The Hiring Tree: Laws of Applicant Attraction, is an analogy using the growth of an apple tree, to help the reader understand concepts and principles needed to hire job applicants successfully. It is designed to help human resource professionals, recruiters, talent acquisition specialists, hiring managers, business owners, and anyone that is involved in the hiring process to more effectively attract applicants to open job ads. Most employers use their job description as their job ad, which is the most ineffective way to market a position for hire. A job ad must use sound marketing principles, where the job ad is designed to answer the questions job seekers may have about the open position to encourage them to take action by applying for the role. The branch used most ineffectively by companies is the job board. Most job boards today, at their core, are search engines, meaning a job ad should also be written to be search engine optimized (SEO) in order to rank better, providing more visibility by job seekers, leading to more applicants applying for an open position. Effective employee referral programs, the proper use of social media sites, effectively negotiating with recruiting and/or staffing firms, and connecting with educational institutions, constitute the additional four branches of an effective Hiring Tree to find success in the hiring process.

Also covered are principles about the acquisition of an effective applicant tracking system (ATS) and understanding specific elements that must exist as part of the application process.