(Note: Prepared for a content drive sponsored by DE Learning. Published 11/2009.)

One of my favorite business management authors is Michael Lopp, also known as Rands, who writes a blog called ‘Rands in Repose.’ A few months ago, he wrote a terrific article about the hiring process and the need to 1. make sure that you don’t lose your requisition (req) and 2. make sure you don’t lose your hire.

Lopp points out that, just because you’ve managed to get a requisition for a new hire, it doesn’t mean that requisition won’t vanish. As Lopp puts it, “Reqs vanish randomly, often without notice, without reason, and at the least convenient time.” So, job #1 is to make sure the requisition isn’t lost due to your own inactivity. As Lopp also points out, you don’t ever really have a req until you have a hire sitting at her desk, new badge dangling from a lanyard. And even then, Lopp warns, sometimes the candidate isn’t really sure about the job until 2 months in. So, once you do have a candidate, Lopps says, you have to make it clear that the candidate knows that you and your company want to hire her and why. As Lopp blunty explains: “people lose their … minds during job transitions.”

You can read more about the hiring process from the hiring manager’s perspective at Michael Lopp’s blog, Rands in Repose.

NOTE: The company sponsors a really great Management Training series for anyone new to running, leading, or managing teams – whether you’re new to management or new to doing it at DE, this is a great series of courses. Register online or ask about the MIT program.