Listly by EQLIST
by Richard Sellers
Source: http://eqli.st/hiring-new-employees-five-key-w-questions/
Generally, ** hire for attitude and train necessary skills.**
People who are likable, enjoy working, desire to do well and are reasonably smart can be trained to accomplish many jobs. Admittedly, there are skill positions that must be filled by people who already have the necessary expertise, but even these people must be positive/motivated workers.
There are only three absolute requirements when you are screening candidates:
- Can they do the job?
To be hired, the person definitely must be able to do the job. Whatever the physical or proficiency requirements, the person needs to prove to you that they can accomplish whatever you require.
Obviously, this means you need to predetermine each job’s specific duties and use a review list while interviewing and selecting new hires.
To make this assessment, probe during interviews about their relevant previous work experiences and always question references.
- Do they want to do the job…the entire job?
This can be difficult to determine since some people need a job or find something about your situation desirable even though they object to a critical component.
It’s believed that people who enjoy doing their jobs tend to stay longer, work better, and cause fewer problems.
- Do you want to work with them?
Here you need to both trust your gut AND also ask others who will work directly with the potential hire. While only the owner has the responsibility to hire, I suggest that you are cautious about hiring anyone who current employees are uncomfortable with.
Caution: Don’t just hire those most similar to yourself. Take a little longer with those differing from your current team (for example: older/younger) and work to diversify to bring in different perspectives and broaden and strengthen your team.
Each part of this contradictory advice is important to understand and try to follow:
Hire for positions that fit one of these criteria:
The new hire will: