Hire Right

If there is anything more scarce, more unique, more rare than ability, it’s the ability to recognize ability.

Having said that and not contradicting myself, consider the following situations:

• Two married couples can live side by side for 25 years. They are best friends. One day one of the couples calls the other couple. “Hey, we’ve got a good idea. Let’s go to Europe together for six weeks.” They may never speak again.
• You are interviewing a person for a software position at your company. You can interview them for six months and give them every test known to mankind. You would think that you would know the candidate well, but this is not necessarily true.

Hire the person and you will know more in the first 30 days watching him or her on the firing line than you did the previous six months of interviews.

What I’m trying to say here is that it is extremely difficult to pick good people, The following concepts have worked well for me. Hopefully you may get one or two good ideas:

• Multiple interviews. Have six to eight interviews with a candidate and involve others in the interview process.
• Interview in different environments. I want to check out candidates away from the office to see how they handle themselves in different social and casual circumstances.
• Interview the candidate by telephone. Today, everyone must be good on the telephone, which I believe can be a most awesome weapon.
• The Acid Test of Hiring. Approximately 10 to 15 minutes into the interview I ask myself, “How would I feel if this person were working for my competitor?” If I’m not worried, the interview ends.
• I strongly believe in written contracts. If you are willing to fight your guts out for an agreement, you won’t have a disagreement.

There is one overriding philosophy that you have to keep in mind for every person you hire. Never compromise your standards.