During our economic recovery, companies are expanding and needing to not only hire new employees, but also to hire the best and brightest. Customer experience and service can make or break your business in today's information age. So the caliber of candidates you interview and hire should be a reflection of you and your ideals.
Phone screening: After you decide to hire, determine what the position will entail, place advertising and go through the resumes. Start calling the candidates. Don't think for a minute that you should invite every applicant in for an interview just because his or her résumé is attractive. The initial phone conversation with these candidates can provide a significant amount of eye-opening information.
Screening candidates by phone helps narrow the field. This process can be tedious as there are many outgoing and incoming telephone calls. The conversations themselves can also be deceptive but will save a great deal of time in the long run as you'll eliminate some potential time-wasting interviews.
"It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can't fool all of the people all of the time." - Abraham Lincoln
Once the candidate's on the telephone, ask a couple of crucial questions. This conversation is not the time to conduct an entire interview. You'll be surprised how much information can be gathered with a short phone conversation.
The following are some non-optimum points to watch for:
- The person hesitates or pauses before every answer.
- The candidate seems genuinely pleased to hear from you.
All of this information may seem tedious and perhaps a bit unnecessary if you've never been this thorough in the past. However, since you're reading this blog, then you may have been experiencing personnel problems or be looking to end distressing turnover that has been haunting your business for years.
When referring to your notes, look for the same items as the first time you read that person's résumé. However, this time see if it corresponds with the phone screening information.
Due diligence will take an employer a great distance. First, ask yourself the right questions so you know the ideal candidate you want to interview. Use phone screening for a couple important questions before he or she interviews, and ask about actual products from his or her previous jobs. This careful approach will help pare down the prospects and provide a relevant selection of candidates from which to choose.
Heed honest Abe's wisdom and be thorough before bringing someone into your "work family."