Put the applicant's future co-workers or team members in charge of hiring the people with whom they can work best and they'll create a realistic picture of skills required for the position.  You'll also bypass the 1st days of “newcomer to the team” syndrome.

If you added up the time and money your company has spent on all the ramifications of an incorrect hire, you’d change your assessment methods immediately!  Applicants have become increasingly adept at giving the right answers or showing their best side in an interview. Who are the managers doing the interviewing, how much do they know about what’s really involved in doing the job, and how much will they actually be working with the applicant?

There is a better way!

Have the potential employee’s co-workers or team members assess their ability to do the job, which includes working together with them. Set up a process that includes an in-depth group interview with all the people the applicant will be working closely with. As, or even more important in the process are simulations of computer work, phone interaction, mock staff meetings, and other tasks of the job. During the assessment process the panel follows the applicant through the various simulations, observing their ability to make decisions, handle conflict, set priorities, and communicate as well as the technical aspects of the particular job. 

BE CAREFUL – Very thorough job analysis/job descriptions must exist in order to make the simulations as realistic as possible for the best prediction of on-the-job performance.  The simulations need to be set up to give the best prediction of actual performance and can include role plays, paperwork, sample technical tasks, computer-based simulation, and many others.

An added benefit of this type of interviewing/assessment is that once the co-workers in the hiring group comes to consensus on who the best person is for the job, great support is gained from the team since people support what they create. The training required for this group to implement the assessment process requires time and energy, but the employees involved gain valuable skills that were once reserved only for managers - observation, evaluation, and decision-making skills – all necessary for other parts of their job.

Using a group of co-workers/team members to assess applicants provides a more comprehensive base of information about the applicant's ability to perform the job on a day to day basis. Simulation exercises further cut down on hiring mistakes because the applicant gets a better picture of what the job is all about and the organization gets to see if the applicant can actually do the job!

Anyone of you doing this kind of engaging assessment of applicants?