Selecting Members

It is very important to get the right people for your organization. There will be specific sets of strength you require from each individual to complement the rest of the team. Some ideas to help select the right candidate and increase the chance of new members being accepted are:

• Involve key members of the team in the selection process. It is not always worthwhile to involve the whole team since they may not have time and it could make for a busy schedule for the interviewee. However it may be worthwhile to introduce the candidate to team members.
• Ask the candidate to show a portfolio of some sample of their work if possible. Some candidates may not be able to show examples of their work because of organizational restrictions.
• Testing for job knowledge, attitude, and general ability may be worthwhile if done properly but is not a substitute for other methods.
• Ask the candidate to describe some aspect of their work such as:
• A lesson learned the hard way
• An interesting project.
• The experience of using a new technology for the first time.

Give your best attempt to put the correct person in the correct job. Don't doubt yourself once you place the person in the job. Many times it has been said about upper management "They must not trust themselves when they don't trust the employees they've hired." Management should trust that they put the correct managers in the correct job and they will do the same. Trust must move up and down the chain of command.