What to Hire

Scenario: "Dude, they just have to do well in the interviews. Yay!" How do you best measure somebody's potential awesomeness?

• a) obedience
• b) people-oriented
• c) teamwork skills
• d) results

Did'ya answer (d)? Ding-ding-ding! A socially-awkward dude who produces freakishly good results would destroy some swift-talking-Ivy-league-promoting-pseudo-intellectual any day of the frickin' week. Yes, most companies hire for the 'impeccably good' interviewing skills above and beyond everything else -- then ask themselves why they can't achieve ridiculously good results. Blah. To predict somebody's future ass-kicking, focus on concrete results they've accomplished in past positions.

What to Ask

Because of its sexiness in filtering out the best, we love it:

• "How did you increase profits at your last company?"

That's short, sweet, and pinpoints how much they could rock for your company. If they give some half-hearted-shoddy answer that gives broad responses (e.g. "I took customer service calls, and I was good. Yay!"), heed caution. That could mean they lack initiative (i.e. just put in their hours to make their bucks). But, if Sally B, goes into some sweet-detailed response about how profits improved -- and importantly what she did to improve those profits when she were there, you've got a hot one. At the end of the frickin' day, it's all that matters:

Results.

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