- Develop testing exercise for new applicants
- Cover a wide variety of skills (verbal, math, problem solving, customer service)
- Be careful of potential legal problems including bias as a result of the test
Write Exercises to Test Applicants
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After you company has taken off a bit, it might be time to bring in another pair of hands to help around the office. The person you hire should be capable of handling a number of different tasks and wearing a number of different hats. If you can find a hard worker, who thinks outside the box and understands the field that your company is in, he or she may be able to bring money into the company in ways that you may have never thought of. On the other hand, if you hire the wrong person you might be throwing money down the drain and not getting anything back from it.
One way to help you go through the interview process is put together a couple of exercises that you can use across the board for all applicants and rate them against each other. Of course there are subjective things that will help you make your final decision of who to hire, which is why you interview people, but some hard numbers never hurt. Think of it as your company's SAT's.
Cover all your bases. Don't have all the different tests be the same type. For example, I put together a number of different editing tests to check attention to detail, but we also use a number of problem solving questions to see how people can get through certain problems. Focus on both verbal skills as well as math skills. Include problem solving questions (such as role play and how would you handle XYZ situation).
You can also ask if they have ever faced this problem before and what did they do in the past. This is a huge indicator of what they would do in the future if faced with the same problem. Do the same thing with typical customer service issues you expect to face in your business. See how the applicant responds when you pretend to be the customer and present them with a problem.
Remember, because this person is working in a small company they are going to have to be able to do a number of different jobs. If they are very good at one thing but entirely inept at a number of other things, it might make more sense to hire someone who is good across the board.
You can show the applicant the test and let them you don't expect them to know everything on it. If you sense they are struggling, simply move onto the next question and reassure them they are doing fine. You don't want to freak them out at this point. You can also explain that one of the main reasons for the test is to help them see the type of work your company does and what they might be working on.
Have an idea what type of person you are looking for before all the interviews begin, but be sure to keep an open mind. It seems difficult to do both, but its necessary. You should have a general idea of the type of person that you want to hire. It must be someone who has experience in your business and have the know how to multi-task all the different facets of their job, but it also must be someone that you can get along with.
If they are the first addition to the office, there will be a very family-like experience in the office. When there are only two people in the office both must be able to work together in a healthy and functional way. Nobody likes to dread going to work every day - especially the person who owns the company. Go out to lunch with the person before you hire them, have them come in a for a half day to see what the job will be like. You will learn much more about a person in four hours than you can in a 45 minute interview.
We've learned more from these "tests" and the on-site half day visits then we would normally learn in a typical across the desk interview. Hiring the wrong person is very bad for both you and the person, while hiring the right person will pay huge dividends for both parties down the road. Take your time with this important decision and do what you can up front to avoid problems resulting from a mis-hire.
You might also want to be careful about any bias from the test or some aspect of it that could be problematic from a discrimination stand point.
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