Good morning from beautiful Newport, RI!
 
This weekend I had occasion to chat with colleagues about screening potential employees prior to hiring. The conversation took a heated turn when one of the participants in the conversation mentioned she didn't screen at all, that her program was too desperate for people to turn anyone away. While I understand the importance of filling rosters, the fact remains we must do so with people who are a good fit for our teams and our patients. I maintain that some due diligence up front can make a significant impact on employee turnover and on the expenditure of valuable resources training and orientating new SANEs.
 
How you evaluate new employees can be done in a variety of ways. Some people prefer the straight forward interview process. EnCorps has a document that offers tips on establishing criteria for a position and evaluating whether a candidate meets those qualifications you might find useful. For a more extensive tool, the Non-Profit Risk Management Center has a toolkit for screening potential employees. Feel free to email me off line if you're interested in it-I can't post the whole document, but you can see the table of contents and introduction here (PDF).