Who to hire...

Every company needs employees and although you as the owner can go and search for the specific employees you want, that could become time costly and prove to not be as useful as you would think. This is why employers will put job postings in papers and on websites, so that those candidates seeking employment will come to them. (The price of a listing being considerably less expensive than employee searching). As you are looking for employees there are a few key things that you can look for to make sure that you will choose the best person for the job.

Each company will have its requirements for a job for which it is hiring. These being the case, keep these requirements in mind as you read through resumes and do interviews. Now, nothing is more annoying than having to interview a person who is obviously not what you are looking for. To prevent this all you need to do is screen through your resumes and your final interviews will be very positive.
First, you listed in your posting of the job the requirements the person needs to have. Likewise your focus should be on those key points. If a good majority of those requirements do not appear within the first half of the resume then I would stop right there and give it no further attention. Even if the person has the necessary skills they failed to present them within the first chunk of their resume. This shows very bad organizational skills and poor attention to detail. (attributes of a person you don’t want working for you). So know what you want and if the person is not trying to convince you from the start that they are what you want then drop them.

Second, keep a list of attribute that you want the candidate to have that were not listed in the posting. These could be things along the lines of personal attributes, golf skills, family, service, etc. You will not list these because these are things you want the candidate to show they have, without knowing they have to show them. This is a large test of character for the person you are hiring. You can tell more about a person through their resume by reading between the lines than actually reading the words.

Third and finally wait to hear back from them. If your candidate is serious enough about getting this job then they will be active about obtaining it until it is filled. These shows great dedication and follow through, attributes that will also show through in their daily work. Wait for a follow up email, phone call, or thank you letter. The candidate that does that will has a higher likelihood to be searching for a career and not just a job.

As you exercise these simple steps in searching to fill a new position you can be guaranteed that your candidates will be better workers. They will be more serious about what they do and you will have fewer problems with them.