As the economy improves, many of us find ourselves faced with the pleasant but burdensome task of hiring. And with only a trickle of new reqs to fill, it’s more important than ever to be choosy, right? Here are some practical steps for hiring great support reps without spending hours at it, without agonizing too much over the decision, and without regretting your choice three or six months down the line.

Make a List
If you’re working with a recruiter, chances are you were asked for a list of requirements. Recruiters use the requirements as a checklist as they talk to candidates, and you can too.

Create a detailed list. Stay away from the usual “2 years’ experience in a technical support center” and tease out the specific skills you are after. Patience with customers who know little about the product? The ability to juggle multiple cases without dropping anything? Empathy for customers who show sign of distress? Troubleshooting methodology for product X? The more specific you can be the better.

If you are unlikely to find candidates with the exact skills you are after, search for appropriate substitutes. If you can’t find a candidate with experience on the particular database you need to support, would experience with another one do? Generally speaking, anything you can train on can be put on the “nice to have” rather than the “must have” list.

Use a Funnel Approach
Some of the skills you’re looking for may be evident from the resume (fluency in a foreign language for instance). Discard resumes that don’t highlight the skills and move the rest to phone interviews where you can check skills that are evident on the phone, such as listening skills or a clear enunciation. Continue to discard inappropriate candidates as you funnel them through successive evaluations.

Don’t waste time doing full interviews for people who don’t have the basic skills you’re looking for.

Stick to the Facts
Don’t give “what if” situations to the candidates. Simply ask them to recall a time when they had to use a particular skill you need and listen carefully for the answer. Whenever possible, ask the candidate to demonstrate the skill directly. For instance, if you deliver support electronically ask the candidate to write a simple email message.

Divide and Conquer
Most support centers like to involve more than one person in the interviewing process. Having more than one set of eyes and ears is wonderful but it’s wasted if the same questions are asked over and over again.

Assign each portion of the checklist to a different individual and cover more ground with the same amount of effort.

Be Picky with References
Some requirements can’t be checked through the interviewing cycle. For instance, it’s hard to tell that someone will be reliable in the long run. Use references to check on tough requirements (“How many days would you say he was absent last year?”)

Another use of references is to double-check the facts. Did the candidate say boast a high customer satisfaction rating? Ask a past manager to recall what it was. Ask factual questions rather than asking for value judgments. Question any significant discrepancy between what the candidate said and what the reference reports.

Manage the End-to-End Process
Challenge yourself and your team to see if you can drive candidates through the process in days rather than weeks. Aim to add ratings to your checklist at each point of the process and in the end you will be able to make a final decision on the spot since you know whether the candidate has all the skills you are looking for.

Making (good) decisions quickly is a benefit to you since it saves you time. It’s also a benefit to candidates and should allow you to snatch the good ones away from other organizations that are less well organized. Happy hiring!

About the author
Francoise Tourniaire is the founder and principal of FT Works, a consulting firm that helps technology companies create and grow their support operations. She is the author of “The Complete Guide to Hiring Great Support Staffers”, a practical handbook for support managers that includes 585 field-tested questions. For more information visit http://www.ftworks.com/gsr.html or call 650 559 9826.