It takes a lot of skill and strength of character to land the best recruits. Start stocking your company with keepers by avoiding the four worst interviewing mistakes.

Here's a true story. A woman went into a job interview. The interviewer, a gregarious, personable chap, immediately started nattering. He told her about the company, about himself, about the beefs he had with the company, and about his family.

He eventually asked her three or four cursory questions. Then he rose, smiled broadly and genuinely, and thanked her for such a delightful interview.

She never heard back from him.

While few interviewers talk as much as the motormouth described above, overly talkative interviewers repeatedly ruin perfectly good opportunities to hire intelligently.

When interviewing job candidates, muzzle yourself. The more you talk, the less you learn about the person sitting in front of you. A good rule is to let the interviewee talk at least 80% of the time.

Be genial--and appear to agree with the candidate's answers, even when they contradict one another. When you're opaque, interviewees usually reveal more of themselves-including workplace skittiness and personal skeletons.

This does not apply only to physical traits, either. You will tend to like those who share your personality traits, and you'll have doubts about the rest. For example, silent types don't trust the talkative. Optimists dislike pessimists. And athletes scorn couch potatoes.

Sometimes, however, hiring someone like you is the right thing to do. A manager of a reservations desk, for example, wants people who mirror his or her own best work traits: unflappable, upbeat, and attentive to detail.

More often, though, you work against yourself when interviewing those unlike you. Say you're the outgoing, big picture type, screening candidates for an accounting position. You may dismiss, out of hand, the classic cloistered bean counter-someone who could contribute just the complement of skills you need if given a chance.

In the long run, it doesn't matter what kind of physical or personality characteristics you have. Just be aware that by seeking others like you, you may color an interview to your detriment. The antidote is to talk little, empathize with the person before you ask probing questions designed to do one thing: uncover fitness for a particular job.

It happens so often it's a cliché: mediocre managers surround themselves with weaklings who are no threat to their power or self-esteem.

Some people think strong performers will upstage them and earn the greater loyalty of co-workers. Or they fear that a capable employee will take away their jobs.

They're right. A department starved for leadership will embrace any spirited, competent employee. But that doesn't mean hiring the nonthreatening will save your job. Good senior executives never hesitate to get out the Roto Rooter whenever the system gets clogged.

Take a hint from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. He amassed great power and wealth by hiring those he considered better than himself. That's a modus operandi that can jet you to the top.

We all like to think of ourselves as wise when it comes to sizing up other people. But very few of us really are-especially upon first meeting someone as you do in an interview.

Hiring on instinct is a terrible way to build a strong, vibrant company. Acknowledge what your gut tells you about a candidate. But always back up your intuition with facts and hard-edged analysis. And it is usually worth the time and effort to have others in the company meet with job candidates who pass your original sniff test.

Source: Hardy Caldwell

If working as a team-member is important to your organization, then you must make certain during the hiring process that prospective employees have the skills and attitude necessary to fulfill this responsibility. Don't ignore any of these warning signals indicating that a job candidate may not be a good team player-

• The candidate assumes he or she already has the job.

• The person expresses a preference for working out things on his or her own.

• Even otherwise positive references say little or nothing about the candidate's ability to work with others.

• The job application notes a lot of unexplained job hopping or employment lapses.

• The candidate's personality seems inflexible, even arrogant.

-Adapted from the HR Next Web site

How do you decide what questions to ask in interviews? Managers used to come up with queries on the fly, to "get a feel" for the applicant. But this casual approach isn't a good way to make crucial hiring decisions, and it can get you into legal trouble.

Writing in Workforce magazine, University of San Francisco professor Arthur Bell offers advice for managers seeking a better way - which he labels "behavior-based structured interviewing" or "BSI":

• Define "critical incidents." A "critical incident," Bell writes, "is a specific problem or challenge presented by the job, together with a description of the behavior which solved the problem or met the challenge." Look for situations - preferably drawn from real experience - that highlight the parts of the job that matter most.

• Perform a job analysis. These incidents, Bell writes, "form the basis for all assertions by the employer regarding 'what it takes' to perform a particular job."

• Create different kinds of questions. Use the completed job analysis to formulate a standard set of interview questions. Mix straight yes-or-no queries with verbal or hands-on skill tests, hypothetical situations, and role-playing. Craft questions that will allow the applicant to demonstrate expertise in the behaviors defined in the critical incidents, in addition to describing past experience.

• Arrange the questions in a meaningful order. "In most cases, applicants will respond to questions more clearly and completely," Bell writes "if the questions occur in a meaningful arrangement."

• Rehearse and role-play the interview. Practice asking the questions, in the assigned order, with a staff member of HR representative. Use this rehearsal to rephrase awkward questions, create different kinds of questions, or change the order.

• Stay neutral during the interview. To be fair, objective, and equitable in a structured interview, you need to ask every applicant the same questions in order, verbatim. You can and should ask follow-up questions, but should not provide any coaching or feedback.

This approach may not be appropriate for every workplace, industry, or recruiting effort. But the principle is an important one. A structured approach, with questions that are directly linked to actual requirements, can protect you legally. It also gives you the information you need to make critical hiring decisions in a tight talent market. It's not the only way, but it's a good way.

Source: Managing People At Work, December 15, 1999