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tent. I suspect, however, that these recondite areas are unlikely to be
meaningful to the average manager. So please bear with me while I move
on – except that you may wish to ask yourself:

n In what business situations might alternative form reliability be
important to the manager? – Partially sighted or blind candidates
won’t do as Braille is a normal written language adapted to be read
by touch.

mini case study

Did we get it right?

Smith Kline French (now GlaxoSmithKline) used to take the business of recruitment
more seriously than most. For management and executive positions they would use a
regular questionnaire to follow-up on those whom they had rejected for a position and
check their progress in their new firms against that of the hires. This gave them a
reliable indication of the effect of their hiring practices and indicated where key
questions needed to be asked.

You have only to consider the lifetime cost of one major error and you will see that
the cost of sending out annual questionnaires for a few years is easily justified. This
method is not fast, but it is thorough and those that ally methods such as this to
constantly asking the right questions are able to make value-building improvements
incrementally. At the very least, what we test we usually try to ensure that we do right
first time and every time.

What questions should I ask? – final preparation
for recruitment interviewing

Unless you have detailed knowledge and probably experience of the job as
it is now and as it is developing it is wise to talk to current jobholders
where possible to ensure that you can develop the key questions.

n What would you look for in a colleague?
n What are the minimum qualifications someone would need?

– Why precisely would they need them?
– Are qualifications more important than personality or vice

versa?
– Why do you think that?
– Can you give me an example? (Another way to ask, “what’s

your evidence?”)
n What skills and experience are essential?

– How are they used day-to-day in the job?

The best use of the best people 45