Interviewing

When interviewing meets speed dating

07/01/2008

When you interview candidates, you typically know within a few minutes whether it’s a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Realizing this, some employers, including Travelodge, Texas Instruments and Abbott Labs, have taken a page from the “speed dating” trend …

HR Specialist Editors Bring You the Best from SHRM Chicago

06/24/2008

For a week each year, the Society for Human Resource Management’s Annual Conference becomes the center of the HR world. HR Specialist editors have joined 13,000 of our peers in Chicago this week for four days of professional development covering HR’s hottest topics and presented by the profession’s leading experts. Here’s some of the best from the world’s biggest HR conference.

Best of the Worst: Applicants Learn New Ways to Self-Destruct

06/10/2008

Normal people try to put their best foot forward during job interviews. Others not so much. Like the applicant who showed up drunk. Or the guy who picked his nose. A new survey reveals some of the strangest, rudest behavior applicants display during job interviews.

Interview questions: What not to ask

06/06/2008

Q. Are there specific questions that an employer is prohibited from asking during a job interview? …

Is it legal to deny me an interview just because I don’t meet the posted requirements?

06/06/2008

Q. I applied for a new position within my company—a promotion—for which my on-the-job experience clearly makes me the best candidate. However, the job posting states that the job requires a college degree and my employer will not even interview me for the job because he says I do not meet the minimum job requirements. Is this legal? …

Get legal advice when hiring workers with noncompetes

05/05/2008

When hiring new employees, be aware that they may have signed noncompetes or other employment agreements with their previous employers. Ask if they have. If they did, ask for a copy. Then have your attorney review the terms before you make an offer. Here’s why …

You don’t have to tell applicants how you’ll screen for interviews

05/02/2008

Employers don’t have to tell applicants exactly how the hiring process works—for example, how you sort applications, evaluate candidates for possible interviews and make job offers. Just make sure that everyone in the HR office who handles applications knows what the rules are …

Keep selection process objective to ensure bias-Free hiring

05/01/2008

Human factors sometimes cloud the judgment of hiring managers—and could end up costing an organization if it finds itself on the losing end of a failure-to-hire lawsuit. That’s why it’s crucial to institute checks that prevent a hiring committee or manager from imposing subjective criteria on applicants …

Make and keep interview notes to prove promotion process wasn’t discriminatory

04/25/2008

Employers that lean heavily on interviews to decide which of two equally qualified candidates to promote should make sure they can later explain the selection process. That means asking participants in panel interviews to take and collect notes on what the interviews covered and how well the candidates did …

Feel free to expand candidate search even if your policy favors hiring from within

04/10/2008

If, like many companies, you have a policy that encourages promotion from within, you may hesitate to look outside for additional candidates. Fear of a lawsuit might make you especially reluctant if one of the few internal candidates belongs to a protected class. As the following case shows, those fears are unfounded …