Article Title: "How To Recruit The Best Job Candidates "
Author: Morey Stettner  
INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY



When it comes to recruiting, bad moves are extremely costly.

To increase your odds of success, listen to candidates with care, assess their skills vigorously and check references diligently, experts say.

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, said Pierre Mornell, author of Hiring Smart (Ten Speed Press, $ 24.95). Asking lots of clever questions in the job interview is one piece of the puzzle, Mornell said. But it's not the only piece.

Try these steps to fill job openings with the best people:

* Stage a test run. Some candidates talk up a storm and sound impressive. But that doesn't mean they produce stellar work.

See how someone performs by giving them an assignment during the interview process, Mornell said.

Ask them to go to your company's Web site and write a one-page summary, he said. Or give them a report and ask them to read and analyze it. You can eliminate 50% of your applicants by asking them to do something ahead of time and turn it in.

* Fight off first impressions. Managers often jump to conclusions about applicants based on how the candidates come across in the first 30 seconds or so. This can cloud their judgment for the rest of the interview.

There is a tendency for interviewers to resonate with certain people right off the bat, said Laurence J. Stybel, president of Stybel Peabody, a Lincolnshire International firm.  This is called a Positive Halo. Once this Positive Halo effect takes place, interviewers may apply a premium to positive information received and a discount to negative information received.  It also works in reverse.  If the initial few minutes produces a Negative Halo, than subsequent positive information is apt to be discounted.  And negative information is given a premium weight.  Interviewers who brag about having the intuition to spot winners/losers during job interviews are usually the ones most likely to be unaware of how the Halo Effect influences how they weigh information.  The best interviewers are the ones with a healthy skepticism about themselves.  They know how easy it is to be fooled.


* Listen for verbs. It's important to pay attention to everything candidates tell you. But it's especially revealing to note the action words they use when reflecting on their work experience. This can indicate to what extent they were leaders or followers in their last job.

As a start-up company, we need to hire people with proven track records, said Cindy Davis, president of Navic Systems Inc., a software maker in Needham, Mass.

I listen to how candidates describe their past job responsibilities, Davis said. Phrases such as I supported or I helped manage are very scary to me. But if they say I ran a department or I found a new market, that shows they have more valuable experience for the positions we need to fill.

Davis recently hired someone to be vice president of sales who said he had increased sales by a certain percentage and was responsible for various operations at his past job. She found his ability to produce results reassuring.

* Check references. When following up after an interview, Davis contacts a candidate's prior bosses.

My goal is to confirm the applicant's anecdotal information, she said. I'll ask, Can you tell me what he accomplished when he worked for you? Then I listen for verbs to see if they match the candidate's description.

Given the legal risks of speaking out against former employees, many employers hesitate to share their feelings about certain individuals. But that doesn't mean you should skip this critical step.

The easiest way to check references is to call five names the candidate gives you at 6 a.m. or late at night so you get their voice mail, suggested Mornell.

Leave a message explaining why you're calling and that you'd like a call back, he said. If four out of five call back, that's fine. If one out of five calls back, that's a red flag.'