How to Hire the Right Employees
By Joe Sansone It has happened to most of us at least once. After
searching for the ideal candidate, you finally make an offer to
your best applicant. The fledgling employee then shows up for his
first day of work. By the end of the day, it has become painfully
obvious that you have made the wrong choice.
 While there are no guaranteed ways to avoid making
bad hiring decisions, there are ways to minimize the likelihood of
doing so. Over the years, our company has developed steps that help
in making a conscious effort to hire the best employees. We are
committed to searching for an ideal candidate, even if it takes
months to find them.
1. Résumés
If an applicant has had more than three jobs in the last four
years, his résumé is moved to the "NO" file. This may
seem unfair, but a person's tenure on past jobs is the best
indicator of whether or not he is a "job-hopper."
2. Phone Interview
We typically hold a brief interview when calling applicants by
phone. If there are no red flags, then we schedule a face-to-face
interview. We have found that phone interviews usually reduce the
number of applicants by about 20 percent.
3. Before the Interview
If a job candidate shows up even one minute late, he is informed
that he is late and that an interview will not be conducted. Again,
while this may seem unfair to some applicants with legitimate
excuses, we have found that most people who show up late for
interviews will be tardy and irresponsible employees.
4. Testing
We give candidates a series of tests before the interview,
including a Wonderlic ( www.wonderlic.com) test, which measures the
prospective employee's problem-solving ability. There are many
inexpensive tests on the market that measure different qualities in
applicants.
Have you ever hired an employee who interviewed well but spelled
like a third-grader and possessed even worse writing skills? We
also administer our own written test, which takes applicants 15-20
minutes to complete. For example, we may ask a collector to draft a
sample letter to a physician's office asking for additional chart
notes. Minimum test scores are established for these tests, and if
these standards are not met in our preliminary assessments,
applicants are thanked for their time and sent away.
5. The Interview
By the time we are ready to begin the actual interview, we have
reduced 100 résumés to 10 candidates. The first interview
screens applicants for potential problems. The most common mistake
nonprofessional interviewers make is talking too much; the
applicant should do at least 75 percent of the talking. It is
helpful to establish a routine, so that even if you do not
interview often, you will always feel in control and not be
noticeably nervous.
6. Questions to Ask
I have learned not to ask long-range, open-ended questions,
because I have held 30-minute interviews where the only question
asked was, "Tell me a little bit about yourself." Now I conduct
almost every interview the same way. My first question is, "Tell me
about your current job," or "How do you like working for your
current employer?" I ask applicants what they liked best and least
about their past jobs. I then ask what they liked best and least
about each employer. This reveals quite a bit about the applicants
themselves.
We often ask, "If I were to call your past employers, what sort
of reference would I receive?" Often we are shocked at the answers.
If applicants assume they will receive a poor reference, then they
talk about why their references may not be stellar-which can open
the interviewer's eyes to many problem areas.
Another common mistake by inexperienced interviewers is in how
the questions are asked. For instance, if the interviewer wants to
know if a candidate will work long hours, he should not ask, "Will
you work long hours?" (Applicants will always say, "Yes.") Rather,
the interviewer should ask, "How many hours did you work at your
last position, and how did you feel about working those hours?"
Don't be too quick to disagree with an applicant who doesn't say
the right thing, as you may learn more about him by not making your
opinions known right away
If we like a candidate after the first interview, we will
immediately conduct a second interview. Our human resources manager
holds the initial interview; the second interview is generally held
by the manager who would be supervising the employee.
If the employer feels that he will want to make an offer, the
interviewer should begin selling the candidate on the company by
providing information about the company's culture and benefits.
7. Obtaining References
Most of the time we are able to obtain valuable references from
past employers. When we call reference sources, we state who we are
and the company we represent, and tell them that we are close to
making a hiring decision regarding an applicant. We then say, "May
we ask you a few questions?" Often they will say "yes," but add
that they are restricted as to the information they can provide,
due to legal concerns. We concur that we know it is difficult, and
that we face the same challenges when we give references.
We begin with a few simple, closed-end questions to help put the
past employer at ease, such as, "The applicant states that he
worked with you from June 1999 until May 2001. Does that sound
about right?" We will then ask further simple questions, such as,
"Was the employee punctual? What were the employee's job
duties?"
The past employer is now feeling more at ease, and so we can
probe further. Handling reference checks this way allows us to ease
into the process and create a rapport with the reference source,
thus increasing the likelihood of open communication. We will then
ask specific questions about the employee, such as, "What type of
employee was he?" etc.
Often references are positive because the respondent feels
guilty about firing the employee. I remember once, when I was
giving a positive reference for a consultant, I sensed that the
experienced HR manager could see through my reference. She
blindsided me with a question that showed the true colors of the
applicant: "What are this applicant's top five traits?" I stuttered
for a few minutes-and she had her reference. If reference sources
respond eloquently with several positive traits in a few seconds,
it speaks much better than if we hear a lot of "ums" and "ahs," as
they struggle to remember a third or fourth top trait.
The best question we have asked past employers is, "We are very
close to making an offer to this employee, and we want this
relationship to work out. As a past employer, can you give us any
advice on how to work with this employee in the future?" For some
reason, people tend to open up, and the answer we obtain often
enables us to see the candidate's true traits.
While these steps will not guarantee a perfect hiring decision
every time, they greatly reduce the likelihood of making mistakes.
Remember, it takes considerable time and energy to hire the best
candidate, but doing so prevents an employer from having to repeat
the process a week later. Joe Sansone is CEO of TMC Orthopedic, Houston, Texas. 
Table Of Contents - April 2003
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