Interviewing

Subjective hiring criteria are fine–if you can cite a sound business reason

07/13/2012

When you have several good applicants for a job opening, picking the best-qualified candidate isn’t easy. While you should be as objective as possible, the final decision can have a subjective element. Just make sure you document a good business reason to back up your choice.

One innocent interview question that could land you in court

07/12/2012

Do you ask applicants what year they graduated from high school or college (or otherwise finished their education)? Does your application request that information? Watch out!

Avoid ‘talented terrors’: Hire for attitude

07/06/2012

Figuring out if applicants have the technical skills to perform a job is relatively easy. What’s more difficult is finding out whether a person has the personal characteristics to become successful and be someone co-workers wouldn’t go nuts working alongside.

‘Projectlications’: The future of smart hiring?

06/11/2012

Realizing that no amount of interviewing or psychological tests can substitute for seeing an applicant perform the task at hand, more employers these days are asking candidates to do serious work to get a serious job offer, according to a Harvard Business Review article.

30 great interview questions to identify candidates’ soft skills

05/30/2012

One of the best ways to tell if applicants have the skills to perform specific tasks is to directly ask how they’ve used those skills in the past. These sample questions can help hiring managers spot 10 important “soft” skills:

Interviewing candidates: 30 great questions to ask (and 15 to avoid)

05/02/2012

The best interview questions focus on what applicants know how to do and how they do it. Here are 30 sample questions that probe into a variety of skills.

Identifying applicant skills: 50 great interview questions

04/27/2012

In addition to giving job-specific tests, the best way to tell if applicants carry the skills to perform specific tasks is to ask very direct questions about how they’ve used each skill in the past. Here are some sample questions hiring managers can use to spot whether these 10 important “soft” skills are present:

Library of Skill-Based Interview Questions

04/12/2012

In addition to giving job-specific tests, the best way to tell if applicants carry the skills to perform specific tasks is to ask very direct questions about how they’ve used each skill in the past. Here are nearly 200 sample interview questions that hiring managers can use to spot the presence of important “soft” skills …

Beat ‘talent paradox’ to hire the employees you need

03/29/2012

Hiring should be easy these days! Unemployment remains high and struggling companies have had to let great people go. Supply should exceed demand. So why is it so hard to hire the employees you need? It’s the “talent paradox”—despite lots of candidates, employers still see significant shortages in critical talent areas. Here’s a blueprint for beating it.

Interviewing: The 10 most common manager mistakes

02/27/2012

Conducting job interviews requires managers to strike a tricky balance between politeness and assertive evaluation. One wrong word or action can drive an applicant away—or even trigger a lawsuit. Warn managers to avoid these top 10 mistakes when interviewing job candidates.