How do I choose the best employees?

Q. Every year I get stuck with some poor-performing employees. How can I weed out the bad ones during the hiring process?

A. Hiring the right employees definitely involves some instinct. But that doesn't mean it's a matter of luck. Here are some tips to help you get the information you need during the hiring process to make a good decision.

• Write a job description for the position listing the duties of the job and the skills necessary for completing them. Develop a "candidate profile" of the ideal person for the job, based on the personality traits and attitudes of your most successful employees.

For instance, if you're hiring someone to work on the sales floor, you'll want candidates who are friendly, enthusiastic and enjoy working with people.

• Develop interview questions designed to help you find out how the candidate rates on these key skills and attributes. Open-ended questions that encourage the applicant to give a detailed response are better than yes-no questions. The applicant should do most of the talking.

For example, to explore the candidate's people skills, ask "What are your strengths and weaknesses in dealing with people?" rather than "Are you good at working with people?"

You might even role-play a common job situation to see how candidates perform, suggests Laura Laaman, author of The Dolphin Dynamic. Ask interviewees to "sell" you a pencil or demonstrate how they'd deal with an irate customer.

• Spend a little time during the interview discussing a non-business topic -- perhaps a hobby or interest that appears on the applicant's resume. This helps the candidate relax and shows you more of the real person, according to The Friedman Group, a retail training firm.

• Sell the position and your company. Candidates want to know what they can expect on the job and why they should work for you. And you need to make sure they know what they're getting into.

But save most of this information for the end of the interview. Otherwise you may give away the "right" answers to your questions.

• Check the candidate's references. Former employers may be reluctant to give details about a worker's performance for fear of lawsuits, but you'll at least be able to eliminate applicants who are blatantly dishonest about their job experience and education.