The applicant with the best job skills will typically be...

Given enough time and hands-on interviewing experience, most interviewers will eventually learn how to correctly identify high achievers.

What is motivation-based interviewing?

According to a Harvard Business School study, 76% of turnover can be traced back to poor interviewing practices and bad hiring decisions.

An applicant with great job skills will always out-perform a job applicant with lesser skill.

Using behavior-based interviewing often results in extending a job offer to a marginal performer.

Excellent job skills means an applicant can do the job, however, it does not necessarily mean he or she will do it better than most everyone else.

If you see signs or hear examples of an applicant taking initiative, it's a reliable indicator the applicant is self-motivated.

If an untrained interviewer uses an unstructured interview format (asks questions that pop into their head), the probability of hiring the best applicant is about 40% according to a Michigan State study.

According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, two-thirds of American businesses have faced lower productivity and reduced employee morale due to a bad hire.