Don't Use Your Gut When Hiring a New Employee
By Dan Stevens,
President of D.D.S. Employee Screening Services
This is the fourth and final installment of the “Fitness for Your Business” series. Before reading ahead, we recommend reading the first, second, and third parts.
Have you ever had a “gut feeling” about something? Sometimes those feelings supersede any logic or common sense. That’s because “gut” decisions are mostly emotional decisions and not based on facts.
Based on more than 40 years of experience, I believe that, when it comes to the hiring of a new employee, a fact-based informed decision will be much more effective than your gut feeling! Your decision will affect your work atmosphere, productivity of your staff, your continued success and bottom line of your business - not to mention that each hire costs several hundred to several thousands of dollars. Isn’t that worth every effort to do it right the first time?
The past articles in this series have given you the road map to successfully set up a strong foundation in the hiring process as it relates to legalities and techniques for optimal results. Today we get to the “X marks the spot” part of this road map, which can be the difference between hiring an asset or a liability.
At this point of the hiring process, you have gone through many resumes and applications. For the average small business, that is more than 50 per job offering. For a medium size company, that number skyrockets to more than 200.
You’ve reviewed the resumes. You’ve narrowed your candidates. Now comes the “gut check!” How can you verify the information that you read on the resume / application, or the related answers you got during the interview process? Consider these statistics that can help you decide whether your next hire is an asset or a liability.
In a Checkster survey of 400 applicants, 400 hiring managers, HR professionals, and recruiters, we’ve learned that a whopping 78% of applicants stretch the truth about themselves in areas that can enhance their hiring chances. In a campus survey of multiple colleges and universities, over 40% of the students didn’t have a problem lying on a job application if it would help get them the job.
Let’s get a little more specific. Here are some of the most common false statements that are documented on resumes / applications, or verbally explained during an interview:
Prior employment:
60% said they had a mastery in skills that they only had basic knowledge of
50% gave false employment dates
50% listed job gaps in order to omit an employer
45% gave a false reason for leaving a job
41.25% used a more prestigious job title than they actually had
42.25% made up relevant experiences
Education:
21% claimed a college degree that was never earned
39.25% claimed they had a degree from a prestigious university instead of their own
42% exaggerating educational GPA
Criminal Record:
14% lying about a criminal record conviction
Drug/Alcohol
18% have used drugs or alcohol during working hours
These statistics are likely to get you thinking about “Gut vs. Facts” and how important these things may be to the future of your business.
I will say that these statistics don’t necessarily represent people who are “bad” people. As I stated earlier in this article series, you will see a person at their best before they get the job. But will these false statements - stated prior to hiring - show a pattern of what to expect if they do get the job?
How do you verify information and get the facts that will help you make an informed hiring decision to protect your business and other employees, who can be directly or indirectly adversely affected by a bad hire? Once you let someone in the door, it’s hard to get them out without a high potential of more and unnecessary aggravation.
First, I would highly suggest that you begin a relationship with a qualified Employment Due Diligence company whose main objective is to give you the ammunition you need to make an informed hiring decision. Believe it or not, all employment due diligence (background screening companies) are not created equally, nor do they all operate with the same level of ethics or integrity.
After pioneering the industry and having more than four decades of experience, I can tell you that this is not my gut reaction - this is a fact. With over 600 background screening companies in the U.S. alone, you need to choose one that you trust and can meet your needs. After all, you will be making a decision based on the information disseminated to you by your provider.
Here are some points to know, or questions to ask when interviewing a potential provider:
How long are you in the background screening industry?
What industry associations are you an active member of?
Where do you get your information?
Do you have a compliance process in place? How does that work?
What is included in a background check?
How do I know which background check services I need for my situation?
Do you have a secure platform that transfers and stores reports? Which one?
What services do you perform “in-house” and which do you subcontract?
Are your reports compliant? Tell me how. – Compliant reports means that all the information you receive from the provider meets all federal, state and local requirements as it relates to the information you are legally allowed to get as an employer.
Do you guarantee your work? How?
Do you have a dispute resolution process? What is it, how does it work, what is the charge? In short, a dispute resolution is when an applicant will not be considered for the job due to the information in the background report and disputes its accuracy. In this instance, depending on the state, then employer is obligated to send a copy of the report to the applicant. The report should include a “Pre-Adverse Action” letter and direct contact information of the provider. If contacted, the provider needs to re-investigate the disputed area of the report at NO charge to the applicant or business. They should then report the new findings to both the applicant and the business for final determination of the findings and hiring status. In most cases, this process should not take more than a day or two.
How much is it to set up an account? (Should be zero)
Are there any minimums, volume discounts, monthly fees, user license fees? (If the answer is yes for any of these, beware)
Do you have “live and immediate” customer support?
What is the approximate turnaround times for completed reports?
At this point, your head may be spinning. “This process seems like a lot just to find a company to help.” “Why don’t I just do it myself?” “Why not just skip over the middleman, buy a background check online, and save some time and money?”
While all are valid thoughts, this is an area that requires a professional approach. Here’s why, and a few examples:
Let’s say that you go online, pay for a report, read the report and then make a decision based on that report:
Where does the actual report information come from? (I know that one)
How accurate is the information? (I know that one too)
Can I make a hiring decision based on that information? (Three’s a charm!)
There are many online companies (as there are background screening companies) who use certain databases to obtain this information. Depending on the database, the information may not be accurate or up to date. That is certainly is not compliant for the hiring process!
If I can stress one thought about going this route it would: “Once you see it, you can’t unsee it.” In other words, you may be seeing information on an individual who may not even be your applicant (based on identification criteria). If that is the case and there is a dispute, who has your back? If you have to go to arbitration or get sued because of the actions you took based on this information, you lose no matter what.
Even if you have the correct applicant, there may be information on a report that you should not see according to FCRA and other compliance mandates.
My advice: find a good employment due diligence company that you trust. Have them develop a customized, consistent and compliant program for you at no cost. Just pay for the services you use, when you use them. They will be responsible with providing only compliant information you can use to make a hiring decision. They will stand behind all information that they disseminate to you and will resolve any disputes at no cost. They should truly be a strategic partner that enhances your ability to make your best hiring decision.
This type of program is an investment in your business rather than an expense, because you will get a return on this investment that can be worth more than just money.
Now you have the soup to nuts steps on making sure that as we get back to business, you are better equipped to make the best hiring decisions possible.
Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions by emailing me at dan@employeescreening.com, or calling (800) 647-7999.
In any case - good luck with your next hire!