“The only way to measure a candidate is to measure every single candidate with the same yardstick,” Nancy Newell, principal at Nth Degree Consulting told an audience during her panel “Beyond Behavioral Interviewing: Asking the RIGHT Questions, Evaluating the Answers,” at he annual Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) Conference in San Diego last month.

One of the major flaws with the interview process, Newell believes, is a lack of consistency.  Every candidate needs to be asked the same question – or as Newell put it, be measured by the same yardstick – otherwise, the evaluation process is meaningless. You can’t expect to properly evaluate candidates if you’re not holding them up to the same set of standards. Not that maintaining consistency is easy, she admits. There’s no “magic bullet” to getting the right answers from candidates and ensuring the right hire, Newell says. (On the contrary, it takes a lot of discipline and hard work); however, there are steps hiring managers can take to create a better, more consistent process and minimize hiring mistakes – which I went ahead and broke down into a simple Do’s and Don’t's list. Check it out…

DO conduct Behavioral Interviews. Behavioral interviewing is key to hiring, Newell believes, because it helps predict future success on the job by looking into past behavior.  Thus, questions should be shaped to look at previous behavior – not potential behavior. A question that begins with “Tell me about a time when…” for example, is much more predictive than “What would you do if…” which tends to lead candidates to say what they think you want to hear, rather than give a real-life example that provides insight into their skills, personality and work ethic.

DON’T go into the interview blind. It’s crucial that you have a clear idea of what you want your end result to look like. Before interviewing any candidate, consider the following questions:

• Why am I filling the job? (Are we growing, or are we replacing someone?)
• What’s missing on this team?
• What do our customers need, require and expect?
• Who’s the supervisor? What kind of person works best under this supervisor’s management style?
• What sort of person will fit best within this organizational culture?
• What skills am I willing to train on, and what skills do I need to hire for?

DO use the same measurement tool on the same candidate. Ask the same questions of every candidate.  The minute you stop using the same yardstick, the yardstick doesn’t measure anything. You can’t find your rock star that way. (Follow up questions can be different.) Your candidates are smarter, they’re savvier, and they’re going to challenge your skills as a recruiter.

DON’T tip your hand. Ask the questions first, then talk about the job and the company. Don’t lead them. What you say and when you say it matters. Explain what the interview process is going to look like.

DO get over your own biases. The time for evaluation comes later. The interview process is the time for gathering data. “Get out of your own way,” Newell says. “Get over your own biases, your own assumptions…If the industry equivalent of Kobe Bryant applies to your organization, and there’s a typo on his resume and you screen him because of that typo…your screening process is flawed.”  The same goes for writing someone off who doesn’t show up to an interview dressed in the way you might think is “proper.” “You never know where people are coming from…Maybe they’re coming from another job where the dress code is casual.” These minor details don’t necessarily reflect the type of employee this candidate will be.

DON’T be afraid to probe. Keep asking follow-up questions until you get a complete understanding of the situation. “Pull the thread,” Newell says. ”Make sure the behaviors they talk about are consistent.”

DO coach your candidate. Coach them to give you specifics on how they got those results. For example, ask something like, “I’m looking for a time when you demonstrated really good customer service.”

DON’T waste your time. Don’t ask questions candidates are going to lie to you about. Questions like, “Are you planning on staying in the area?” or “Can you do (blank)?” tell candidates what you want to hear. Asking big, broad questions will generate more telling, honest answers. For example, a question like, “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult co-worker,” enables the candidate to tell you what they think a difficult co-worker looks like and how they handle adversity.

DO train everyone involved in the interview process. Not only is it important that everyone is on the same page, and they understand the reason behind the questions they’re asking, especially when it comes to asking follow-up questions.

DON’T be afraid to rephrase a question. When you really want to probe, Newell suggests taking a question and turning it negative, which can give added insight. For example, instead of asking, “Tell me about a time when you accomplished something,” ask, “When did something not go well?” You’ll see not only how people handle adversity but also what, to them, constitutes a problem.

DO create a score card by which to evaluate candidates. Incorporate the critical success factors of your ideal candidate. Think about what’s most important to success in that job, within the company, and then develop a score card based on that information. “At the end of the day, you’ve got to score it.”