Selecting Staff or Interns

I got my first call this past week from a friend looking for staff for next year. It's that time. So, how do you select someone to work in your ministry either as full-time, one year term, part-time student intern, etc?

Questions to Consider:

1. Do I want someone with my same skills and personality type?

2. Do I want someone with a very different set of skills and personality type?

3. Do I want/need a male or female?

4. Am I willing to hire the best person available be they male or female?
-I must admit to making a couple of hiring missteps when I thought it had to be one or the other and I did
not flex.

5. Do I realize it is better to NOT hire anyone than it is to hire the wrong person?

Let me share what I believe is the single most important factor in hiring someone you will supervise. It is not skill set....it is not personality...it is not rock star references. It is chemistry. How do the two of you connect? Is this someone you will enjoy sitting down and talking with? Is it someone you can see every day and feel good about it?

No matter how qualified someone is or what skill set they have or who recommends them, if you are not comfortable working with them on a daily basis, it is probably the wrong hire.

Always always run references before you get serious about hiring someone. I am amazed at the number of references I get to fill out where they say it is basically a done deal we just need a reference from you for a formality. Also, don't just chck references they provide. Find someone who has worked with them that they did not give as a reference. Most of us have 3 or 4 friends that will say good things about us....even if they aren't true.

let me repeat #5....It is better NOT to hire someone...leave the position vacant....than it is to hire the wrong person. It may sound logical to say, Anybody is better than nobody!". It is just not true. It is always easier to do something yourself than to continually be cleaning up someone else's mess. Often, it is better for something to not be done than for it to be done wrong or in a hurtful or harmful way. Nobody is better than the wrong body.