Q I work for a small printing company and, until now, I have been running the front office and all administration. Work has picked up considerably and the owner has decided to hire an assistant for me.

He wants me to do the initial selection interviews of applicants, before we both interview a final few candidates. The problem is, I have never interviewed anyone for a job before and I want to make sure we recruit the right person.

Can you give me some idea about what I need to do to get this right?

A Before doing anything else, make sure you have a good idea about what the job needs, the duties, the type of person you are looking for, experience required and any option to consider someone you could train.

Generally, work out both essential and desirable criteria for the job. If you are looking for an assistant, your consideration might include possible recruitment of a trainee. So you might like to quickly research information about employing trainees at Australian
Apprenticeships (australianapprenticeships.gov.au). You can also find information through contacts you make with any local group training company.

From those who apply (and depending upon the numbers who apply), you may need to eliminate some of the less suitable applications before you get to any interview.

Set aside time to interview people and phone them to confirm their appointment time. As best as possible, make sure the room you use is neat and comfortable for both you and the applicant and doesn't have any distractions such as phone calls or people walking through the room.

Twenty minutes should give you enough time to ask five or six relevant questions about the applicant's background, experience, interest in the position and their knowledge of your company and the industry.

Make sure you also give people the chance to ask questions. The very best job-selection interviews are relaxed conversations between people.

You don't need to grill people or try to use clever, tricky questions. You will get to know far more about people by discovering what they do know, instead of what they don't know.

Look more for the qualities that support a good person to work with — those good qualities can appear in young people, older people, experienced people or people lacking experience who are keen to learn.