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| Inquiring when hiring |
| By Sarah Etter, News Reporter |
| Published: 05/14/2007 |
It’s not always easy to find the best person for the job, and that can be especially true for corrections agencies who frequently struggle to find applicants that have the right amount of professionalism, skills and enthusiasm. In many cases, an application and interview might be terrific, but it would not reveal what a candidate could be hiding in order to get the job.Corrections.com: What can agencies do to ward off questionable employees before they even apply for a job? Nadell: One of the best ways to ensure you’re getting great applicants is to notify everyone that the position requires a background check and drug screening. Clearly note that in English and Spanish. Post signs at the application area, or just note it on the application. Many times, just those two simple lines will be enough to scare off bad applicants. Indicate that on the website too. That’s a great deterrent. Also make sure you have a good, strong employment application. The front and back of one piece of paper is not enough anymore. The best application identifies that there would be a background check and drug test and is long enough to get a good idea of who the person is. CC: What about weeding out bad applications? Nadell: Makes sure all sections of the application are filled out and completed. There is one loophole many agencies do not know about. If someone leaves an area of the application blank, they may have avoided falsifying information, but they also haven’t been truthful. If someone skips the criminal record portion of the application, there’s a good chance they are hiding something. If you hire them without a thorough background check, it’s a bad situation to be in. You can’t legally fire them because they haven’t lied. CC: What warning signs should employers look for during the interview process? Nadell: History has proven there are probably very few warning signs during this process. It would be great if you could look beyond their faces and see the devil horns they are wearing. But we can’t. But one way to help avoid interviewing a bad potential employee is asking them to sign a disclosure form. They should have to authorize a background check in writing. In the future, if you want to outsource a background check, federal law requires that form. It’s also another deterrent that reinforces how serious you are as an agency about getting that information. Open ended questions during the interview are always essential. They help dig deeper. Quite frankly, having information from background checks does provide you a roadmap in the interview to ask questions, as well. If you’re hiring someone for a position in accounting and a background check shows they have extensive credit card debt, that’s a warning sign. CC: What should be considered regarding someone with a criminal record? Nadell: There is no law about hiring someone with a criminal record, but there are guidelines state by state. Generally, the crime committed should be somewhat job related. If they had a theft conviction and will have access to money, that’s something to think about. If they had violence convictions, you might not want to hire them for a position that requires them to be around many people. CC: How important are background checks? Nadell: They really can make or break a hire. The best background checks have four parts. The first is the criminal search, which includes going to the jurisdiction of record in county courts and searching all the counties the person lived in for the last seven years. That’s the most accurate. Then there’s a social security number trace report. That comes from credit bureaus and identifies where someone has lived. You just can’t take their word for it when it comes to the counties they’ve lived in. This search helps you learn what county they have lived in and identify the other names they may have used. The motor vehicle report is the third part. With a driving record, you can see current warrants, failures to appear in court, and DUIs. If someone fails to appear in court, how do you know they will show up at their desk? It’s also one of the few ways to help confirm one’s identity. Because of identity theft, many courts have removed many identifiers. Those with convictions tend to realize if they give a false birth date, we won’t find their criminal record. The fourth is a database search of multiple jurisdictions. Often you can identify a criminal conviction in a county they’ve never lived in. Databases aren’t totally accurate, but as an auxiliary search, they help throw a wider net. They incorporate listings of current sexual offender indexes too. Consequently, when hiring make sure the potential employee is not a convicted sex offender, especially in a correctional setting. CC: Tell us a little about Sleuthing 101? Nadell: It’s still the only book that solely deals with the legal issues of background checks. It identifies issues regarding federal law and information from all the different state laws that apply to background checks. There is a separate section on drug testing in each state, too. It’s a simple way for any employer to get a good understanding of the laws. Barry Nadell is President of InfoLink Screening Services, a provider of employment background checks, drug testing, physical exams and Form I-9 eSolutions. |
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