HOW TO HIRE A WINNER


	People get hired for all kinds of reasons.  One supervisor
recently admitted hiring someone "because his birthday was a day
after mine."  Fortunately, that employee worked out well.  But
success in hiring doesn't have to be a matter of coincidence.  You can
greatly improve your odds of hiring a winner by planning how
you're going to do it.  In his book Hiring Winners (AMACOM, 1991),
Richard J. Pinsker offers these simple steps for preparing to make a
smart hiring decision:

	1.  FOCUS ON RESULTS.  Start by determining the achievements
you want from whoever is doing the job.  Defining specific results
helps you get away from fuzzy goals and zero in on completing the
statement, "I want somebody who can achieve x, y, and z."
For example, let's say you're the sales manager for a computer
maker, and you need to replace a salesperson.  The results you need
from the new employee might be to sell at least three of your
$25,000 computers per month, and over the course of a year to
expand sales by 30 percent in colleges and universities in the
southern territory.

	2.  ESTABLISH SUCCESS PATTERNS. Determine the skills,
experience, and accomplishments a candidate would need in order to
produce the required results.  In our example, you'd be looking for
someone experienced in selling expensive equipment, familiar with
college markets and the South, and with a track record of increasing
sales by 30 percent.

	You might not find a candidate who fits the pattern exactly.
But the more thoroughly you outline the abilities and achievements
you're looking for, the better able you'll be to recognize the candidate
who comes closest to matching your needs.

	Remember to separate the success patterns you need from the
personalities of the people who have done the job in the past.  You'll
have a much better chance of hiring a winner if you focus on finding
someone with the ability to achieve results--rather than on
reproducing or avoiding the personality traits of someone who held
the job previously.

	3.  BASE THE HIRING PROCESS ON YOUR PLANNING.  When you
know what needs to be done and what kind of background you're
looking for in a job candidate, you're ready to start sorting through
resumes and conducting interviews.

	Rather than relying on your instincts to sort resumes into
"maybe" and "reject" piles, screen applicants by comparing their
qualifications to the specific requirements you've defined.  Conduct
interviews focused on seeing how thoroughly candidates can
convince you of their ability to meet your needs.

	Establishing specific, reasonable, and appropriate requirements
lets you communicate your needs to job candidates--and gives the
person you hire a big advantage in doing the best job possible.
Making your expectations clear from the start is the surest way to
get them fulfilled.

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