We owners understand that the work day doesn’t end at 5 or 6 o’clock. If several key things still need to get done, it is often the business owner who gets them done. If a customer calls after hours, the impulse is strongest with us to get back to him and not let it wait until the next day.

All of us at one time another have had disagreements with our boss. So what happens when we are asked to do something we feel we shouldn’t have to do?

This is the classic hiring question. But it doesn’t always get the answer you’re looking for, which is simply an unrehearsed answer.

There are a multitude of different sales approaches and techniques. Some of them may be just right for your business, some may not. Some actually may inhibit sales if used in your business.

In this tip, we'll look at what has become a somewhat controversial subject in the sales world: prospecting.

In Part One we discussed how prepared the salesperson was for the interview with you. In this part, we're going to take a different look at our salesperson's qualifications.

The first thing you can do is find out how prepared your sales candidate is for his interview with you.

Now that’s an interesting question. As if not one of us hasn’t hired someone at one point or another that we ended up not needing. And that’s understandable. In this tip, however, let me make the question a bit more precise: Would you hire someone that you knew at the time of hiring that you didn’t need?

This is a superb area to discuss in an interview. Let's first ask our candidate what "stress" means to him.

If your company has a story, especially a compelling story, make it known to your applicants and find out how they can connect with it.

It's not unusual for people to get bored "on the job" but I think it would be a good idea to find out how bored your candidate gets and how they deal with it.

Many of us have interviewed the person who wanted us to feel sorry for them. They wanted to use this line of sympathy as a reason to be hired.

Asking your candidate to describe herself in just one word could provide a very interesting insight.

Some people spend a good deal of time criticizing those around them. This person will often tell us "it's for their own good" or "it's constructive criticism." They want you to believe they are doing you a favor by pointing out the faults of others.

You're sitting down with Matt who is interested in the stock clerk position or the telemarketing position or perhaps the Office Manager position. You've read over his résumé and you've asked him several questions in the interview. And you've decided Matt's a decent candidate for the position. Then let's cut right to the chase with: "Matt, how can you benefit this company?"

Ask your applicant how well she got along with others at her last job (or last several jobs). The first responses will usually be “social responses” and they’ll tell you they got along just fine. Do a bit of digging on this. 

Let’s say you have a pressing need to fill a position. You put the word out, interview some applicants, and you hire the person most suited for the job. You then give this new hire an explanation of what’s needed and wanted and send them off to their work area. What are your expectations of this person?

Some of us are very close with our staff or a number of them. And some of us choose to have a strictly professional relationship. If you are inclined to developing friendships with some (or all) of your staff, then this fact should also be considered during the hiring process. What if you have a great prospect in front of you, the right skills, superb test results, a real depth of experience at the position but they rub you the wrong way? What if you cannot see ever inviting them on a camping trip?

We all like to recall the good times. And we'd much rather talk about our accomplishments than our failures. From a hiring perspective, though, it would be very helpful to find out HOW our candidates handled the tough times. Did they cave? Did they relish the challenge? Let's find out.

We've heard the term "fit" for quite awhile now. Is someone a good fit for your company? Will they fit in? Well, it's worth a fast definition: fit: suitable or good enough for something; similar enough to belong to a group That second definition is interesting: Are you looking for someone who is similar enough to belong to your group?

Have you ever made a new hire of an exceptional talent who felt he had the right to make wholesale changes? And then did so.

With so many possible qualities to sift through in a candidate, how much importance should we give humility?

If hired, will this person you're interviewing improve the people around him? And what exactly does that mean? In what way would or should the people around him be improved?

Let’s say you’ve got just the right people working for you. Every key position is filled with someone that you trust and competence abounds! Even the less key positions are filled. Now you can put all of your attention on the other areas of your business. If something comes up, if someone wants to move [...]

Group interviews could have distinct positives and distinct negatives.

Why do so many interviews fail to assess whether a candidate will be a good fit?”

Do you need spiky people in your company? Could you use an outlier or two? Someone who is not necessarily going to toe the company line and do only what he is told to do?

There is a certain ebb and flow to the hiring process. You are selling the business to the prospective employee and she is selling herself to you. If that equation gets too one-sided, and you are spending most of the time doing the selling, then two things can happen:

What are the benefits to collaborating during the hiring process?

What do we know about moms that would make them a good choice in the workplace? Let’s take a look.

There are essentially two sides to the hiring coin. Side One is the applicant who wants to impress the employer and land that job. Side Two is the employer who wants to impress the applicant and gain his agreement to come on board. Now these two sides may not both be operating at full steam [...]

A game is played to win. In order to win, individual players blend their skills and their actions with other players. Teams made up of JUST individuals, even those highly talented, often fail against teams composed of people who work hard on working together.

What can happen if your applicant isn't given "closure" on his request for a job.

In an earlier hiring tip I mentioned a trip I made to my local Barnes and Nobles bookstore. While there, I looked over the books that were available for both employers and prospective employees. The number of books available on just the subject of résumés was staggering. And, for the most part, these were current [...]

During the interview process, there are many questions you can ask. The Hiring Tips have provided a good number of these. Here’s another one you’ll find interesting: “Under what circumstances did you ignore or bend company policy?” Your applicant–we’ll call him Frank–may answer, “Oh, there were no circumstances where I did such a thing.” A [...]

Using LinkedIn to help you hire better staff.

Digging in and asking what a "job" means to your candidate can be very illuminating.

When it comes to hiring and holding onto your staff, especially top-notch staff, perks can be a prime consideration.

There are many types of employee tests available: -- Personality Tests -- Intelligence Tests -- Aptitude Tests

In an earlier Hiring Tip, I mentioned being in a Barnes and Nobles bookstore. I was checking out the "hiring" section and I noticed there were 80-100 different books on this important subject.

Integrity is a very interesting concept. I may be old-fashioned, but I believe the subject has taken quite a few hits over the last few decades. I also believe the concepts of right and wrong have been slowly but surely stripped out of our children's education, but that's a discussion for another time and another place.

In an earlier tip, we discussed the merits of hiring a veteran. In this tip, I'd like to discuss another "group" that could be valuable to you. Athletes.

We've touched on this subject in other tips, but have not addressed it directly. Let's do so here.

We’ve all made mistakes. Some of us have made more than the next person. The focus of this tip is not on how many mistakes one applicant has made. The focus is on how did he deal with those moments in time. Let’s look at this as if there are two very different ends of [...]