Closing the Deal: How to Get Prospective Employees to Sign On

Few people decide they want a job based on an ad's description or a headhunter's pitch. To bring the best job candidates on board, employers need to sell prospective employees not only on the specific opportunity and their company, but also on themselves as a boss.

A potential hire's impression of you and your company starts forming the first time you speak on the phone. From the beginning, you want to do more than simply answer questions. You want to present information about yourself and your company in a clear and exciting way. Employees want to work for someone they can relate to and someone they respect.

To make the interview as much about you and your company as about them, don't just jump in and demand to know everything the prospective employee has researched about your company or why they applied. There will be plenty of time for questioning. First, let interviewees get to know you a little by telling them why you joined the company, how you've moved up the ranks, and the opportunities in general at your firm. Paint the big picture — outline your company's dream, not just the prospective employee's job. Steve Jobs didn't hire Apple's first team of programmers by talking about the ins and outs of software coding. He brought them on board by selling them on his grand vision to change the future of computing.