If HR does the screening, they usually send their top resumes to you for your initial review. They can also do the first level interviewing before you even see the resumes. Then they present their best candidates to you.

Note: Before recruiting, create a list of "who does what" so everyone is clear and the process runs smoothly.

6.Interviewing Questions - put some thought into what you want to know about each of the candidates. Create a list of 10 open-ended questions that you will ask all of the candidates.

Open-ended questions insure that the candidate answers with more than a "yes" or "no." For example, if it is a customer support position you are seeking to fill, ask the candidate "tell me a time when you were faced with a difficult customer, what was the situation, and how did you handle it, and was the customer satisfied or not.

Create a separate sheet for your interview questions and capture the candidate's answers on that sheet. Don't write on the resume...keep that clean. If another person interviews the candidate, he/she is not swayed by your perceptions. Give them your list of questions as a guide...without the answers.

7.Lists of Interviewees - create a list of potential interviewers and notify them of their responsibility in the recruiting process. You can have individual 1:1 interviews or a group interviewing process. Try to be organized as you don't want to drag out the interviewing process because of schedules. When I was actively recruiting, losing a candidate happened because of a long interviewing process.

8.Reference Checking - always check references. There are companies that will not provide any references, though I tell the candidate that I want references that will have a conversation with me about their performance. I request from them a manager or two that has supervised them, as well as a peer who has worked side by side with them. Then create a list of questions that you will ask the references. Be prepared and you will hear what the references are saying and what they are not saying.

9.Decision Time - time to gather everyone who has interviewed the candidates and make a decision who you will offer the position to and the reasons for this decision.

==>Final Thought

Your decision should be based on their skills, experience and ability to work in your environment...be careful around discrimination issues, such as race, sex, age or physical disabilities. Can the candidate do the job? Why have you chosen this candidate over the other candidates?

Copyright (c) 2008 Pat Brill

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