Please don’t tell me reference checking is a waste of time and that no one will give you any useful information on your candidates. That’s a cop-out. I know managers who learn all kinds of helpful things about potential hires by calling the right people and asking the right questions. And I personally give candid feedback on a regular basis to managers who are thinking about bringing someone on board I’ve worked with in the past.

If you’re not getting useful responses from reference checking, my guess is you might not be doing it right.

So here are five questions to try next time you’re considering hiring someone and really want some objective input. They’re best used if you’re talking to someone your candidate has worked for in the past. Managers who use them tell me very often they generate interesting, insightful answers from references that help them learn something they didn’t know and might not have found out otherwise.

Question 1: If you could create the ideal job for Cheryl, what are the primary things you’d have her doing?

Question 2: If you could have done one thing differently with Cheryl while she was working for you, what would it have been?

Question 3: How did Cheryl’s job performance differ from what you thought you’d be getting when you hired her?

Question 4: What management style did you find got the best results from Cheryl?

Question 5: What one piece of advice would you give me if I do end up working with Cheryl?

What I think works about these questions is that they give references the opportunity to provide either positive or negative feedback in a diplomatic way without asking for the standard “strengths and weaknesses.” Even better, they sound less like you’re reading from a page out of “Reference Checking 101” and more like you’re having a conversation with someone who’s professional opinion you really want to hear.

Before you write off reference checking, think about how asking better questions might yield better results. Now, what questions do you typically ask references? Please share them in the comments section.

Managers frequently talk about good or bad hiring choices in terms of luck. If they happen upon a great employee, they were “lucky.” If they make a bad choice, they were “unlucky.” But what I usually discover is the lucky managers are almost always doing things the unlucky ones aren’t.

Lucky hires are usually the result of having a sound process and the patience to stick with it. This happens most often when managers take the time up front to understand what they need in the person they hire to do a job. When they follow a proven, structured plan for interviewing, testing, and reference checking. When they refuse to make a hasty decision in order to fill a position quickly. When they ask for input from people who make great hires themselves and really listen to what these folks have to say about the candidates they’re considering.

On the other hand, those who blame a bad hire on being unlucky have often done at least a few things to shoot themselves in the foot. Maybe they started out with an “I’ll know what I want when I see it” strategy instead of an accurate Hiring Profile. Or they talk more than they listen in their interviews. It could be that they settle too quickly just to get someone on board, or they fail to consider whether the person will fit with the company culture or the existing team. Perhaps they were too busy to check references or too cheap to use an outside assessment tool.

Either way, I’ve seen very few instances where managers consistently hire great people simply because of luck. The most effective ones I know somewhere along the way got themselves some training, developed a solid method, and made a commitment to stick with it. They don’t skip steps and they don’t settle.

So you can leave it up to luck or you can choose to stack the odds in your own favor. Which option sounds most appealing? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Here’s a different sort of question to try next time you find yourself in a second interview with a candidate of interest.  It’s most effective if you use it about mid-way through the meeting, after you’ve covered some of the more “traditional” topics related to experience, background, and skills.

Lead into it by telling the individual that you’ve enjoyed learning about the jobs and people and events that have had an impact on how she got to where she is today professionally.  But now you’d like to switch gears and hear a little about the things that have happened to her outside of work that she feels have influenced the person she is today.  Then simply ask,

“What were you like when you were a kid?”

Now, I know this may sound a little off-the-wall, and some of you may even be wondering, “What does this have to do with the job I’m hiring for?”  But you can learn a lot about candidates based upon their answers, especially if you can get them to open up a little and share some personal stories.

Since most candidates aren’t expecting this question, they haven’t prepared a response ahead of time.  So I find they tend to answer it pretty candidly and without trying to frame what they  say around what they think you want to hear.

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At some point in the interview process, many managers seek a second opinion about the candidates they’re considering.  They typically ask one or more other people in the company to interview their top choices and offer feedback.  Recently someone asked me a very good question:  “Is this step necessary or even helpful?”

My response?  Only if it’s done right.

What does “right” mean?  For starters, you need to select your additional interviewers carefully.  Target those who have more hiring experience than you and whose judgment you trust.  Those who might pick up on something you missed.  Maybe your own manager or one of your peers has an excellent track record of hiring great people.  Asking that person to meet with your candidates and weigh in on what they see can be very valuable.

It’s also a good idea to ask others to interview your candidates to assess their skills in areas where your expertise isn’t strong.  For example, let’s say you’re hiring for a job that requires extensive knowledge of a software program that you don’t personally use. You may want to ask someone on the team who’s more familiar with the software to meet with your candidates so they can ask the right questions to determine skill levels.

But those 2 scenarios are just about the only situations where second opinions add much value to the process.

What doesn’t work?

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Over all the years I’ve conducted management training seminars for clients, I’ve learned a ton from the participants. Managers have shared tips, tricks, and techniques that worked for them, and I particularly appreciate how their ideas are based on real-world experiences and successes. But every once in a while someone offers up a strategy that, let’s see, how can I put this…….

Really stinks.

Here’s one from a recent training class:

We were discussing the importance of managers asking well-thought-out, probing interview questions to get their candidates to really open up and provide candid answers. We were focusing on how managers will use this information to figure out if the job they’re hiring for is a good fit for the individual. We were also talking about why it’s crucial not to tell candidates too much up front about the job and the kind of person you’re looking for because all that leads to is people shaping their answers to convince you they’re exactly what you need.

Everyone in the group agreed with this concept except one guy, “Chuck.” In the middle of the group brainstorming a list of open-ended interview questions, Chuck shakes his head, sighs loudly, and interrupts the conversation to say this:

“Look, you people have it all wrong. You don’t need to go through all that to find out if the candidate can do the job. Here’s how I handle it. At the beginning of the interview, after all the small talk is over, I lay out everything. I say, ‘Look, let’s not waste time here. Here’s a copy of the job description that explains exactly what I need you to do.’ Then I tell them what I expect in terms of work ethic, attitude, commitment, and loyalty. I also describe our existing team, my management style, and all the ways I think the job can be hard and even frustrating. “

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Every time a manager makes a bad hire, it costs the company on two levels: tangible and intangible.

The tangible costs are the ones we can attach a dollar figure to. These include things like

• Paying a salary (and sometimes even bonuses) to someone who’s not performing
• Covering that individual’s benefits
• Footing the bill to fix the mistakes he or she makes
• Lost opportunities you couldn’t pursue because the mishire stood in your way
• Money wasted on training someone who never returns the investment

It’s estimated that these costs can end up amounting to anywhere from 2 to 5 times that individual’s annual salary, depending on how high the person’s job sits on the organizational chart. No way around it—a bad hire is a big financial pain.

But you know what often hurts even more? The intangible costs. The unquantifiable things kill you in an entirely different way. Consider the price you pay when:

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High on my list of “Biggest Sins Managers Commit When Interviewing” is one that never fails to make me shake my head. People are almost always unaware they’re doing it until I point it out, but even when they recognize they’re guilty, many can’t stop themselves.

What is this widespread transgression? Talking too much in your interviews.

Here’s how it usually unfolds:

In an effort to break the ice at the start of the interview, the hiring manager offers to tell the candidate a little about his or her background and history with the company. Yes, some people provide a brief overview and leave it at that. But far too many others ramble on way too long about when and how they joined the organization, all the positions they’ve held to date, their major accomplishments and proudest moments, all the changes they’ve seen over the years, etc.

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Everyone seems to have a different opinion on how much weight first impressions should carry in the interview process.

For some hiring managers, a bad first impression is a deal breaker—they won’t even consider a candidate who’s late to the meeting, shows up unprepared, or provides brief, unrevealing answers to questions. But others cut a little more slack and will let these things slide if the individual is very qualified or comes highly recommended from a trusted source. As one manager explained to me recently, “I think people are sometimes nervous and uncertain at a first interview, so I don’t take anything I initially see too seriously.”

No matter where you stand on the topic, it’s worth remembering that the issue cuts both ways. You may be considering your first impression of candidates, but keep in mind they’re also making initial judgments about you as well.

How so? The really talented candidates are interviewing you just like you’re interviewing them. They have a very strong interest in not only making sure your open position and your company are a good fit for them, but they’re also trying to figure out if you’re the kind of manager they want to work for. And they’re evaluating you from the minute you contact them.

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