How do you hire the right person for the job? In our federal public  service, the conventional method demands that applicants use a rigid  format, using specific keywords to map their education, skills and  experience onto a defined list of essential and merit criteria. Canada's  Free Agents went another way, assessing applicants against a set of  behavioural characteristics, to great success. Our guest this episode  says that whatever process we try to implement, in the end, it all comes  down to first impressions.