How to Pick the Right Candidate from a Pool?

Evaluating people and determining who is the right person for you and your job is a VERY difficult task. In fact, the best way to know is to have actual, real work experience from the person that you can evaluate them on. So, if you can afford internships or can afford a prolonged testing period, you are in a better position than many others and will make a better decision. However, if you are not, here are some tools to help you pick a more qualified candidate.

First, remember this statement, “Past experience is a good indicator of future performance.” Since we are all habitual people, there is no better way to determine what you would do in the future, especially as things start to get more normal and past the probationary periods, other than looking at the past.

Second, know what you want for the position posted. Know the skills and experiences that have to be in place at time of hire. By doing a little bit of pre-brainstorming, you can ask more directed questions and for more applicable information.

1. Ask for the candidates to show samples of work related to the job – project plans, requirements documentation, designs, flow-charts, etc. People who can’t produce these will take themselves out of the running and limit your evaluation to those that are more qualified. Also, these samples allow you to have a better understanding of what was and can be produced by the candidate rather than only relying on the resume.
2. Understandability – communication is key to any job. Is all the information presented (resume, samples, flow-charts, etc.) easily understandable/readable to any user or does the candidate have to spend a lot of time explaining it? Information should be as intuitive as possible.
3. Resume review – follow the timeline: (1) look at how many jobs the person had (how often did they switch), (2) look for any gaps in time and ask for an explanation, and (3) look for consistency in information presented on the resume and what they tell you.
4. Education IS important! Look for relevant education to the job. It is true that experience is also vital, but having the right educational background and experience is even more powerful and complete. You can’t easily mix an Associated Degree in Accounting with 20 years experience to a job in Graphical Design. I would prefer an Art Degree with 3 years web development experience.
5. Focus interview questions on one or two key projects, probing about various components rather than on 20 projects over their lifetime. Ask about how detailed the analysis was, how much stakeholder involvement there was, how communication was done and how the change management process (people issues) were handled.
6. Rely on your hunch and what your general feel is telling you about the person and the fit that you are getting out of the conversation. Maybe they can’t work with some team members or work with the hiring manager’s supervisory style, etc.
7. Ensure that you use the probationary period wisely to determine if what you thought is what you got. Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. It is much more costly over the long run to keep an employee that was not a good fit than to go out and find another one.

It is not easy to look at some papers and have one or two discussions and pick the best person; however, if you are willing, there are some ways to trim down to a select group or individual.