While speaking with a client of mine on the phone the other day, I was asked, "Kevin, what exactly is an "A" player?"

You hear a lot about "A" Players and you know they're the kind of people you want on your team, but how do you actually define an "A" Player?

Who are they?

"A" Players represent the top 10% of the talent in a given niche market. They drive business performance. The positive impact they make is demonstrable and measurable. Their productivity is off the chart. It's estimated that an "A" Player is as much as ten times more productive than the average employee. They bring energy and ideas to the workplace and motivate the people around them. They inspire others to do better.

Where are they?

How do you find them?

With a 0 percent unemployment rate for "A" Players, finding them is not easy! They’re invisible to you. They don’t post their resumes on job boards. And they don’t respond to job ads. They’re gainfully employed by your competitors and taking their business to the next level.

The secret to finding hidden "A" Player talent is to be in the industry trenches every day getting referrals by talking to the right people. You need to be an indigenous industry insider who is deeply embedded and constantly networking with key industry professionals. That requires a lot of time and effort, but that's what it takes to find "A" Players.

Fortunately, a good retained search firm can do the candidate research and deep networking for you so that you can focus on your core business activities.