Hiring is hard.

Do you give candidates a test? Do you ask about their experience, or pose theoretical situations to see how they think them through? These questions are hard enough for recruiters to answer, but even more of a mystery for entrepreneurs. While there’s no perfect formula, when it comes to finding talent, interviewing has to tell you a lot. Enhancing your talent efforts is a combination of creating a process for interviewing and improving how you interview candidates through that process.

“Enhancing your talent efforts is a combination of creating a process for interviewing and improving how you interview candidates through that process.” 

Of course you will never know what it is like to work with someone until they join you, but these techniques may help you gain some greater insights. On the interviewing end, this means that interviewers should:

• Ask Situational Questions. Interviews shouldn’t be treated as due diligence, but as a way to determine whether this hire can do the job well, fits in with your culture and preferred way of working and is enjoyable and professional to work with. This comes from asking for specific examples from a person’s professional past. “Tell me about a time when…” will evoke more meaningful responses than basic “Would you be able to…” or “Can you…” questions. Ask for anecdotes, or a walk-through of old projects to see how candidates think and work.
• Ask Open Ended Questions. An open-ended question is designed to encourage a full, meaningful answer using the subject’s own knowledge and/or feelings. It is the opposite of a closed-ended question, which encourages a short or single-word answer. To successfully ask open-ended questions in conversation, be knowledgeable of their characteristics.
• Hold a Behavioral Dialogue. During the job interview, help the candidate demonstrate his or her knowledge, skills, and experience. Start with small talk and ask several easy questions until the candidate seems relaxed. Then, hold a behavioral interview. A behavioral interview is the best tool you have to identify candidates who have the behavioral traits and characteristics that you have selected as necessary for success in a particular job. Additionally, behavioral interviews ask the candidate to pinpoint specific instances in which a particular behavior was exhibited in the past. In the best behaviorally-based interviews, the candidate is unaware of the behavior the interviewer is verifying.
• Assess Non-Verbal Communications. You can learn not only from what a candidate says, but how he or she acts including posturing and space usage, handshake, clothing and accessories, and facial expressions.

Improving these interview techniques will improve your chances of making the most of your ever-important early hires.