Hiring new employees can be quite a challenge. With only a page or two of work history and perhaps a handful of interviews to guide you, you must choose which job candidate is the best fit for your company. It’s not a lot to go on, and all too often, employers find themselves in the unfortunate position of realizing several weeks or months down the road that they made a tactical hiring error. But there is hope! The following tips can help employers better decipher who should join the company ranks and avoid disastrous hiring mistakes.

1. Get creative with your resume and cover letter requests. Given the increased competition for job openings over the last several years, your inbox can quickly swell with emails from job candidates mere hours after posting a position. Because people are applying for dozens if not hundreds of jobs, they often send off resumes and cover letters lacking any sort of personalization for each potential job opening. To better determine who’s actually paying attention to your job requirements and not just hitting the send button, make a special request in your posting. It could be an anecdote, favorite movie, or anything else that strikes your fancy. You’ll then be able to weed out the job applicants who didn’t follow your instruction and get a better grasp of those who did.

2. Let your interviewees do the talking. Hiring new employees requires a tiny leap of faith. You can only know so much about someone from a piece of paper and a 20-minute meet and greet, so be sure to let your job applicants do the majority of the talking during their interviews. It’s the best way to get to know them and acquire the information you need to make an informed decision about whom to hire.

3. Be candid about your company’s pros and cons. No doubt your company is a great place to work, but that doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for everyone. Being upfront about the peculiarities of your company does not mean you’re bashing your business. Rather, it’s a reliable way to make sure a prospective new hire knows what to expect when they arrive for their first day on the job. If you know that the position requires longer hours at the office during the holidays, say so. If parking in the area can be difficult, don’t hide that fact. Being honest early on about the reality of working at your company will better guarantee that you will find someone that can happily work within those constraints.