Consider what you're hiring them to do, and then consider how you might determine if they're capable of doing it.

• Write to video. Pull some raw tape and sound from an interview or news conference for three or four different stories. Create a "fact packet" to go with each story. Have the candidate write a v/o or v/o-sot for each one. Give them a realistic deadline for getting this done. This should give you some insight into how they select sound, how they write in and out of it, and how they write to the video.
  
  
• Write compelling teases. Give them three packages to watch and ask them to write a tease for each one, on deadline. You'll get an idea of their commitment to accuracy, as well as their understanding of your station's news philosophy.
  
  
• Write strong lead-ins. Have the candidate write lead-ins to packages that require special handling, like this story about a riding accident that includes a surprise.
  
  
• Use good grammar. You could check for usage problems by creating your own version of something like this student test from the University of Oregon. Or modify this 1998 version of the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund's editing test.
  
  
• Exercise good news judgment. You could provide candidates with the elements of a newscast (copy, packages, v/o-sots) and ask them to create a rundown, working against a real showtime deadline. A few minutes before deadline, you could announce that there is breaking news and see how they handle the new information. Or you could throw them a curve by saying you've just gotten tape on a story that's highly visual (but not all that important) and see what they do with it.
  
  
• Find information. Give the candidate a story that is missing a few significant facts--a story about a boy bitten by a snake, for instance, that doesn't tell viewers if it was a poisonous snake. Ask the candidate to revise the story, and give him or her a little time (and Internet access) to collect the information. This will give you an idea of what they consider important and some sense of how well and how quickly they can research a story.
  
  
• Know history, geography, and the community. Go beyond current events quizzes to see how much the candidate knows about history. Sean Kennedy, news director at KTAL-TV in Shreveport, LA, says one of his favorite questions is: Who are James Dean, Jimmy Dean and John Dean? News manager Jen MacLean at the Weather Channel includes a geography test, and says, "It's amazing how many candidates are weeded out." Lee Hood at the University of Colorado at Boulder tests her student reporters on their knowledge of the local area. Here's a modified version of her know your community quiz.
  
  
• Have a good sense of humor. Okay, maybe not. But this is fun anyway.