they had taken to identify career opportunities. Polli had developed a... View Details

Keywords: BrainTech; Hiring; Hiring Of Employees; Recruiting; Personality; Personality Traits; Startup; Start-up; Startups; Start-ups; Employment; Strategic Evolution; Psychodynamics; Psychology; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Business Startups; Strategy; Personal Characteristics

Purchase

2010
Working Paper

Employee Selection as a Control System

By: Dennis Campbell

Theories from the economics, management control, and organizational behavior literatures predict that when it is difficult to align incentives by contracting on output, aligning preferences via employee selection may provide a useful alternative. This study... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Decision Making; Governance Controls; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Management Systems; Financial Services Industry

June 2007
Article

Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States

By: David H Autor, William R. Kerr and Adriana D. Kugler

Theory predicts that mandated employment protections may reduce productivity by distorting production choices. Firms facing (non-Coasean) worker dismissal costs will curtail hiring below efficient levels and retain unproductive workers, both of which should affect... View Details

Keywords: Theory; Production; Selection and Staffing; Cost; Employment; Capital; Performance Productivity; United States