Weve all done it. Everyone has hired a candidate based on their gut instinct or a good feeling, only to have him or her turn out to be a big disaster after theyre hired.

You think, oh well, thats just the way the interview game goes. Some candidates will be better interviewees than others; theres really no way to prevent or predict future problem employees.

Actually, there are many ways to prevent hiring the wrong person, and it comes down to you having a crystal clear picture of what works well for you and your organization and what type of person does not.

You probably have heard of something called behavioral based interviewing. That is just a fancy name for asking questions about a candidates past behaviors and using that as a predictor of their future success or failures.

However, this system only works when you know what you want.

Take a look at your current and former successful employees. Who are those people whom you would consider to be in the top 10% of all employees youve hired and worked with at this company? The first step to identifying more people who will be successful is to take a close look at what has worked in the past. Many employers skip this crucial step in their haste to get to the interview process. Think of it like Amazons successful Other people who purchased this product, were also interested in that suggestions. Theyve analyzed your purchase and identified those items that have similar characteristics to what you just purchased. Why waste your time with products that dont compliment what you already have? Interviewing is the same way, dont waste your time hiring people who dont match those successful employees youve already got.

You also need to think about your company culture and how this position fits. Does this person need to work within a team setting, or are they on their own? Is it a very social atmosphere with people going out after work, or do people keep to themselves? Hiring someone who has worked in a very social atmosphere into a company culture that is more structured could be quite a shock for them. Identifying these characteristics of your company, and letting the candidate know how your company differs from where theyre working now, lets you and them make a more informed decision. The more upfront you are with them in the interview process about how your company works, and get a feel for their reaction to that, the better prepared you and they will feel for what youre getting into. You dont want to hire someone who is capable of doing the job, but is miserable because of the company culture and leaves because they are unhappy.

Once youve identified those candidates who were outstanding workers and integrated well with your company culture, here are some questions to further clarify their better qualities. What was their work style? Was their anything in common about their background? Could they tell you why they were excited to work for your company and what they hoped to learn? Did you find them through networking, placing an ad, or searching the resumes yourself on job boards? Did they have a lot of drive and ambition, or could they be better classified as worker bees who are fine to come in, do their job and leave? Do you look for a lot of suggestions to fuel your innovation, or is your business pretty standardized, and those people who are more innovative will feel stifled? Be honest with yourself about this. Dont get attracted to people who are Stars if your company cannot provide them the support and interest they thrive on. And most importantly, for those successful employees, what was in it for them? Why did they work at your company?

Taking the time to really think about the answers to these questions will help you to paint a clearer picture of the candidates you should be interviewing and hiring.

Copyright 2006 Melanie Szlucha