Hiring Someone- Some Keys

Through our work we speak with many people in charge of hiring. One thing I have noticed is that interviewing is treated as an art and not a science. By this I mean, it rare an interviewer actually takes time to prepare for an interview. What then happens is that hiring decisions are made based on "feelings" or intuition. Hard way to ensure you are finding the best available person for your position.

The other issue I see consistently is an interviewer asks the candidate to make stuff up or answer what the interviewer wants to hear. Questions such as, "what are your strengths?", "what can you improve?", "where do you want to be in five years?" really tell you nothing of use. So what should you do?

First, realize that research has shown people are creatures of habit and that 85% of what they have done and how they react to situations in the past is exactly how they will perform and react in the future. So, ask questions about their experiences. Some sample questions:

1) When you found your largest account at your past company, how did you find it?
2) How did you solve a large issue that may have come up at your past company?
3) When you had a disagreement in your past company, what was it and how did you solve it?

Now here is the kicker, when you check references, make sure to check the answers to the above with the reference. Ask the reference the same questions about your candidate. If the answers pan out and are to your liking, you have found a good candidate! Good luck!

Resumes and the mistakes I see.

I see a lot of resumes. Probably 10 to 15 a day. One thing that would make life better for the job seeker is to understand that the resume will not get you the job. What it will do is peek the interest of the hiring manager to want to have a conversation. That is it. If you understand that, than you can better set up the resume to get you an interview. Here are a couple of the common mistakes I see.

1) The "objective" is not a fit for the job. If you are applying for a QA position but you list that your objective is to be a programmer, you have just told the hiring manager, you really don't want the job and will leave the first chance you get. So remove the "Objective" or make it very specific to the job you are applying for.
2) Way too much info. A manager will spend four seconds per resume. Make it easy to scan. Do bullet points. Highlight just the info that is listed in the job description so you look like a great fit.
3) Do a spell check for goodness sakes!

Make the resume easy for the hiring manager to scan and see a good fit. A manager will not "work" to see if you are a fit. If they don't see it in four seconds, you will lose out!

Good luck!