The One Day Practical and Thorough HR Audit - Hiring Practices and Background Checks

Hiring is the most important thing an employer does. So how, as circumstances so often happen, does hiring go so horribly wrong. Employers do not start out to hire poor performers (or hire their lawsuits.) In fact, most employers strive to create an organized hiring process. However regardless of how organized your hiring and background checking practices start out, people are people, and eventually these processes start to "loosen up." Alternatively, perhaps you need workers fast and just this once you think it would be OK to skip the background check because after all, you are a good judge of people, right. No, because that is the time you will almost certainly hire “trouble.” The reality is very few people who think they are a good judge of people are a good judge. Another certainty is that if your hiring and background checking process is lax, people who have something to hide will flock to work for your company. It’s imperative that employers periodically scrutinize both their hiring and background checking processes and train everyone involved in the hiring process, including the hiring managers.

Hiring and background checking go hand and hand. Hiring a person in many respects is akin to an investigation. You investigate the applicant and determine facts to decide if this person is the best person for the job. However many interviews are conducted more like a social outing and a shocking number of companies don’t even do any background checking, even companies in highly regulated industries. If your hiring process is unprofessional, an employer also runs the risk of employment claims generated from untrained managers who are asking prohibited questions of applicants. You also will not hire the best candidate; in fact, many sharp candidates will be turned off by the unprofessionalism displayed. Everyone wants to work for a fun, relaxed, even quirky or unusual company, but few persons you would actually want to hire, want to work for a bizarre and totally unprofessional company. Additionally, when an employer does not hire competent employees it may not have just hired a poor performer; it may have incurred a legal liability. One would think that it would be easier to do background checks today and in some respects it is, while in others respects it is harder. Employers are limited by privacy considerations and increased legal obligations and increased scrutiny. Some states even limit what types of background questions an employer can ask during initial interviews. Therefore, it’s important an employer to also scrutinize both its hiring practices and its background checking practices to make sure its hiring competent employees, for both operational purposes and to meet its compliance obligations as well.

This webinar will cover best practices in HR compliance regarding hiring and background checking. We will also, cover practical easy ways to hire the best candidates for your business without running into compliance challenges.

Training managers not to ask the wrong questions. What types of questions an employer wants to ask and what areas to avoid during interviews.

The role of the job description. How a job description helps with hiring decisions but how it also harms your practical hiring decisions.

22 things you’ll want to review in your hiring practices.

Avoiding problems with the ADA. Training your managers to do the same.

Setting up an extremely easy process and using an easy measurement tool in interviews to discover the best candidates and create agreement in the hiring team.

Pre-employment testing? Should you or shouldn’t you? Dos and don’ts if you use testing.

10 things you may be surprised you might not find from a background check.

How to decide if you should outsource background checking or not.

How the Fair Credit Reporting Act and other laws affect your background checking.

How to know how thorough a background check a particular job needs.

Getting candidates to self-disclose their background during interviews.

Using the Internet and social media strategically - without getting in hot water.

How to pump existing employees for information about candidates and how to not.

What to include in offer letters, what to leave out.

Internal candidates. How to set up an easy process to promote from within. The most important things you must do.

Avoiding claims from a prior employer

Plant Managers

Managers

HR Generalists

HR Managers

HR Directors

Business Owners

Hiring Managers

Branch Managers