I've certainly made my fair share of recruiting mistakes. Here are but a few:

1. Mismatching people and positions or skills and responsibilites.

2. Hiring people based on potential and promises, instead of track record of results.

3. Interviewing the resume instead of the person.

 Which is why I want to tell you about the STAR method for recruiting. I've distilled it down to its essence. Hope this helps you make better hires.

Situation: They’ve done the job or not. If hiring a housekeeper, have they cleaned a 4,000 square foot home before? If yes, move on to the next step. If no, b’bye.

Tasks: Do they do laundry in addition to all the other chores involved in cleaning a home impeccably? If yes, move on to the next step. If no, b’bye.

Actions: They say they’ve cleaned a 4,000 square foot home, they say they do laundry, do they fold it and put it in the appropriate drawers? If yes, move on to the next step. If no, b’bye.

Results: Can they clean the home in 5 hours or less 2x per week? Have they done this before? If yes, welcome aboard! If no, b’bye.

Past behavior, past experience predicts future behavior and ability to succeed in the job at hand.