- Start with a clear job description that outlines the critical skills and abilities for the job. Make sure you look for essential competencies, not just general strengths.
- Improve interviewing. Combine behavioral questions that ask what they have done in given situations with “scenario” questions that ask them what they would do.
- Ask why they left their last job and probe beyond the superficial answer.
- Ask about their areas for improvement, and don’t take “I’m too much of a perfectionist” as a valid answer.
- Call references when you think they will be out, and leave a message that says, “Please call me back if the candidate is outstanding.”
- Talk only 20% of the time. Listen the other 80%.
- Test your candidates. Realize, however, that all testing is not helpful. In fact, no testing is better than bad testing.
- Hire an expert who has been trained in interpreting psychometrics to analyze results.
- Use only assessments that have been validated for hiring. The use of any instrument that has not been specifically validated for pre-employment screening puts your company at risk.
- Never use one test by itself. A well-chosen battery of tests, one that includes both intellectual measures and personality assessments, can increase the validity of your conclusions. Also, include cognitive measures.