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Source: www.what-are-good-leadership-skills.com, ©Emily A. Sterrett, Ph.D. Reprinted with permission.

Hiring Right

Futurists who notice these trends have begun to point to the fact that the job market is tightening up again. Many have predicted that an increasing number of jobs will go unfilled in the next eight or ten years as baby boomers retire in droves. That should not mean that you simply take what you can get in an employee. More than ever, it’s particularly crucial that you hire selectively, even if it takes longer.

Supervisors, managers, and team leaders may not have the full decision-making power when it comes to filling a job opening in their area. Most, however, have some level of input in the decision. Everyone wants to hire the best possible person for the job. You can improve your chances of doing so with better use of two of the usual employee selection tools: reference-checks and interviews.

Checking References

The best predictor of how someone will perform on your job is how he or she has performed in related past jobs. Yet many managers seldom check references. It’s worth the trouble to do so. Some organizations give very little information for fear of being sued. This is not possible if the organization has a documented performance review on file from which they take the information. If the old company seems reluctant to share information, push them politely for more. Is there someone else you can talk to? At the very least press them to answer this question: Is this person eligible for rehire? If yes, this is a pretty good indicator that the applicant was at least acceptable as an employee.

You might also consider getting the applicant’s signature on a form (separate from the application) allowing you to contact a previous employer. Get the fax number of that employer and fax your signed permission form to them to document the applicant’s willingness to allow an open exchange of information. If an applicant declines to sign such a form, this is another indication that something may not be as it should.

Good Interviews

When you have the opportunity to interview people, you can improve your chances of picking a good candidate by having several interviewers. Multiple interviews of the candidate can be done by each person separately or with a group together in the form of a panel interview. Getting opinions of several others, including one or more of your workers, will give a wider perspective. One person will notice things another did not. You are well-advised not to hire someone that one or more of you has grave doubts about. Do second interviews with your top candidates—or keep looking.

Even Better Interviews

If the best predictor of job performance is past job performance, you can use this to your advantage for interviews as well. Rather than generic interview questions like “Tell me about your last job,” you can construct several behavioral interview questions that give you excellent clues about your applicant. If you do write such questions, you will also impress your boss and your human resources manager!

To prepare your questions, think of two or three qualities you would like to see in an employee. You will, then, write questions that probe whether your applicant has those qualities. For example, if teamwork is one of your important qualities you want to see, you might use similar interview questions to these:

• We work on a lot of joint projects, so teamwork is important around here. Give me an example of a time you worked closely with a group of other people. How did you work with them and what did you accomplish?

• Tell me about a time you had communication difficulties with a co-worker and how did you handle it?

Another example might be that safety is an important consideration:

• Tell me about a time on a previous job where you had a concern about safety and what did you do about it?

You can use this same idea to probe for examples of any qualities or characteristics that are important on your job. If you pay attention not only to what they say but their body language and any emotion in their voice, their answers to such questions will provide good clues about how they would fit in on your job, thus improving your chances of selecting the right person.

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