I had a fun time this past weekend with my best friend Julie. Last Saturday was a gorgeous New England spring day and we jettisoned our garden chores to spend the day together.

We met at a local restaurant in Ipswich, Massachusetts and after an enjoyable lunch, headed off to a fundraiser art show in Essex, the next town over.

After the show, we poked around a few of the many antique dealers found in Essex, sometimes known as the "antiques capital" of Massachusetts. Essex is a veritable treasure-trove of fine furniture, decorative arts and everything else you could want — mixed in with a fair amount of junk, quite frankly.

The truth is, although I love antiques, I never buy at antique stores. The simple reason: I can't tell the good from the bad.

I don't know if that bonnet-topped highboy in the window is worth $20,000 or $20.00. I don't think I'm alone on this either, which probably accounts for the popularity of Antiques Roadshow!


Real Gem or Not

Some hiring managers I know are feeling the same way right now. Like me in an antique shop, they can't tell the "crazy not to buys" from the "not the real deals." And that's a problem, because a bargain is no bargain if you don't know it when you see it.

If you have similar doubts, you'll want to use the following four steps to help you determine if that laid off candidate is a gem or just a fancy imitation.

• Get detailed circumstances of the layoff. How many people were involved? Was the candidate let go in the "first round" or was he or she one of the last to be cut? Get the whole chronology of circumstances preceding the layoff. Needless to say, there's a big difference between the candidate who survived many rounds of layoffs and the one that was first to go!

• Get a reference from their last employer. This is very important. You want to speak with the person to whom the candidate reported. Many times, laid off candidates offer even more than one reference. Get as many as you can so that you can get the first-hand information you need.

• Do the reference check early in the hiring process. Once you have the reference, check it immediately. For one candidate we worked with, we checked two references even before the first interview. Candidates who are solid performers will welcome this early step.

• Get the right information when checking references. Ask detailed questions about two things: the candidate's performance and the circumstances of the layoff itself. (If you'd like a copy of the reference check sheet we use to get this information, just click here and send me an email.)