Defining the Position

• Companies create positions based on a needs analysis. To select the most suitable candidate for the job, you must clearly outline position in a job description. Once the you create position and the define the associated duties, you can begin to think about the skills an individual will need to fill the position and meet or exceed performance expectations.
  
  

Recruiting Strategies

• There was a time when recruiting an employee meant writing an ad and placing it in the newspaper. In today's world, companies are vying for high functioning candidates placed through a vareity of sources. In addition to advertising, you could ask current employees for referrals, use staffing agencies or post jobs on online job classifieds. Social networking sites can also prove beneficial when casting an employee net. You can even post the position on the corporate website for more exposure.
  
  

Reviewing Cover Letters and Resumes

• An employer can tell a lot about a candidate from a resume, and maybe even more from the cover letter. They tend to look for consistent employment unless there is a reason for gaps like military service or child care. Typically employers will want to see if the level of responsibility increased in a reasonable way over your employment history or if there were any sudden and drastic career changes or job hopping. Employers will generally examine the resume and cover letter for consistent style and to ascertain how the candidate communicates.
  
  

Interviewing the Candidate

• Once you narrow down the list, you can invite the selected candidates for an interview. Or, if the pool is still too large, you can further narrow down the list through a telephone interview to weed out applicants who are no longer available or who do not present themselves and their skills and experience well. During the actual interview, an employer can ask open-ended questions to get the most from a candidate. Asking such questions as how he handled conflict on the job or what methods he found the most effective to complete a task can elicit information and show you how the applicant communicates and handles certain situations.