Tips For Picking New Employees

It's hard to know where to begin when you start the process of hiring new employees. So many organizations over-think the process, making things more complicated than they need to be. Instead of trying to get too fancy, start with the basics.

Deirdre Maloney, founder and president of San Diego, Calif.-based Momentum, wrote in her book "The Mission Myth: Building Nonprofit Momentum Through Better Business," that organizations should start off by writing a great job description. You should also use this opportunity to rethink how you might define the position differently to meet the emerging needs of your organization.

Maloney also had four other suggestions once you are done writing your job description:

• Recruit carefully. Take the time and take it seriously.
• Narrow your candidates down by phone. Just chatting with applicants for a few minutes can often help you determine whether or not they are appropriate for the next round of interviews.
• Involve other staff members. They will provide additional feedback and will give a sense of how the candidate will interact with other employees.
• Ask pointed questions. Ask direct interview questions and include traditional ones that get at history and work style. In further rounds of interviews, ask more scenario-type questions to get at real situations they might encounter on the job.