My friend, Evelyn Rowland of Swans Island, Maine, makes the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Her strawberry ice cream, made with strawberries freshly picked from her seaside garden, is the gold standard by which I judge all other ice creams — strawberry or any other flavor.

A close second is the ice cream at Kimball Farm in Westford, Massachusetts. I only know of Kimball Farm through my buddy Michael Katz, Chief Penguin of Blue Penguin Development.

For the past five years, Michael has been celebrating the birth of his company with an ice cream party at Kimball Farm. As he put it so aptly years ago when he decided on this ritual, "Penguins love ice cream." Michael gives a coupon to every guest, good for whatever they want — from a small dish of sherbet to a banana split that will feed ten!

But here's the dilemma. Unlike being at Evelyn's and enjoying whatever flavor she decides to serve that day, at Kimball Farm I have choices — lots and lots and lots and lots of choices.

In fact, I have too many choices, as far as I'm concerned. When I look up at the enormous flavor board over the counter, I am simply overwhelmed. There is every flavor of ice cream or yogurt you could ever imagine (with the possible exception of lobster!).

So, here's what happens to me at the party. I gawk at the board. I have a hard time making up my mind. Sometimes, I even give up my spot in line and move back in line to have more time to decide. And, invariably, when it's all said and done, I end up ordering what I usually order — either a chocolate ice cream soda with chocolate ice cream or a hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream.


Too Much Choice May Actually Work Against You

Lately I see a lot of hiring managers who remind me of myself standing in line at Kimball Farm. With the number of "possibilities" out there (read: available candidates), they are having a hard time choosing which one to interview and then hire. They are, if you will, standing in front of a big board of candidate flavors. Some even "move back in line" by reshuffling the resumes, hoping to study all the candidates again before making a decision.

Simply put, having more candidates in this "pool of possibilities" has made it more difficult for hiring managers. And it has definitely made the hiring cycle longer.


Narrow Down the Possibilities Fast

So here are three ways to narrow the choices that will guarantee that you'll be as happy with your end result as I am with Evelyn's ice cream:

• Work With a Deadline: Nothing is more important than setting a deadline for making an offer and getting your new employee on board. Don't be tempted to extend the date (read: give up your spot in line). Remember, if you've got well-qualified candidates, they have choices too.

• Keep the Process Tight: The biggest snafu that lengthens the hiring cycle is when hiring managers introduce new candidates into the process, even though they have started to zero in on some favorite, strong candidates. If you have two to three qualified candidates in the third round of interviews (or well into the process), play those candidates out before you introduce any more into the mix.

• Know What You Want: Nothing goes further towards making a timely hire than having a good, solid idea of what your ideal candidate looks like. I have seen hiring managers with a clear vision of their ideal candidate make an offer within 3–5 days of the first interview! Now that's the extreme, but that's also the ideal.
  
  Hiring is just one, albeit very important, responsibility of a manager's job. And, the quicker it is done, the more time managers have to concentrate on the other all-important facets of their responsibilities (not to mention, the quicker your new hire will start contributing to your bottom line!).