Proven strategies for establishing the most effective hiring practices

Strategies for establishing the most effective hiring practices

To put it mildly, hiring the right employee is a most challenging process. Each and every employee can either add value and contribute to a business’ growth and success, or be costly to the business because of poor quality work, reduced production, low employee morale, customer dissatisfaction, lost customers, etc.

Consider the following:

- As much as 80 percent of employee turnover is due to bad hiring decisions, according to the Harvard Business Review.

- It could cost up to five times a bad hire’s annual salary to replace that person. Those costs increase the higher up in the organization the turnover occurs and the  longer the person remains in that position, according to the Society for Human Resources Management.

Consequently, it is paramount to hire the right person for the position. This article offers some thoughts and suggestions for doing just that.

WANT ADS

Because the objective of a “want ad” is to attract the “perfect” candidate and discourage others, a logical starting point for a successful hiring process is a complete and accurate job description.

This is a necessity for many reasons, including attracting qualified candidates and then qualifying those that will best fill the role, says Christopher Boman a partner at Fisher & Phillips (www.laborlawyers.com), a national labor and employment law firm. “A well-drafted job description is also an important tool for employers to defend against ‘failure to hire claims.’”

He adds that “a complete and accurate job description is important for disciplining employees, providing performance evaluations and holding employees accountable.”

Jane Clark, vice president of member services for NationaLease (www.nationalease.com) – a full service truck leasing organization that provides comprehensive fleet management services for private fleets and transportation service providers throughout North America – says a want ad is a company’s chance to sell its position to potential candidates and should be eye-catching and exciting.

She emphasizes that a want ad is not a job description. “A job description gives the requirements of the job and the specific duties and responsibilities. A want ad should tell a company’s story in a way that will be attractive to people who are in line with your culture.”

Clark notes that studies show that job seekers spend less than a minute reading an ad before they decide whether or not to apply.

“Of course, you do have to tell potential candidates what the basic job functions and requirements are,” she says, “but it should be written in a way that conveys the personality of your company and sets your company apart from your competition.”

BE DETAILED

Fisher & Phillips’ Boman says a job description should include all the requirements of the position, including:

- A detailed description of the job’s essential functions.

- The hours/days expected.

- Daily responsibilities.

- A description of any physical or mental activities, and how often and how long the candidate will need to engage in the activities per day.

- Ability to come to work consistently and be on time.

- Ability to follow directions and comply with instructions, work rules and interact with peers.

There are many others that could be included, he notes, but “the details are driven by the specific job at issue.”

NationaLease’s Clark says a “complete and accurate job description is important because it assures that all parties involved in the hiring process are in agreement on what they are looking for in the perfect candidate, and it also ensures that the candidate clearly understands the expectations of the role that he or she is applying for.”

She adds that a well-written job description should include:

- Major areas of responsibility.

- Primary objectives.

- Specific responsibilities of the job; required knowledge, skills and abilities; required education and experience; physical demands of the job – which helps ensure EEOC compliance; and the work environment.

“The more specific and detailed you can be when writing the job description, the easier it will be to make sure you have a candidate that meets your criteria,” Clark says.

LEGAL SNAGS

Job advertisements are subject to certain legal and equal employment opportunity guidelines and requirements, points out Boman. Among the more important ones:

“Job advertisements need to be free from any language that could be perceived as discriminatory or designed to exclude certain protected classes. It is recommended to include a statement that your company is an equal opportunity employer.”

It is also important to avoid any discrimination in hiring practice, so certain types of questions should not be asked.

“Any question that is directly or indirectly tied to a protected category should be avoided,” Boman advises. “For example, if a college degree is a qualification for the position, the important question is did the applicant obtain a degree. Poorly phrased questions, such as ‘When did you graduate?’ or ‘When did you obtain a degree?,’ could elicit information about the applicant’s age and could lead to an age discrimination claim.

“Similarly, questions about accents, marital status, injuries or prior workers’ compensation claims should be avoided,” he continues. “Instead, questions should be designed to elicit information about the applicant’s ability to perform the essential functions of the job, which are detailed in the job description.”

THE SCREENING PROCESS

Both Boman of Fisher & Phillips and Clark of NationaLease concur that the screening process begins with a detailed job application, which each applicant should  be required to complete.

“A resume, otherwise known as an advocacy piece, is not sufficient,” Boman says. “The application should include certain legal disclosures and acknowledgements, the extent of which will depend on the company’s due diligence process – background check, drug testing, etc. The employee should be required to sign the application and attest that everything in it is truthful and accurate, and that nothing was omitted.

“If the employer uses some form of dispute resolution like arbitration, the application should contain the same language that the company’s employees are bound by. This will avoid having to defend an applicant’s ‘failure to hire’ claim in court where an employee would be obligated to arbitrate any claims he or she may claim to have.

“It is unbelievable what applicants will disclose on a well-designed application,” observes Boman. “These disclosures will facilitate an employer’s ability to screen out non-qualified applicants before moving further into the recruiting process.”

Based on the criteria set for a position, evaluate the resumes and applications to make sure they fit the job description,” says Clark. “It is rare to find a 100-percent match, so identify a few of the most important criteria and a couple of ‘deal-breakers.’”

Once the applicants that meet the most important criteria have been identified, she recommends a quick phone screen for each. “Come up with a couple of simple questions to ask over the phone. One that I like to ask is: ‘What interested you in this position?’

“Depending on your criteria for the position, you may be looking for different things in the answer. If you don’t identify any red flags in the phone screen, you can set up an interview with the candidate while you’re on the phone.”

THE INTERVIEW

Another essential element of the hiring process is conducting a successful interview. A best practice is to prepare questions in advance and put them in a logical sequence.

NationaLease’s Clark says she always has a written list of questions, many of which are behavioral-based interview questions, for every interview. “These are questions that ask a person to tell you about a specific incident or situation. By asking a candidate to tell a story of something that happened to him or her, you typically get more details and a more honest answer, since it’s harder to give you the answer they think you want to hear. 

“For example, instead of asking, ‘Do you like to work on a team?’, you could ask, ‘Tell me about the best team you’ve ever been a part of.’”

The interview process “is very important,” says Fisher & Phillips’ Boman. “Similar to disclosures on applications, it is similarly unbelievable what applicants will disclose during interviews.

“We recommend use of the 80/20 rule, where the applicant should be speaking 80 percent of the time during the interview. Standard questions are appropriate for consistency. However, the interview should not be a rote exercise where the interviewee does not deviate from the list of questions.

“Follow up to responses is key to weeding out non-qualified candidates,” he adds.

BACKGROUND CHECKS

Background and reference checks prior to making a job offer can be useful, but care needs to be taken in performing them.

“Recently, there has been a lot of administrative enforcement about background checks,” says Boman of Fisher & Phillips. “For instance, the EEOC has made challenging background check protocols an enforcement priority arguing that disqualifying applicants with criminal history has an adverse impact on members of certain protected categories. Thus, employers need to analyze whether the background check is appropriate for each job at issue and make sure that they are aware of the associated risks.

“Additionally, employers need to ensure that they provide the requisite disclosures and obtain needed authorizations to ensure compliance with laws governing background checks, such as the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act and similar state laws.”

Adds NationaLease’s Clark: “Reference checks are very important, but can be tricky to conduct. Some companies don’t allow their managers to give references and will direct you to the HR department who may only verify dates of employment. 

“In order for reference checks to be the most valuable, try to find someone who will give you an assessment of the person’s performance on the job and how he or she interacted with co-workers and customers. If you can find a co-worker or former manager who has left the company where they worked together, sometimes that person will be more willing to speak freely. 

“Background checks are also a great tool,” she says, “but be sure to review your company’s background check process with an attorney or other advisor to make sure you are following legal guidelines.”

THE JOB OFFER

Once a potential candidate has been selected, the next step is to extend a job offer. Although that may seem like a simple task, there are some matters to be aware of.

In many companies, the official job offer comes from the HR department, says Clark of NationaLease, but whenever possible, “it’s a good idea for the hiring manager to get involved in this process as well. 

“The period of time, often two weeks, from the offer to the start date is the scariest part of the process,” she says. “Often, the days and weeks leading up to the offer have been a flurry of phone calls, in-person interviews and lots of attention given to the candidate. Once the offer is presented, many companies have no follow up plan for the next two weeks, so the candidate suddenly goes from the high of the interview process to complete silence. 

“Two weeks is plenty of time to second guess his or her decision, especially when he or she is no longer getting any attention from the new company. If HR makes the official offer, the hiring manager, and possibly even the team, can follow up throughout the time until the new employee starts, letting the person know that his or her new team is very excited to have him or her onboard.”

Boman of Fisher & Phillips recommends that “verbal offers of employment should be followed up with a detailed written employment offer which contains the pertinent terms and conditions of the offer.” Obvious pieces of information to include in the offer letter are:

- Position, start date, wage or salary.

- Benefits eligibility information.

- Who the employee will report to.

Additional important information to disclose includes:

- Whether the applicant must pass a background check or drug test before beginning employment.

- Compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act and deadlines to do so.

- That the employee must agree to execute and abide by the company’s personnel policies and procedures, including employee handbook, dispute resolution agreement, and trade secrets/confidential information agreement, if applicable for the position.

- That employment with the company is at-will.

“Other information may also be appropriate,” Boman points out, “but it will depend on the company and the position at issue.”

RECORDKEEPING

As would be expected, there are legal requirements regarding recordkeeping related to the hiring process. But aside from these, “keeping records relating to the recruiting process is also a prudent practice for an employer, which enables a company to defend its hiring decisions when challenged,” says Fisher & Phillips’ Boman.

“Employers should keep copies of job postings, applications submitted, any correspondence with applicants and interview files for those that get past the initial screen. If an applicant is eventually hired, the application documents should become part of the employee’s personnel file, which will include the application, any authorizations and disclosures for background testing and the results, drug test authorizations and results, the offer letter and any other documents the employer uses as part of its due diligence and hiring process.”

The recruiting process “is an integral part of a well-designed human resources program,” says Bowman. “Matching an applicant’s qualifications to the appropriate position through a careful recruiting and hiring process is the best way to minimize risks of labor and employment disputes, which are very costly.”