When hiring a new employee, you are always taking a risk. Will the candidate turn out to be as good as he or she appeared in the job interview? Sometimes you have a gut feel that tells you that this person is perfect for the job, but after spending much time and money on the person, things start to go wrong, and you wonder how you made such an obviously bad choice.

To hire correctly, you need more than a gut feel to help you. Here are some tips to help you along...

Recruiting
Be careful when placing an advertisement in your local paper as this can prove to be a waste of time and money. You need to word your advert carefully and target it to the particular type of person you need. It is not enough to simply state the computer literacy, basic duties and salary range, as this will draw a huge response of unsuitable candidates. Think about the personality traits and special abilities needed for the job, and include phrases like "highly organised" and "can work under pressure" to attract competitive people and put off less assertive candidates (depending on the position). Be careful, however, not to discriminate against candidates by specifying age, sex, race, marital status, etc., as this goes against current Labour Law.

Using the Internet
The Internet is becoming an increasingly powerful recruiting tool, with more and more job seekers searching for employment on the many field-specific pages. Treat the Internet in the same way as you would the newspaper, in that you word your advertisement carefully to attract the right candidate. Take a look at the personality traits of your current top employees and keep these in mind when writing your advert - after all it is easier to teach people new skills than change their personalities!

Preparing for the interview
The interview is one of the primary means of assessing a candidate, however many interviewers have not had much practice and improvise the entire process without preparing ahead - this is a big mistake. You need to prepare and structure your interview, so that it feels more like a comfortable conversation than a question and answer session. Creating a relaxed atmosphere will help the candidate to open up and you will learn more about him or her.

It is important to read through the Curriculum Vitae before the interview - never look at it for the first time in front of the candidate. Plan some questions and note areas of concern - be aware of what the CV doesn't reveal:

	Dates of employment: make sure that the candidate has listed months as well as years. For example they may put 1994 to 1996 - there is a big difference between December 1994 to January 1996 and January 1994 to December 1996 - 2 years in fact!
	Gaps between employment: question dates between employment - perhaps the candidate is hiding a position in between that ended badly.
	Career advancement: make sure that the employee changed positions as well as employers. Someone who doesn't move for increasing responsibilities may be unambitious or non-commital, lacking direction.
	Credentials: Make sure that candidates who claim to have attended a university or college completed their course, and ask for proof thereof.

Questions
Preparing a list of questions beforehand will prevent the interview from becoming a lengthy regurgitation of what is already on the CV. Preparing a list of questions beforehand will also help you to ask every candidate the same questions, offering everybody a fair chance. Use open-ended questions rather than those that will elicit a "yes/no" response, allowing the candidate to share more information with you. Examples of questions are:

	What is your greatest achievement?
	What frustrates you at work? Give me an example of a particular incident.
	What are your strengths and weaknesses? (be aware of people who say they have no weaknesses!)
	Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work. What did you do to rectify this?
	How do you handle a crisis? Give me an example.
	Why did you leave your previous position?
	Tell me about your ideal working environment.
	How would your colleagues describe you?

Reference Checks
This is one of the most important steps in the recruitment process, as it can not only protect you from a fraudster, but also other employees, customers and your business in general. Verify the validity of all certificates and if necessary do a credit and criminal record check for positions that will involve dealing with money. Contact previous employers and ask about work performance, how the candidate handled stress, relationships with co-workers, etc. One of the most important questions to ask it whether or not the previous employer would ever consider re-hiring the candidate - this will tell you a lot about the candidate.

Review
Once you have conducted the initial interview and checked all references, review all the information that you have. Make a short-list of potential candidates and call them in for a second interview if necessary, perhaps with other members of your management team to get a balanced view.

The offer of Employment
Finally, make the appropriate candidate an offer. Once the terms have been agreed upon, put everything in writing to be signed by both parties - this will prevent any future discrepancies. And don't forget those candidates who didn't make it past the interview stage - send them all a letter of thanks and wish them luck for the future.

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