A workplace is only as good as its employees, so the Hiring process needs to be as thorough as possible. As a business owner, you want to bring in employees who are looking to help their workplace, not just themselves. If you’ve been frustrated with hiring as of late, here are four things you can do to attract and hire better-qualified candidates.

 Ask specific questions
A job interview is a prerequisite for any employment and is your chance to narrow down the field of candidates substantially. However, unless you’re asking questions that are Specific to the position, an underqualified candidate could seem better than they actually are. To hire the best possible people, make sure that you ask questions that only someone qualified for the job could answer. For instance, if you’re hiring an accountant, you should ask questions about an employee’s experience with a certain accounting software. By making the questions as job-specific as possible, you weed out the less-qualified candidates.

 Consult with all references
If a candidate has a strong resumé with professional references, you should get in touch with all of them. Ask about their experience working with the candidate and take note of any especially strong negatives or positives. While candidates will list references that they assume will give them an endorsement, it’s possible that references will reveal information that would make said candidate unsuited for hiring.

Advertise strongly
You shouldn’t just have your job postings listed in as many places as possible; you should also ensure it reaches the right people. Rather than flooding general job board sites, you should post to hiring sites that are relevant to your field. If you have a position that involves specific knowledge in fields such as science or technology, you need to make sure people in those fields have ready access to your posting. Make sure that you use specific language about what sort of candidates you’re looking for as well.

 Make your background check as thorough as possible
A background check should go further than just researching criminal records. You should be able to see an overview of your candidate’s history, from employment to living situation. It won’t reveal everything, but if you find a potential hire has been changing jobs and living situations frequently, it might give you second thoughts about hiring them. The best way to make sure you have a solid background check is to use a qualified service that has a thorough process. Some types of background check services focus only on checking a person’s history and giving you information. Others, like Blueline Services and similar companies, tailor their services to the hiring process of businesses. You should take some time to contact different agencies and ask about their services before you commit to a business.

While there’s no guaranteed way to hire the perfect person, these tools will certainly help. The next time you have a position available for hire, consider the experience of each candidate and make sure you ask the right questions. If you do, you should have a great addition to your workforce.