Excellent employee selection has never been more important. The labor force is usually the most expensive part of a company's operation. Estimates for the cost of a bad hiring decision run from one-third of the annual salary to several times the annual salary, depending on factors such as the scope of responsibility and authority of the position and when the bad decision is discovered.

For more than a decade, Tero's Selecting Top Performers workshop has helped hiring managers learn to serve on a selection team and conduct effective, legally-defensible, competency-based, behavioral interviews.

Since many applicants prepare themselves thoroughly for the interview encounter, and in fact are often better prepared than the interviewer, an interviewing strategy is critical.

Graduates of the Selecting Top Performers workshop are delighted not only with the results the program delivers but also with how it offers a team-based, step-by-step, easy to use format for effectively conducting behavioral-based interviews to make better hiring decisions.

Beyond simply interviewing for technical competencies, during the training, interviewers learn how to evaluate candidates for the perfect fit in three critical areas:

Just like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, you already know that it's not enough to simply find a qualified candidate for the job. You must also be sure the person will fit your organization's unique culture. Matching a candidate to an organization's culture is perhaps the most largely overlooked part of the selection process.

Each organization, like each country, has it's own unique culture. The people who are most at home in your unique organizational culture are the individuals who will thrive and make a meaningful contribution to your business.

We've all seen situations where this wasn't the case and the uncomfortable series of events that must occur to correct the problem. In addition to recognizing the job fit and motivational fit, interviewers must answer the following question: Will this candidate thrive in our culture or will they find our culture to be so foreign to their own that their ability to make a meaningful contribution is impaired?

In the eighteenth century, economist Vilfredo Pareto developed what is popularly known as the 80/20 Rule, or the Pareto Principle. This rule states that 80 percent of the value of a group of activities is generally concentrated in only 20 percent of those activities.

This is certainly true of most positions in organizations. Although many, many activities can be and are carried out by an individual in a job, the critical few are the ones to target in selecting top performers for your organization.

Beyond technical skills, most jobs require competency in interpersonal and personal skills as well. 80% of the people who fail at work do so because of an inability to relate well to others. Evaluating the more abstract skills of leadership, teamwork, initiative, customer service, sensitivity and problem solving is an especially daunting challenge for the interviewing team as they work to determine competency level in both the technical and non-technical skills necessary for success on the job.

Highly motivated people often outperform individuals with greater technical qualifications or skills. Without motivation, individuals can lose their knowledge advantage through complacency. Organizations that match individuals to jobs they are not only skilled in, but also motivated to do, will thrive in the face of today's rapid changes.

People are basically emotional creatures and the emotional needs of the individual must be assessed. It is the role of the interviewing team to determine if the things that are inherent in the job are also the things that interest and motivate each candidate. This is called motivational fit and a perfect fit must address the human and emotional needs as well as the job competencies.

The Selecting Top Performers program also supports the framework for other important human resources systems such as recruiting, promotion, termination, performance appraisal, employee orientation, succession planning, coaching and employee development.