This month I am going to discuss two critical aspects of your selection process. The first is, “Who should be included on your interview team?” The second is, “How many people should I include on my interview team?”

The first question is easily answered. Only include people on your interview team that add value. This sounds so simple but too often people fall into the trap of using whoever is available. When you sit down to put your interview team together (yes, you should plan this!) start by identifying all the information you want to gather. This results in your list of critical requirements.

Next, identify which person in your organization would add the most value in exploring each individual requirement. If you are looking for presentation skills, determine who in your organization is strong in that area. If you are looking for financial skills, bring in a financial person. Continue with this process until you have identified the best person to cover every requirement.

The next step is to assign each person a specific, focused set of requirements to cover in the interview. Don't just ask Mary to be on your interview team. Instead, ask her to be on your interview team and to interview for the following specific requirements. Do not leave this to chance! Each interview member must be assigned a focus (a subset of your list of requirements) that takes advantage of their individual strengths. There should be an overlapping focus so that each requirement is covered by at least two people.

This simple planning process removes the randomness from the interview process. Each person knows what requirements they are going to cover. Each requirement is covered by multiple people with expertise in the specific requirement. Your interview process will be much more thorough and effective when you use this technique.

Our second question is, “How many people should we have on our interview team?” Your natural inclination is to say as many as possible, but this is not the right answer. First, remember we have identified, in the previous step, the people who add the most value. This gives you some idea of the number of people who should be involved.

The next consideration is timing. In today's market you have to move as fast as possible to close the good candidates. The days of having candidates come back three or four times is over. By necessity the market has forced us to trim the numbers on our interview team. This is another reason why it is so important to determine those people who add the most value.

The only absolute number, when deciding on how many interviewers to have on your team, is to never have less than two. Do not make hiring decisions in a vacuum. Three is a good number and four works as well. Please have a good reason to add more than four interviewers to your team. Don't fall into the trap that more people will get you more information. Three or four well-trained interviewers with expertise in the subjects they are exploring will do a great job.

A question I get asked quite often has to do with getting “buy-in” from people the person is going to work with. A simple way to handle this is to have the person meet with these people in a social (lunch) setting to get to know them. This may not be the best way to get “buy-in” but given today's market realities, it is an effective technique. This is a very controversial issue and if you have a different opinion, please let me know.

QUESTION OF THE MONTH
“Who is the best person to sell the job to the candidate?” A. Booker San Mateo, CA

The best person to sell the job to the candidate is the person on your team who is the best sales person. In an ideal world it would be great if this was the hiring manager but that may not always be the case. Once again, take advantage of your interview team members' strengths. You should plan your close just like you plan your data gathering. Try and have your best “closer” be the last person the candidate speaks with.

Keep these great questions coming! Remember to submit your questions to staff@selectingwinners.com

COMMENTARY
Last month I said you need to get aggressive and creative about your recruiting. The competition for top talent continues to be fierce. In the July 3, 2000 edition of The Industry Standard magazine on page 188 they list 55 companies that have implemented layoffs totaling 4425 people. Is any one out there interested in the availability of 4425 talented technology professionals?

This is just one of many stories detailing companies that are cutting back on staff. This is great news for those of you that are growing your businesses. You need to stay on top of what is happening in your industry and in your geography. There are good people out there and the good recruiters are getting them. I want you to be one of the good recruiters.

I have spoken before about developing a recruitment mentality. This means thinking about and doing something about recruiting every day. What are you going to do today? Here are five suggestions:

1. Read you local paper and industry trade magazines to see who is in trouble
2. Promote your employee referral program
3. Call someone in your personal network to stay in touch
4. Register with the outplacement firms in your area to receive notice of available people
5. Call an ex-employee you would like to have back and see how they are doing

FINAL NOTE
I get hundreds of questions from business owners, executives and hiring managers every month at my speeches and seminars. These questions, about recruiting and hiring, are critical to growing and running profitable businesses.

Well, I spent the last couple of months compiling and organizing the questions and my answers into a new e-book, “Hiring Made Easy, Solutions To The Most Asked Recruiting and Hiring Questions”. I narrowed the list down to the 77 most critical questions. This collection is packed with the most useful advice and insight my clients have used to win the recruiting wars.

The e-book will be available in early August at the website Hiring Made Easy It is going to be available to the public for $77. But for my newsletter subscribers only, if you place a reservation by email, I am making it available for just $57. To place a reservation, please send an email with your contact information to sales@hiringmadeeasy.com. When it is available we will contact you with ordering information. This offer is only available to my newsletter subscribers and expires August 1, 2000.

Have a great month recruiting!

Barry Shamis