During a recent human resources seminar, business owners were asked to develop a list of the 5 most important characteristics they look for in a new hire. The following terms were the most common: attention to detail, on-task behavior or focus on task, trustworthiness, promptness, cooperative or ability to collaborate. How do we as business owners discern these characteristics during the interview / hiring process? And how can we identify these positives in recent college graduates who have yet to work?

Many business owners who use the webcam interview process almost exclusively insist that candidates who have worked as interns interview well and become successful long term employees. Most small businesses don't participate in college credit / internship programs; this doesn't mean that small businesses can't benefit from such programs at larger companies. Internship programs offer college students professional experiential opportunities that integrate academic learning into real job practice. Such programs also give candidates a chance to demonstrate the aforementioned characteristics and the verbal means to describe their professional behavior in an interview with your company. Other hiring professionals adapt the intern-concept to meet their hiring needs. When setting appointments for the webcam interview, numerous forwarding-thinking human resource personnel assign a project to a candidate; the project is to be completed by the applicant and presented during the webcam interview. This mini-internship gives employers the opportunity to access the potential hire on multiple levels including technological / computer skill, verbal / communication skills, project assessment, pace, design and creativity. The presentation will often serve as an indicator of business culture fit; in other words, it will give both you and the candidate an idea of how co mpatible he or she will be with your company. Any human resources professional who has interviewed recent college graduates understands the difficulty of determining whether course success and a strong transcript will translate into professionalism on the job. Internships, mini-internships, webcam interviews and the internet all function as partners in the 21st Century hiring process. Good hires save your company time, money and resources.