The document discusses the importance of taking time to properly evaluate hiring needs and candidate qualifications rather than hastily filling openings. It recommends updating job descriptions to reflect current responsibilities and seeking candidates demonstrating essential skills like communication, focus, and a good personality fit. Employers are also encouraged to ask open-ended questions of candidates to elicit more informative responses about their qualifications and experience. The hiring process, though time-consuming, has a large impact on long-term business success so should not be taken lightly.

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2. Have you ever hired the wrong person? Maybe the bad decision didn't rise
to the level of hiring an embezzler or someone with a violent temper. But
regret comes in many forms. You may have hired someone who shows up
late most days, or calls in sick every other Friday, or does more personal
texting than actual work. It may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes it's
worse to let a mediocre employee slip past your hiring process than one who
is clearly a disaster. Why? You could wind up suffering longer with the sub-
par hire than the one who commits a termination-worthy offense early, and
is promptly sent packing. That assumes, of course, that the disastrous hire
doesn't take your business down with him.
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3. History Is not Always a Good Guide
A pattern many business owners and supervisors fall into is this: an employee
leaves your organization and in the process of replacing her, you base your
recruiting efforts on her job description. What's wrong with that? Plenty,
according to Carole Martin, founder of The Interview Coach and author of
several books on the hiring process.
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She explains in her book Boost your Hiring IQ, that you may be putting
yourself on a treadmill and not taking advantage of the opportunity at hand.
She suggests starting the process by asking yourself, "Why do you need
somebody for this job?"
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4. Your needs may have changed since you hired the departing employee, but
perhaps not drastically. In this scenario, you might not even be aware of how
the job as well as your needs have evolved. Taking a step back may even lead
you to the realization you don't need to hire at all. Perhaps you can easily
cover that person's duties with some rearranging, and still not overload your
current staff. One restaurant which was profiled on TV continued to create
unnecessary work in order to keep from laying off wait staff.
It's a nice sentiment, but it was driving the business into bankruptcy. A
ruthless approach is seldom good, but also don't endanger the existence of
the company out of misguided loyalty.
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» Assuming there is a need and, if necessary,
you have updated the requirements of the
position, think about how the last person
performed in this role. Has it become
evident the departing employee had certain
traits or skills which are essential to doing
the job well? This should help you focus on
the kind of person you need to hire now. For
example, your customer service supervisor
might have had a keen ability to listen to
customer complaints and smooth ruffled
feathers. Clearly that is a quality you would
seek in her replacement.
A side benefit of ensuring you have a current and detailed list of the job's
requirements will help you if you have any ADA issues with the position and
the next employee to fill it.
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6. Basic Skill Categories
Martin divides job skills into three groups:
•Knowledge-based: This includes skills acquired via learning or experience.
•Transferable: These are skills that can be used in many positions. Examples
include leadership, creativity, organizing, and so on.
•Personality traits: Examples include integrity, friendliness and attention to
detail.
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» A job description defining what you are looking for in those skill categories
will have a strong foundation, according to Martin. Next, you identify the
specific job description, being sure to have it reflect the fundamentals. Your
success at finding the right person for the job will hinge on your ability,
largely through the interview process, to really get to know who is sitting in
front of you.
There are, of course, categories of questions (personal ones) which can get
you into legal trouble. These generally involve the candidate's marital status
and family size, age, place of origin, religion, or political philosophy. Prudence
dictates just asking job-related questions, says Martin.
However, you can, through observation, assess some skills and traits which
are most clearly demonstrated by the candidate's behavior during the
interview, versus simply what the candidate says or writes in a resume.
Examples include listening and communication skills, focus (such as, how
much homework the candidate has done on your company) and energy level.

8. You Are Being "Interviewed" Too
Keep in mind during the process you need to "sell" the job as much as the
candidate is selling him or herself. A well-qualified job candidate, even in a
relatively sluggish economic environment, will have choices. However, if you
go overboard, you may either inadvertently create the impression you are
desperate, or be creating false expectations.
Part of the job of presenting your company in a positive light is being as
prepared for the interview yourself as you expect the job candidate to be.
Doing so will also give you a better shot at being successful in discerning the
best applicant. That means preparing your questions in advance.
Martin has a lot to say about what kind of questions are most effective in
eliciting the information and insights you need. She lays out 50 examples of
information you may seek, then three possible questions to get at the
information. The questions are categorized by their level of quality and
effectiveness.
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9. Good, Mediocre and Bad Questions
Suppose, for example, you are trying to find whether a candidate has an
appropriate personality for the job. Here are three questions you might ask:
1.How would you describe your relationship with your coworkers in your
current job?
2.What kinds of people do you like working with?
3.List three things about your personality that will make me want to hire you.
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» The second question is the weakest, according to Martin. Reasons why
include the fact it could prompt a simple response which would say little
about the candidate.
The third question is labeled mediocre because, like the second, the scope is
narrow and could be addressed with short, perfunctory answers.
The strongest question is the first because, among other things, "it asks for
more than a single word response." If the candidate is competitive, you will
get a meaty response. On the other hand, if you get a brief answer, that
response would be a red flag indicating that the candidate is not an "open"
communicator.
As the question-rankings above indicate, Martin encourages ask open-ended
questions to prompt the "most telling" answers. Perhaps the ultimate open-
ended question is one she suggests as a fitting beginning for an interview.
That is, "Tell me about yourself."

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» If she could convey only one point about interviewing and hiring people, said
Martin, it would be this: whether you like the process or not, it's one which
may have the largest impact on the long-term success of your business. That
makes it worthy of much effort and skill-honing on your part.
Vacancies happen in every business at some time. How you fill those
vacancies should not be taken lightly. You may remember your grandmother
saying "marry in haste, repent at leisure." The same thing is true with hiring
the wrong employee. Better to have an unfilled position for a little while
longer than to rue the day you hired someone who was iffy but would do in a
pinch.

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