1/ Here's a contrarian take (or not?): Ignoring the need to sell a role, a great manager can hire A+ people just by looking at a resume and doing about 8 hours of references. No interview needed.
2/ Most people wildly over-rotate on interview process and a battery of interviews when the reality is that most interviewers are poorly trained, biased, and fail to capture accurate notes. Most interviewees emit strong false positive or false negative signals.
3/ References are what matter. Wildly positive references. Nothing short of that. Have clear questions around grit, performance, team, etc. Build the work history map and check it against other references. Vet all concerns. You will also learn how to best support the new hire.
4/ I'm not actually saying don't interview, of course, and companies should definitely do interview training (for legal reasons, CSX, etc.), but the references are way more important + instructive and managers tend to underinvest on that part of the hiring process.
5/ Finally, for really great hires, their references will end up becoming candidates to join your company. I *always* ask that question: "If we hire Jane, would that make you want to work here, even if you have no idea what we do?" and an enthusiastic "YES!" speaks volumes.
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