Finding A-player talent in today&8217;s competitive marketplace requires excellent recruiting processes and, as I wrote about recently, an organizational mindset that hiring the right people is one of management&8217;s most important assignments.

Hiring processes that perform effectively and consistently have several things in common. First of all, the process must cast a wide net in order to identify potential hires. This means using multiple sources for finding candidates&8212;everything from Internet sites to job fairs to employee referrals. When seeking the best talent, leave no stone unturned.

Another important step in hiring the right people is the interviewing and screening process. There are many approaches to screening candidates, from multiple interviews with several different people to performance based interviews (putting candidates in job simulation situations and seeing how they respond) to panel interviews, where multiple people interview a single candidate using an organized questioning format.

Increasingly, organizations are adding Internet-based assessment instruments to aid their hiring process. Assessments can be quite valuable tools in the hiring process, but they must be carefully selected and must be used only as they are intended to be used as a tool. Assessment results should never be used as the sole reason to hire, or reject, a candidate.

The final key dimension of a successful hiring process is the reference and background verification procedures. This is the area where many organizations seriously drop the ball. Performing an in-depth reference check is extremely important since this process, if done correctly, can help gain information and insight that can be useful in coaching and developing the new hire. I would never recommend outsourcing reference checking, and I am amazed at how often this is done. Verification of certain candidate information, such as driving record, credit, criminal history, etc., can be outsourced successfully.

When it comes to making consistently excellent hiring decisions, the devil truly is in the details. When managers pay close attention to and stay involved with the hiring process, the result should be the hiring of more A players