Good market.  Bad market.  Nothing has changed.  It still remains that the only sustainable competitive advantage is the quality of your people.

No one knows when the current market problems will take a turn for the better.  But, only a complete cynic believes that it won’t.

Those organizations that have prepared and have the right people in place are going to have a tremendous advantage.   The CEO that takes steps now to prepare can avoid the mad scramble for people after the market does turn.

I got a call last week from a mortgage broker who needed to hire 200 new reps as soon as possible.

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Imagine your sales candidate walks in your office – steps right up to your desk – looks you square in the eyes – and gives you a firm handshake.

It doesn’t get much better than that!

But in reality, you might have just taken the first step down a very slippery slope.

Is this a great salesperson with fantastic rapport skills or have you just been witness to an academy award worthy acting job? You certainly don’t have enough information yet to know one way or the other.

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I have mentioned many times that you must control the interview if you are going to successfully hire top employees.  Controlling the interview simply means getting the information you need in the time allotted.

Are you getting the information you need or the information the candidate wants to share with you?  The only way to control the interview is to ask effective questions.

In the following video, I show you some of the techniques that are being taught to candidates so they can control the interview.  Don’t be a victim of these tactics!

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For the past 19 years I have spoken to an organization that has thousands of CEOs as members.  The group also puts out a newsletter that I have contributed to over the years.  Last month they published an article about the 15 questions you have to ask every person in every interview.

This month, they published a second article because lots of members wrote in and asked how they were supposed to interpret the answers to the questions.

I can’t be the only person that sees the irony in this situation.  An expert tells you to ask questions but you need an expert to explain to you how to interpret the answers.

Give me a break!

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“If you continue to do what you always have done, You will continue to get what you have always gotten.”

You have an interview scheduled for this afternoon.  You prepare by scanning the resume for two or three minutes before the person comes into your office.  You’re not worried because you will know if this is the right person.

The candidate walks into your office, strides across the room, looks you in the eye, and with a firm handshake introduces herself.  Nice start you’re thinking.  She is upbeat, outgoing and can obviously create an impression with a prospect.  You start thinking; I wonder what it is going to take to get this gal.

But let’s not jump to a conclusion too quickly, so you pull out your pen and say, “So sell me this pen.”  Reject the first statement out of her mouth, and see how she handles objections.  And most important, see if she knows how to ask for the order.

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Ever been lied to in an interview?

Ever wonder if the person you are interviewing is telling the truth?  Is the person feeding you a line or maybe just telling you what they think you want to hear?  Ever hired someone based on information you thought was true but really wasn’t?

Well, don’t feel bad because you are not alone.  Most business owners want to be sold in the interview and end up hearing only what they want to hear.  It is called selective perception.  (Remember the last new car you bought and all of the sudden there were hundreds of the same car on the road!)

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Let me share a story with you. I used to be in the same boat as you. Hiring good employees was as much a mystery to me as it probably is to you. If the person looked good, was enthusiastic, and showed some interest, they got hired. And you would have a hard time counting my mistakes. One in particular I want to share with you.

Someone was silly enough to promote me to my first management job. The department needed to hire an administrative assistant. I did all the typical things. Ran the typical ad (titled “Administrative Assistant”) in the Sunday classified ads. Interviewed about 20 candidates throughout the week. Finally, it was Friday afternoon and I had one more interview to go and the desperation was mounting.

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Take your time when you hire but be certain to fire fast.  It seems like Moses brought this message down from the mountain.  People have been repeating it for so long that it has taken on an aura of correctness.  Too bad it is wrong.  Let me show you what I mean.

I had a discussion with an executive coach recently who was telling me how he was counseling his clients to take their time in hiring.  I asked him why he was counseling this.  His answer was that it only makes sense to take your time hiring so you don’t make a mistake and have plenty of time to compare candidates.  Seems to make sense.  But, not so fast my friends.  This is a lousy piece of advice.  Hiring must be done a fast as possible.  Let me explain.

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I was having lunch last week with my race car mechanic Ray, and he shared a very interesting story with me. Ray and I have gotten to be good friends in addition to him being my mechanic.  We do spend a lot of time together (remember I drive a vintage Fiat).

Ray runs a one man shop southeast of Seattle with his wife running the office.  During the 70’s and most of the 80’s, Ray was the head mechanic at the largest Fiat dealership in the northwest.  When the dealership folded, Ray started his own repair shop working strictly on Fiats.  Lots of service bays, lots of employees, you get the picture.

Now, for the story.

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For years, I have been preaching in my Selecting Winners workshops that you should never ask an interview question that begins with “why”.  This goes against the grain of so much of the common wisdom on the subject.  That alone should tell you it makes sense!  Just kidding.

But seriously, there are a number of important reasons supporting the ineffectiveness of “why” questions.  In this article, you will learn the pitfalls of “why” questions and how to ask much more effective alternates.

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