Every company has their own set of "STAR" employees. These employees are the ones that have you thinking, "If I only had another 10 employees like Betty, imagine what we could do!" These employees have shown proven success within the ranks of your organization. By following this "STAR" interview process, your top employees will now become the new standard you use to recruit and retain new talent.

1.		Start with Successful Employees: - You must first determine what behaviors and attributes your "STAR" employees possess. Hold one-on-one interviews or focus group meetings with your exemplary employees and ask them to reflect on their own personal traits to gather this information. You can also talk to their managers and peers to better understand these exceptional traits.
2.		Turn Behaviors into Competencies: - Once you have developed a list of successful employee’s behaviors and attributes, you will begin to see some overlap and commonality. These common traits and characteristics for success then become the list of desired competencies. These key competencies should be what you look for when bringing new employees into the organization.
3.		Ask Specific Interview Questions: - Prepared with this list of key competencies, you are now ready to begin the interview process. Be sure to ask your interviewee specific questions about their past experience to elicit a better understanding of their abilities. As we all know, the best predictor of future performance is past performance.
4.		Recognize Key Competencies: - Throughout the interview listen for examples of when the candidate has demonstrated the key competencies you are looking for. It may not always be in the most obvious situation, so continue to listen for examples that may appear in other situations they describe. For example, if you are looking for the competency "Leadership" in your candidate, the candidate may not have assumed a formal leadership role in the past. Instead, he or she might say, "My manager was out sick, and I had to take over all of his client and supervisory responsibilities with very short notice."

Investing the time and effort upfront to determine the key competencies of your current "STAR" employees will save you time and money in the long run. Not only will your company increase its productivity with the addition of more “STAR” employees, but your employee turnover can decrease. When you hire an employee that already has the key competencies to grow and shine in your company, you are setting them and your organization up for success.

Note: This feature was originally published and distributed in Plus Delta Consulting's e-newsletter in Summer 2004.