4. Qualify by Phone

Before investing your time (and the candidate's) in a face-to-face interview, qualify the candidates further by means of a telephone interview and, if appropriate, to administer tests.

There's nothing more ridiculous than having a candidate fly into town for an interview only to discover that there is an obvious problem that disqualifies the person.

If all interviewing is local, interviewing may not be so time-wasting, but it's still much easier to end a phone call quickly than an interview.

How to Conduct Telephone Screens

Most important is to respect the privacy of candidates. Avoid mentioning the reason for your call until the candidate is on the phone.

Determine whether you have picked a convenient time for the candidate to talk. If not, make arrangements to call back. Calling the candidate at home in the evening may be the best approach.

In speaking with the candidate:

• Clarify any questions about basic qualifications.
• Explore what the candidate is looking for.
• Find out about the candidate's salary expectations.
• Ensure that the candidate is genuinely interested in your position.

5. Test as Required

Employers use a variety of tests to evaluate applicants' suitability for positions. For example,

• Skills
• Personality
• Honesty

As varying technical requirements govern the legality of testing, check with your attorney before adopting a test. Also, keep in mind that you may have to vary test requirements to accommodate applicants with disabilities.

When you do administer tests, be sure that they are administered to all finalists for the position.

Interview or Test First?

Interviewing as the key step in the hiring process is so ingrained in most managers that they tend to do it first, no matter what. However, for some positions, testing may actually be a better first-step evaluation method.

For example, one publisher used to interview potential writers and then, if they had a good interview, invite them back for a writing test. Eventually, the publisher realized that no matter how great the interview, if the writing was poor, they would not hire the candidate. So they started administering the writing test before the interview, with great success. In fact, they found that if someone passed the writing test, the interview didn't make much difference. The point is, sometimes, especially if there's a specific skill involved in the job, it's better to test for the skill before interviewing.

6. Bonus Timesaver

Once you're in the interview, if after discussing the candidate's qualifications it becomes apparent that the candidate isn't qualified and won't be considered, bring the interview to a courteous, but quick close. Don't, for example, spend time selling the company or describing its benefits. Just thank the candidate for his or her time. No reason to be cruel, but no reason to take your time or the candidate's when there's no hope.

Bottom line, to conserve HR time, design an applicant management and evaluation system that let's you spend most of your time with the most-qualified candidates. You'll quickly identify the best people for your needs—and theirs.

Recruiting and interviewing—they are important, but they are just two of many training topics you need to cover with your already-overworked supervisors. This is especially true when they're new to the job and they don't know how to handle interviewing and reference checking (or firing, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) issues, harassment complaints, or accommodating a disability, for that matter).

It's not their fault—you didn't hire them for their HR knowledge—and you can't expect them to act appropriately right out of the box. But you can train them to do it.

To train supervisors and managers effectively, you need a program that's easy for you to deliver and that requires little time from busy schedules. Also, if you're like most companies in these tight budget days, you need a program that's reasonable in cost.

We asked our editors what they recommend for training supervisors in a minimum amount of time with maximum effect. They came back with BLR's unique 10-Minute HR Trainer.

As its name implies, it trains managers and supervisors in critical HR skills in as little as 10 minutes for each topic. 10-Minute HR Trainer offers these features:

• Trains in 50 key HR topics, including manager and supervisor responsibilities under all major employment laws and how to legally carry out managerial actions from hiring to termination. (See a complete list of topics, below.)
• Uses the same teaching sequence master teachers use. Every training unit includes an overview, bullet points on key lessons, a quiz, and a handout to reinforce the lesson later.
• Completely prewritten and self-contained. Each unit comes as a set of reproducible documents. Just make copies or turn them into overheads, and you're done. (Take a look at a sample lesson, below.)
• Updated continually. As laws change, your training needs do as well. 10-Minute HR Trainer provides new lessons and updated information every 90 days, along with a monthly Training Forum newsletter, for as long as you are in the program.
• Works fast. Each session is so focused that there's not a second's waste of time. Your managers are in and out almost before they can look at the clock. Yet they remember small details even months later.

Evaluate It at No Cost for 30 Days

We've arranged to make 10-Minute HR Trainer available to our readers for a 30-day, in-office, no-cost trial. Review it at your own pace and try some lessons with your colleagues. If it's not for you, return it at our expense. Go here and we'll set you up with 10-Minute HR Trainer.

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