CNN better be careful with it’s headlines. I heard that PETA is planning a campaign to protest the disparaging language of the above headline. They are representing the much-maligned slug population. Hey, they ditched their shells and left snails in their dust. Can’t say they don’t have ambition.

Seriously though, the above mentioned article is aimed at the general population, but what does it also tell people in business? We may not be hiring a lot of people, but the hiring decisions have to be made in a calculated informed fashion. I talked about this briefly in an article the other day, but this was just a small part of it.

What do you need to think about when you are ready to hire? Do you have a planned interview and evaluation procedure for that practice? If the answer is no, you should take a step backward and consider the following points.

1. The interview is a meeting with a purpose. Always bear in mind that the person has to have the right skills and the right temperament to fit into a particular position.

a) Do they have the right attitude toward their potential duties?

b) Both parties need to keep the interview concise and professional

2. Prepare questions in advance

a) Questions should be open ended and delve into previous experiences, qualifications, how they will fit into your team, and how they handle change

b) Questions should be designed so that the interviewee does most of the talking and the interviewer practices active listening to discover any portion of the answer that invites discussion

3. Active Listening encourages open dialogue

a)active listening means keeping eye contact, nodding affirmation, taking occasional notes

b) Give positive verbal queues such as: yes, that’s interesting, tell me more about that, etc

More detailed information on the hiring process can be found inside The People Academy, Inc. This information includes documents, tutorial videos and, of course the ‘ask the expert’ e-mail support.