When you decide to hire additional employees to staff your small business, you must be sure to ask all of the right questions so that you can legally obtain all of the information required to make the right hiring decision.

When considering hiring an employee you must first decide exactly what qualities, experience and skills will be required. Write down your criteria for hiring, considering both hard and soft skills.

You will need to consider the specific roles that the employee will be filling, as well as the type of personality and attitude that would be a good fit for your small business. Will they be a sales person speaking directly with your potential customers or will they spend the majority of their time behind the scenes?

Prospective employees are not the only ones who should prepare thoroughly for an interview. You should also prepare ahead of time. Create a list of questions that will allow you to acquire all of the necessary information from the interviewee.

Avoid yes-or-no questions and ask specific, open ended questions. "Describe a situation in which you…" or "Provide an example of…".If the interviewee provides vague answers be sure to ask for additional information or examples.

Avoid any questions that could be considered illegal. These questions include, but are not limited to, the applicant's age, marital status, race and disabilities. You may decide to avoid these topics all together. If you do decide to ask the questions, you should seek more specific guidance from a legal resource on how best to phrase these questions.

When you are conducting the interview, you should be sure to accurately describe the job. This should explain the job title, responsibility, daily duties and future prospects. Be as honest as possible when describing the position. You will want to be sure to include the level of responsibility and expectations to make that clear from the outset.

You will want to be sure to tell applicants about where the job is located, how many hours per week it is, what the salary is and describe any related benefits. You also need to a prepared response if a candidate tries to negotiate on any of these terms.

You should also decide before the interview whether or not the interview will be formal or relaxed. A more traditional, formal style of interview is based on the question-and-answer format. Some bosses prefer to forego this structure and simply start chatting to the candidate. This may help illustrate their day-to-day personality, when they are not relying on prepared answers.

Many companies require their potential employees to be subjected to one or several tests. These tests may range from behavioral, knowledge or personality. Tests can be a useful tool when narrowing down a candidate pool.

During the interview, focus on the amount of time you spend listening rather than speaking. The most important thing to take away from an interview is whether or not you have found a match for your open position. This can be deciphered by listening to the candidate's words, observing their nonverbal behavior and body language.

By focusing on these areas you will be able to find the best candidate the job opening in your small business.