The First Most Important Day in Your New Employee's Career

DUH! Of course the first day of work is the first most important day; the next most important day probably won't come for three months. A good manager will know after the first day if this new employee has potential, or will never make it. It's at that point that you already begin to lick your wounds and plan to start over.

Good interviewing techniques, reference checking and gut feel really do matter. Why then do some employees not succeed, if you've done a first-rate interviewing and hiring procedure. More importantly, what you and your company do on the first day of employment can help a newcomer to prosper and grow within your company.

The first day of work for anyone is filled with fear (Did I do the right thing leaving the other job?) (Will they take me back?), and filled with hope, (Wow, I am so proud the be in this new company!) (I can really show them what I can do, and they will appreciate me--not like the bums at my last job!). It is your job to accentuate the positive (If you know this song, like me, we are way too old!).

Be ready for a new employee on their start date. Don't keep them waiting for an hour while you take care of your morning chores. Greet them at the scheduled start of their shift. Don't introduce them to everyone that walks by...they will never remember and this will produce awkward situations...but focus on their immediate co-workers. An average person cannot remember more than 8-10 new names in morning or afternoon. Keep to this rule. Have an agenda for them...who they are going to meet and what their relationship will be. Have their immediate supervisor take over from you to show them around. If a person is going to be in the office, take a short period to show them the back, and vice-versa with a hands-on glass person. Don't let it start out being 'us' and 'them' from the first day. Spend time going over the legal niceties of the job..handing out the employee manual, and going over it; filling out paperwork for government needs, taxes and immigration control; and filling out your paperwork such as receipts for equipment given, safety programs and standards, and emergency contact info.

The next step is for the supervisor to take them on an in-depth tour of their working area, going over responsibilities and duties. Even with the hire of an experienced person, your flow of paperwork will need teaching.

Before a new person starts, select a current employee to act as their 'buddy' for the first couple of days. This buddy should be someone who will work in the same general area, and have the same background. The buddy should explain the unofficial rules---when and where the coffee truck comes, where the bathrooms are, the pay phone and the little ins-and-outs of the day to day job. The buddy should invite John Newcomer to lunch with him, where Newcomer can meet the others in the work group. A sure predictor of failure is to see a new person, sitting by themselves eating a sandwich. Mr. Newcomer will be thinking about how he can go back to his old job if he is sitting there alone. The buddy should be available for questions on how checks are given out, the rules for getting O/T, and the little quirks that every company has. Pick the buddy carefully. Pick someone who believes in the company and the role they play in it. If you pick the right person for this first day you will have a greater percentage of employees who survive the first week of employment.

Take time during the first couple of days to really explain the company history getting Mr. Newcomer to buy in to the company culture. Make him feel a part of the company from day one. Yes, you should still place John, like all new employees,on a standard new employee schedule...a period of probation along with short reviews, giving and asking for feedback.

When you go out to the plant confirm that Mr. Newcomer is completely following your safety program. This is a habit which has to be reinforced right away. Workers comp accidents occur more with new employees. Its obvious, but you can work to reduce this right from that first day. Ask Mr. Newcomer to come back to you at the end of their first working shift, seeing how the day went and answering questions.

Treat each employee like they are family from the first day...don't wait for a month to see if they will make it. Each new employee is a potential treasure for your company...treat them fairly from the very first day and both you and Mr. Newcomer will be happier.

What is A Conditional Offer of Employment? And Why Should I Care About It?!

A Conditional Offer of Employment (COE) is one of the best tools a manager can use in hiring the best people. When you have decided an applicant is right for your company, you hire them. But wait, there are more things to find out, things you can discuss or investigate with an offer of employment. If you don't have a formal relationship with someone, you can't do a drug test, a driver's license or credit check.

What you should be doing is offering employment IF the applicant passes certain tests. If they do pass, they must be hired. If they don't pass, you won't hire them. Most states require a COE prior to a drug test or physical exam.

If you are saying you don't do a drug or alcohol test, please let me know who your competitors are that perform drug tests and I will see if I can invest in them; for sure I don't want to invest in your company. Drug testing will improve the overall success rate of your hiring, will improve your safety and reduce your insurance costs; give you less days missed by workers and overall will give your company a better attitude. We'll do some columns on drug testing in the future, until then, contact your local attorney and get started setting this up. After the initial set-up, a drug test will cost about $35-40 dollars for an employment pre-screen for 10 substances. If a person is positive for the substances, you don't want them.

Now you are saying, if someone does something on a Saturday night, in their own home, how does it affect my company on Monday morning. I can't answer that question, other than to tell you it does! Companies with drug testing are better in all of the things mentioned above.

That's the whole story on drug testing for pre-hiring testing. Testing on the job, whether random or post-accident, or by observed behavior is another story...and one that you should consider as well.

Back to the COE. Tell this to all applicants who come to you--that all employment offers are conditional--and tell them your conditions. Then, get started...if you haven't already, confirm their prior work history. Contact your insurance agent for the driver's license verification; if the job duties point to a credit history review, now is the time. Don't get screwed up by hiring a driver, and a week later your insurance agent says John Applicant can't drive your trucks. Now you've got to fire him, OK, that's easy, but you wasted time, money, and during that week, John Applicant was driving your truck!

Who should you run a credit check on? Any employee that has access to company funds, whether collecting a COD at a job site or someone who has access to your accounting or bank accounts. Someone with serious financial problems should raise a red flag. This doesn't mean absolutely no hire, but it does mean a conversation concerning their finances and making you comfortable there is a remedial plan in place. As long as you state, upfront, there will be a credit check, it is OK to do one, and to make this one of the conditions of employment.

Ditto the above on a criminal record. You are entitled to discuss all convictions on their record. If someone has 2 convictions for robbery, you don't want them going on residential installs alone.

Employment checking is easy and not expensive. Go to Google and type in "employment checking", you will get 50 companies to choose from. A good one will walk you through their procedures and provide you with the appropriate paperwork and releases for the applicant to sign.

COE, depending on what tests you do will extend the hiring cycle by a couple of days. No more hiring a guy at 3:30 today, and starting him at 7:00 tomorrow morning. Yes, you have hiried a lot of people, and you can usually spot the trouble makers. Wrong. That's why there are drug tests, and insurance reports. If your company does a physical exam, don't make light of it. Don't call the Doctor and say, "I really need this guy to work on my crew...make sure he passes." You are only hurting the long-term health of your firm.

To review, the most common conditions of employment are:

• Drug and Alcohol
• Driver's License
• Criminal Record
• Credit History
• Physical Exam

I promise you, unconditionally, that implementing Conditional Offers of Employment will improve your work force. Guaranteed.

Stop Playing Solitaire!

Yea, you...stop playing those addicting games on the computer (my addiction is minesweeper, or as my kids call it...mindwaster). Don't deny it...you have three free minutes and you just click on the solitaire icon without even thinking. Here's what you can do instead.

Keep a list of websites on a doodle pad near your desk. Every ad, magazine, newspaper, or whatever, now shows a website. In last month's US Glass there were over 200 web sites listed, each of which will help you gain information and insight into what is happening in our glass industry. Read PPG's website(ppgideascape.com) to learn about soft-coat low-e, or Arch's (archaluminum.net) to see how to buy it. Every time you see a web-site of interest, jot it on your list. When you have that free time, start learning more about the glass industry.

The more you learn, the more potential you have to sell products within the glass industry. Every time you visit a web site look for something that your glass business can prosper with. One hint about a product that you currently don't sell, each day, will increase your sales in the long run.

Here's a great example. A couple of weeks ago I received an e-mail from a reader asking me to look at his web-site. This was viewcol.com. Wow...here was a new laminated glass product with colors that looked better than any I had seen. And this gentleman is looking for outlets in the United States to sell his product. If I owned a glass shop, I would have called him and asked for an exclusive in my area. It turned out I called Eric Seifried, who is in Australia, and I learned a lot about his fantastic product line. It started with a quick look at a web site. It is that easy. You should see this one.

Do you Google? Most of us do. Here is a list of phrases do search...

• "what's new in glass"
• "glass in construction"
• "energy saving glass"
• "acoustic glass"

Do these and you will gain hundreds of sites to browse through. Spend that three minutes here rather than in your games file.

Here are some of the important sites for our trade:

• archaluminum.net, or their new site, archgreen.com
• oldcastleglass.com
• guardian.com(you'll learn glass and basketball!)
• ppgideascapes.com
• afgglass.com(this will take you to the worldwide AGC site...see what glass is doing around the world)
• solutia.com
• dupont.com
• pilkington.com, with links to another world-wide site for NSG
• cardinalcorp.com

Read the web site of each of your competitors...you will gain unbelievable insights into your own territories glass needs. Also Google your main customers to see their future plans, and how you can get ready to service them.

One of the best sites is crlaurence.com, which predicts great trends in the industry. Check out their shower doors and commercial doors. (OK, I worked for them a long time ago--they were a great company then, and have only grown better).

Look at the web site of each vendor you have, see what else they offer, look for special sales and for new products. Every time you see an interesting web address in a newspaper or magazine, tear out the ad, and leave it on your desk. It takes just seconds to see if you are interested in the site. If you try ten sites, and get info to help your business in one...well you are one ahead!

So in addition to checking the Dow-Jones, and seeing what is on TV tonight, look at one glass site a day will make your company better!

When Live Gives You Lemons!

So, the glass business has given you a few lemons. Here is what to do:

CLASSIC LEMONADE

• Squeeze 1 cup of lemon juice
• Mix in 1 cup of cold water
• Blend in 1 cup of sugar
• Chill in pitcher with 1 cup of ice

OK, this won't fix the glass business, but it sure sounds good. Now, what can we do when your glass shop starts to feel a recession?

You have only two choices, look to increase revenue or to decrease costs. Let's mash up a few lemons and find some ways to cut costs without hurting your business--

• Ask each and every customer how they heard of you, and eliminate the advertising that doesn't draw customers. This may take a month to do, but is very valuable. If you still want to advertise, go heavier in the places that draw the most customers.
• Ask your employees to take vacations during slow periods. Give an extra week off with no pay for an employee who wants to take a long trip.
• Review your insurances...make sure you are only paying for what you need for the next twelve months. Maybe a long-term savings program that you have for a benefit for yourself can be put on hold for a year.
• Ask for volunteers to go on unpaid leave--continue their benefits, and don't block unemployment. Offer for up to thirteen weeks, or whatever you need until you see a busy time coming up. Place no restrictions on your people other than they have to return to work when called, and while they are on this leave, they cannot work elsewhere in the glass trade.
• Plan your work schedule a day in advance...so that a person who takes one of your vans home can go directly to the job site tomorrow morning rather then coming into the shop first thing.

OK, TO MAKE PINK LEMONADE, MASH A COUPLE OF STRAWBERRIES AND ADD TO YOUR LEMONADE.

• Sometimes we all buy large quantities of items to get price breaks; in lemonade season, buy smaller quantities, even if you pay a slight bit more per item.
• Keep your trucks tuned-up, the tires properly inflated, and remove unnecessary weight from the truck...your MPG will go up.
• Reduce the thermostat in the office and the shop.
• Talk with your vendors about increasing your cash discount incentive. Even with interest rates low, vendors who are short of cash themselves will give up an extra point to gain cash flow.
• Chart when customers both walk in and call in to your shop. You may find that you should open an hour later, or close a half-hour earlier.
• If you have room in your shop, square off your cut-offs and use them on the next job.
• Keep your tools, your suction cups and your trucks clean. They will last longer and be safer, saving you money.
• Concentrate your miscellaneous purchases into as few vendors as possible, increasing your buying power, reducing your paper work and reducing administrative time.
• Explore bartering with some of your customers. There are often situations which may be beneficial to your customer and you.

FOR BRAZILIAN LEMONADE ADD 4 TABLESPOONS OF CONDENSED MILK. YOU'LL GET A TASTE LIKE HAVING A LEMON CREAMSICLE

• Use all of your supplies and products before reordering.
• Call a local school or college and see if they are looking for placements of a summer intern. You do some teaching, and you gain an employee at no or limited cost.
• Reduce the minutes on your cell phones--drastically.
• If you have a spare truck, take it off the road for a couple of months, saving the insurance. You can always put it back on if needed.
• Look at each product line you sell...push hard on the ones where you make profit...and you know this...but the opposite step is to stop doing the jobs where you are marginal. It is always tough to voluntarily reduce sales at a time like this...but if your goal is making an ongoing profit, drop the barking dogs from your line.
• Ask an outsider to look at your expenses...maybe a good friend, maybe your accountant or a consultant. They will look objectively and see things that you automatically skip over. Listen to what this outsider says!
• Look at all of the office equipment with service contracts. If the item hasn't broken down in a year, go ahead and gamble that you can go another year and suspend the contract.
• Don't print every page and e-mail that comes up on your computer. Not only will you save on toner and paper, but you'll also save a tree. (thank you, David D.)

LYNCHBURG LEMONADE (ARGUABLY THE BEST RECIPE HERE) 6 OZ. JACK DANIELS, 6 OZ. TRIPLE SEC, 6 OZ. SWEET AND SOUR MIX, 12 OZ. SPRITE. WILL SERVE 4-5 NORMAL PEOPLE, 2-3 GLAZIERS, OR MAYBE JUST 1 BLOG WRITER.

• Deliver all of the product within your control on-time.
• Communicate with your customer if you can't deliver on time.
• Pay the vendors who support you with product and service before you pay other vendors.
• Learn Green Glazing--it is the future.
• Keep your website current.
• Start drug testing--you will hire better people, and have fewer accidents.
• Don't deliver to customers who are 90 days past due.
• Hitch your star to a wagon--find a product that is growing, find a vendor who is growing, hook up with this growth.
• Remember your 3 R's--Reuse and Recycle, then Replace.

The single most important action you can take is

DISCUSS THE SITUATION WITH YOUR EMPLOYEES AND ASK FOR THEIR IDEAS. THEY KNOW YOUR COMPANY. YOUR EMPLOYEES WILL HAVE THE BEST IDEAS!!!!!!

There are many more ideas out there...leave your comments here and we will add them to our list.
(Next week we are going to discuss lami, and then go back to our hiring series in two weeks.)

Let's Finally Hire Someone

Finally, we've spent a lot of time on the interview, let's hire someone! This is the most important decision a manager can ever make. I have seen glass shop owners spending untold hours shopping for a glass washer or diamond edger, yet they don't want to invest more than an hour for an interview and hiring conversation. This is totally backwards. The hiring decision will have much more impact to your organization than the choice of machinery for the shop.

You are going to hire the best available person, aren't you. Of course NOT.

If the best person you interviewed wasn't as good as you need, then start over next week. Don't settle for someone who 'may' do well. Don't hope they will work out. Be sure that this person will add to your team. There is no middle ground in hiring, no compromise in selection. Either the person will succeed, or you should reject them. You might compromise in salary negotiations, but never in the basic yes or no decision.

I would love to tell my readers what the perfect person's charteristics are...there have been hundreds of books written, thousands of articles, and no one has it right yet. You have to use your judgment as a leader of your company to hire people that fit. That said, here is my list of the one hundred attributes that I look for:

• 1-95 Attitude .
• 96 Reliability.
• 97 Current job skills.
• 98 Previous job history.
• 99 Education history.
• 100 Legal qualifications (Has driver's license, etc.).

That's it...references don't mean a thing to me, they can be too easily manipulated.

Google has about 3,000 people apply for each job hired, and applicants go through roughly 20 interviews. I know of no one in our industry that has this kind of influx of applicants, but I do recommend the Google model for multiple interviews. Have a second opinion, always. Another person will see different things than you do; will give a different point-of-view on the applicant. You want the applicant to come back for a second interview with you and another person, at a different time of day than your first interview. I generally like early evening for a second interview, when hiring a first shift, or day shift person. See them after they have put in a day's work, see if they are grumpy or upbeat...how do they handle the stress of their current job?

When you make your decision, the applicant still has a decision to make. Are you the company they want to work for. My instincts warn me when, during the first interview, the applicant says that this job is perfect for them. Have they done homework? Do you know them from the trade, or maybe a previous job? The stranger who after thirty minutes of discussion says you are the one, is just a little too desperate. They should think about you, just as you should think about them.

After a strong second interview I let the applicant know they are being seriously considered, and to think about the job so they can have an answer ready if we call them. I want my applicant to want this job more than anything else. When I call back to announce a conditional offer of employment (remember this phrase--we'll discuss it next week), I want the applicant to jump for joy. Not to say, "Give me a couple of days to consider it." What have they been doing during the interview process?

I tell an applicant who wants to think about the job, to call me when they are through thinking, and if the job is still available, I'll start thinking about them! If I have a second choice who is enthusiastic, that's my new employee. If a person has to now contemplate their future, they weren't true during their interview when you asked them why they are looking for a job. If they were just window-shopping to get salary amounts to throw back to their current employer, you don't want this person on your staff. They will do the same thing to you.

If you are replacing a current person who is leaving for a good reason, building a family, or a spousal relocation, then it is OK to hire a new person with the old person in place. If you are hiring for a negative reason, replacing a current dud, then let the dud go before you do the final hire. You will get burned more often than not. Your new person wants to give two weeks notice, (which they should!), and you think you will let the dud go in two weeks, so the next day the new hero can take right over. Remember this, the new person will be telling their friends, who may mention it to their friends, and often times, the dud will hear they are being replaced. Trust me, this does happen. You don't want this kind of scene in your place of work, they are nasty.

I had another experience that taught me--we were going to replace an inside salesperson, had hired the replacement and were ready to go, but we hadn't told the current person. Well, three days before the transition point, the current person got very sick, stayed home for a couple of days, and then came to the office first thing on Monday, only to be fired with their replacement already there. Never a good scene. Always, when you make up your mind on a replacement, terminate the current employee. Yes, you will be short-handed for a week of two...do it anyway. Give the person a two-week severance and ask them to leave. Don't let them work out the severance period. They will be mean, vindictive and will sour the rest of the work force.

Next week we will discuss the "conditional offer of employment" and how to use it successfully in hiring great people.

Questions You Can't Ask In An Interview, and How To Ask Them Anyway!

Let's continue our series on hiring and interviewing, discussing questions you can't ask in an interview, and yet, still learn the information you need to create a good hiring decision.

First, this column is not written to evade or endorse a prohibited practice. I think some of the questions you can't ask, like national origin or religious beliefs are correctly banned in our multi-faceted country. I won't offer any alternatives to these, as they should never be a condition of employment.

In general, the questions you can't ask about are:

• Age
• Religious Beliefs
• Family or Marital Status
• Gender requirments of A Job
• Health, Including Physical and Mental Disabilities

You'll notice that some things, by not being on this list, are acceptable. You can ask if someone is a Cubs or a White Sox fan, A Mets or a Yankee Fan. Unfortunately, this is not a great predictor of job success.

During an interview you want to ask questions that give you an insight into the person's work habits, their motivation and their job skills that are relevant to the job you are offering. Asking prohibited questions may open a can of worms--an applicant can go to a Federal or State agency, which can make your life miserable. There are people who go on interviews, hoping a prohibited question is asked, and then, when they don't get the job, file a charge. They will make the charge go away for a $5,000 settlement. You'll soon learn this is cheaper than fighting...lawyer fees and your lost time will humble you.

Let's get specific. You cannot ask a person's birth date, age, date they graduated from High School or College, or anything that directly infers their age. You can say this: "Our insurance carrier will only insure drivers over 18 (or 21), are you insurable?"

You can't ask "How long until you retire?", but you can ask, what do you see yourself doing in your career for the long-term?"

The biggest concern that employers have is the health and physical capabilities of the applicant. You can't ask "Do you Smoke?", "Do you take drugs?", or "Do you drink?" Here are some alternatives. Tell the applicant that you are a non-smoking company, and you don't offer extra breaks for smokers to go outside. "Do you think this is a good policy?" You can ask, have you ever been disciplined by another company for not adhering to their guidelines on cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol?"

You can't ask, "How tall are you, and how much do you weigh?" for any job, including those that do heavy lifting or climbing. You can state, "The job you are applying for requires you to stand all day, and be able to lift 60 lbs on a regular basis. Can you do this? Describe all of the physical needs of the job, and ask, "Can you perform the tasks I have just described?"

You can't ask if they have been ill, and can't ask how many sick days they took last year. You can't ask if they have had a specific illness or operation, but, you can ask, in total how many days of work did you miss last year. This may include vacation, holiday or whatever. You can then decide if this person works enough for your needs. You can't ask if they took time off for a child, or take care of an ill parent.

The best catch-all questions is to ask, "Can you perform the essential job duties with or without reasonable accommodations?" Many companies send applicants for physicals before employment. This only occcurs after a conditional offer of employment, and is itself a seperate can of worms for another blog.

A few more---Don't ask their religious affiliation or organizations they belong to. You can ask what do they enjoy doing in their spare time. (Here's a Paul tip--if they play golf, ask their handicap. If it is below eight, they are a superb golfer--which takes a lot of practice time, or they are a cousin of Tiger Woods. That much practice time can lead to attendance problems.)

Don't ask if they are a citizen--just ask if they are legaly eligible to work in the United States; don't ask if they have young children at home or how many children, just ask can they be at work, consistently at 8:00 am, or whatever your start time is.

You can ask have you ever been convicted of a crime? But not, "Have you ever been arrested?" You can ask, if they show a military tour on their resume, "What did you learn, what did you do in the Service?", but don't ask what kind of discharge they received.

Are your hands tied? Is this another intrusion into the rights of a business owner? NO and NO. These prohibitions came about because there are unscrupulous employers who do take advantage of people and are not fair due to prejudices.

Your role is to ask questions that are open-ended--you don't want to ask yes-or-no questions. Ask, "What was your favorite job, and why?" "What talents or skills do you have that make you the best candidate for this job?"

For the last couple of years, you had to work to get more than one applicant to apply for a job. That is changing now, and you have the opportunity to select the best qualified person.

For the flip side, if you are an applicant for a job, don't hide behind regulations. Volunteer information that will make the interviewer comfortable with you. You may not want to talk about your religious beliefs, but you should talk about your job skills, your motivations, and why you would be an asset to the company.

Let's Interview Somebody!

We have talked about inviting the right candidates for your job openings. Let's talk about the first interveiw. The purpose of the first interview is to see if the candidate meets your minimum standards; at the second interview you'll decide who the best candidate is from those who meet your standards.

How do you get to the first interview? For a factory job, usually you want to have people apply in person. Set up the interviewing hours before or at the same time as the shift. Don't expect an applicant for a night shift to come in during the day. For a customer service position, have a phone number to call. You want to hear their voice and their enthusiasm through the phone. For a professional position, ask for resumes.

For the office and professional areas, try to spend five minutes on the phone with potential applicants seeing if they fit your rough idea of the job. Ask them why they are looking for work. If they go negative about their current job, drop them like a hot potato. Without being pushy, ask what their current earnings are--you'll get a lot of push back here, as people who have special arrangments, like bonuses or commissions want to take time to explain. Ask them to just give you a general ballpark figure. If someone makes 30% more than your job, tell them that you just can't get anywhere near that figure, and saving yours and their time, don't offer an interview. People may say that this doesn't matter, but anyone who is willing to take that kind of pay cut will continue to look for a job that pays them what they were used to making, while they are working for you.

It is wise to have all applicants fill out an application. Take a minute to read this application while you hand the applicant a brochure about your company. Look for neatness and to be fully complete. When looking at job history, look for gaps in time, and question this during the interview.

The first interview should be about 20-25 minutes. You shoud try to speak for less than 10 minutes, letting the candidate speak as much as possible. Your first impression is extremely important, in fact, research has shown that most job interviews are decided in the first two minutes, and the rest of the time is spent being polite. What do you look for to make that first impression? Are they on-time? Are they dressed appropriately? The attire should be one level above their regular job duty clothing. A factory worker should be in clean clothes, a customer service person should look professional. Their first comments should be clear and concise, not rambling. They should hand you a new, clean resume for any supervisory or office position, and if you have applicants fill out a job aplication, it should be completely filled out. If someone writes "see resume" and doesn't fill out your form, they will always look for shortcuts in the job. Not a good sign. If your application says fill out completely, and they take a short cut, they don't follow directions well, either. This sounds petty, but believe me, this is true. The applicant should have some prepared questions...it shows they did a little homework and are interested in the position. All this in the first sixty seconds, and then you start the interview.

I've always looked to see if a job candidate fit the job and our company first, and then went on to discuss their qualifications for the position. How do you do this? I ask each applicant "What do you want to hear about first, a description of the potential job, or our company benefits program?". A choice for the benefits tells me this is not our person. When you do discuss benefits, which should be near the end of the first interview, use a checklist to mention all of your benefits.

At the beginning of the interview I try to make people feel at ease. A question about their favorite football or baseball team perhaps. Never politics, religion of their health. I then go into either a short job description or a short review of benefits, based on the previous question. As an interviewer, you should practice this a couple of times, so you cover the key points, and get it finished promptly. Then ask, "Do you have any questions so far?" I intentionally leave one important thing out of the presentation to see if they do ask a question.

Remember, this interview is not the final one, and you can add that information next time.

After your presentation and you ask them if they have any questions, ask this simple open ended question--"So, tell me about yourself", and let them ramble on. If they ask "What do you want to know?", say "Just anything you want to tell me about yourself". Whether they talk about their work history, or themself, take notes. There are many things you can't ask, (we'll cover that in an upcoming blog), but for now, just let them talk. If they tell you something, then you know it. I guarantee you will learn more about your candidate with this question than any other.

Next week we'll go deeper into the first interview, discussing specific questions you can't ask, and some you absolutely should!