A top employment lawyer has listed 9 huge mistakes to avoid in hiring and recruiting. Today, the first four. Tomorrow, the rest.
You’ve probably heard the old expression, “the 7 deadly sins.”
Well, that doesn’t apply to hiring and recruiting. That’s because we have it on good authority that, in hiring, there are 9 such sins.
The authority is New York employment law attorney Barbara Meister Cummins. She explained the sins at a recent meeting of SHRM’s New York chapter, with her speech captured in our sister publication, BLR’s HR Manager’s Legal Reporter.
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The information was so concisely put, and included enough tips that we had not heard before, that we decided we’d bring it to you. Here, then, are attorney Cummins’ 9 sins of hiring:
#1: Failing to plan. Most hiring mistakes, Cummins says, start long before the first want ad is placed. They relate to the process you use to plan the hire. “Start with an accurate job description,” she says. “Then involve line personnel, the people who work with the job, do the job, and supervise it.”
As you define the skills and qualifications needed, she advises, set up a “matrix of criteria.” It will both isolate the essential functions of the job, as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act, and provide a defense if you’re later charged with discrimination. Also, make sure you spread a wide job net, lest you run afoul of the EEOC’s “systematic discrimination” initiative, which goes after intentionally minimal job searches that discriminate by not tapping all appropriate candidate pools.
#2: Using a poorly designed application. It’s SOP to have every candidate fill out an application. But many of these forms are either perfunctory in nature or overly detailed. Some even ask illegal questions, while others lack the proper protections for employers, should legal hassles later ensue.
Cummins suggests asking only what’s relevant to the job, and including acknowledgement from candidates that 1) they’re releasing you from liability for contacting their past employers and checking their backgrounds; 2) they’re not bound by any restrictive agreements such as a noncompete; and 3) they agree that their employment with you is not a contract and is totally at-will.
She also says never to ask for:
–Marital or family status, or even emergency contact information
–School graduation dates
–Arrest record (you can ask if candidates have been convicted of a crime, but should supply space for explanations)
–Veteran status (it’s OK to ask if they’ve been dishonorably discharged)
–Visa status (you can ask if they have the right to work in the U.S.)
–Questions about reasonable accommodation (you can ask if they need one to fill out the form)
–Questions about memberships in groups or organizations, unless relevant to the job
#3: Failure to retain applications. Once you’ve found your new superstar, it may be tempting to toss the rest of the paperwork you’ve received. Don’t. Keep it for 2 years. Any rejected applicant can charge you with bias, and you’d better have the paperwork to back your decision. And never accept even a single unsolicited resume for consideration. If you do, you’ll have to consider every one of them that comes in from then on. By the way, says Cummins, Internet or phone applicants must be handled the same as anyone else.
#4: Letting untrained supervisors interview: Loose lips not only sink ships but also hiring programs. It may just be natural conversation to ask about that unusual foreign name or accent, or whether an applicant’s kids play sports, but it’s also illegal.
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Also, watch out for “overselling” by managers, says Cummins. That’s the tendency for a boss-to-be to sugarcoat the job or promise nearly anything to get the hire. “Overselling can result in fraud or ‘promissory estoppel’ legal problems,” says Cummins. “The bottom line is to present a realistic picture of the job – not just the positive aspects.”
We’ll continue with the ‘Back 5’ of Cummins’ list in tomorrow’s Daily Advisor. We’ll also preview a great tool to train your supervisors so they can make a contribution to the process, without scaring you half to death with what they may say or do.
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