HR For Small Business For Dummies, Australian Edition

Chapter 3

Sorting the Good from the Not So Good

In This Chapter

Understanding how selection criteria can guide your decision

Opening up the field of suitable candidates before narrowing your choices

Applying strong interview techniques to uncover the applicant’s better qualities

Considering delicate subjects when choosing an employee

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.

William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

W ith sincere apologies to William Shakespeare, imagine if each time you decided to employ a person, the ideal employee appeared upon a nearby balcony, to light up your life like a brilliant dawn sun. A slightly less fanciful, far less romantic but certainly more practical strategy is to use more than one means to promote your job and then create a short list of potential candidates from which to select your best employee. The task is not difficult but it does require a bit of organisation — and in this chapter I take you through the full process.

A short list of candidates is of little use unless you have a clear idea of ...