A book by Rishi Banerjee
Raising the Bar: Building High-Density Teams in the Age of AI
Raising the Bar by Rishi Banerjee. A recruiting book on becoming a trusted Talent Partner, with worked examples and eight practical tools in the revised second edition.
I wrote Raising the Bar to explore the Art & Craft of Recruiting: how recruiters connect business needs, candidate judgment, and the conditions that help people do good work. The revised and expanded second edition is written for recruiters across geographies who want to grow into trusted Talent Partners.
What the book covers
The work starts before a vacancy is filled. What does the business need to do next? What contribution would make a difference? What authority, support, and working environment will the person actually have?
From that foundation, the book examines finding relevant talent, assessing personal contribution, advising hiring leaders, making an opportunity meaningful to an individual, and closing with integrity. It also asks what happens after the person joins: whether the work and support match what was promised, and what their contribution teaches us. Technology can support recruiting while judgment and accountability stay with people.
From principles to practice
Worked examples and eight practical tools connect the ideas to a live search. They help readers examine the working environment, position an opportunity, distinguish missing evidence from a demonstrated gap, and learn from what happens after someone joins.
See an illustrative decision about whether a team needs another hire. It shows how I test the problem behind a hiring request.
The thread running through the book is Talent Density: how each hire can add to a team’s capability and help the people around them succeed. I connect that idea to the practical conversations and decisions a recruiter faces during a search.
Who it is for
Recruiters developing their craft, Talent Partners advising hiring leaders, and talent leaders coaching teams through consequential hiring decisions. Hiring managers can also use the questions to examine how they define a role and assess the evidence behind a decision.
About the author
Rishi Banerjee is a Bangalore-based talent leader and Principal Talent Partner with more than 20 years of experience across startups, enterprises, and hiring in more than 10 countries. His work spans hands-on search, global talent leadership, interviewer development, and building talent systems.
Explore Rishi’s approach to recruiting, his approach to finding and assessing AI builders, and the systems behind the work.
Read Raising the Bar
The revised and expanded second edition is available on Amazon.
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