By Lester Rosen, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) President

The job interview, along with being an opportunity to find applicants who are a good fit for a company, is also when employers should perform due diligence and try to identify applicants who may be too dangerous, unqualified, unfit, or dishonest for the position.

While employers would not want to start the interview off with questions aimed at past criminal conduct or negative employment experiences, every interview must have a “safe hiring” portion where the job applicant is asked due diligence questions. This would be an appropriate time for the following five suggested due diligence questions to be asked in every interview:

• “Our firm has a standard policy of conducting background checks on all hires before an offer is made or finalized. You have already signed a release form. Do you have any concerns about that?” This is a general question about background screening. Since applicants should have already signed a consent form for a background check, they have a powerful incentive to be truthful, honest, and reveal any issues.
• “We also check for criminal convictions for all finalists. Do you have any concerns about that?” This question goes from the general to the specific. Employers should ask the question in a form that is legally permissible in their state of operation. It is important not to ask questions that are so broadly worded that they may lead to applicants revealing more information then allowed by law. Again, employers should make sure applicants understand that they signed a release for a background check and this process is standard company policy.
• “When we contact your past employers, what do you think they will say?” This general question, which indicates past employers will be contacted, again provides a powerful incentive to be very accurate.
• “Will your past employers tell us that there were any issues with meeting job requirements?” This question goes again from a general to a specific area, asking about matters that are expressly relevant to the job function or the workplace.
• “Tell me about any unexplained gaps in your employment history.” If there are any unexplained employment gaps, it is imperative for employers to ask about them to make sure the employment gap was not a result of some negative situation such as the applicant being in custody for a criminal offense.

Employers should always indicate that these five suggested due diligence questions are standard job-related questions asked of all applicants and that they need to be answered. Asking standard written questions in an interview allows for a consistent process so that all applicants are subjected to the same questions. Standard questions also create a more comfortable environment for the interviewers since they do not have to remember every question asked because the questions are written down. If the questions on safe hiring issues make applicants feel uncomfortable, interviewers can simply indicate that these questions are asked of everyone and they are required due to standard company policy.

To help design their own interview template, including these five due diligence questions, employers may access the Free Online Interview Guide Generator Tool from Employment Screening Resources at http://www.esrcheck.com/Interviewgenerator.php.

Founded in 1996 in the San Francisco area, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) wrote the book on background checks with ‘The Safe Hiring Manual’ by ESR founder and President Lester Rosen and is accredited by The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS®) . To learn more about Employment Screening Resources, visit http://www.ESRcheck.com or contact Jared Callahan, ESR Director of Client Relations, at 415.898.0044 or jcallahan@ESRcheck.com.

Source: http://www.esrcheck.com/Five-Due-Diligence-Questions-Asked-In-Every-Interview.php

By Lester Rosen, ESR President

(Originally posted on HR.Tolbox.com)

A new free online tool allows employers to easily create custom interview guides with an interview generator form.

One of the problems that face employers of all sizes is preparing for interviews. Most recruiters, human resources professionals and hiring managers are now familiar with the notion of a structured interview. Using a “structured interview” guide during applicant interviews helps employers ask permissible questions in a consistent fashion for all applicants for a position.

Of course, in addition to standard interview questions, employers need to add job specific questions that stem from the job description and the knowledge, skills and abilities required for a position, as well as the essential functions of the job. That is yet another reason why well written job description is so critical in the hiring process.

In order to assist employers in preparing structured interviews, Employment Screening Resources (ESR) has released the ESR Interview Guide Generator, a free web based interview generator to help employers build printed interview forms for any position. The wizard tool allows employers to select from generic interview questions, or to create their own questions, put the questions in the order they need and then create a printed form that can be saved or modified.

This free tool solves several issues for employers. It helps employers, recruiters and HR professionals produce a printed structured interview guide and focus on developing relevant questions for each position. Printed interview forms also help employers ensure that interviewers are asking the right questions every time, in the right way. Using a “structured interview” guide helps employers ask permissible questions in a consistent fashion for all applicants for a position. An employer should only choose those questions that are valid predictors of job performance for a particular position.

The ESR Interview Guide Generator tool is available at no charge online at: http://www.esrcheck.com/Interviewgenerator.php.

The tool allows employers to choose from standard interview questions, or to create their own questions. Questions are grouped into sections and are displayed on the completed form within these groups. An employer may customize however they want, including adding custom questions, or changing the sections that the chosen questions are placed.

Once the interview is built online, the Finish tab will display the interview form. When the employer is ready, they can click the print button on the Finish tab. The free tool does not save the form so it should be pasted onto a WORD document for future reference.

The sample questions listed are questions that appear in various public sources suggesting commonly used interview questions. By use of the “Custom Question” section at the end, an employer can create any questions they wish and put them into any section they wish. ESR offers no legal opinion whatsoever if any question is legal or appropriate. An employer should contact its attorney if there are any questions as to the legality of any interview question. This information is provided for educational purposes and general assistance only and is not offered or intended as legal advice.

For more information about employment screening, visit Employment Screening Resources (ESR) at http://www.ESRcheck.com.

Source:

http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/background-checks/free-online-structured-interview-generator-tool-available-to-employers-recruiters-and-human-resources-40291

Two recent articles on the leading career site, The Ladders, feature background screening expert Lester Rosen on the role that employment screening may play in a job search.  The Ladders is the world’s largest community catering exclusively to the $100k+ job market. 

According to the articles by author Kevin Fogarty: 

Recruiters and investigators who conduct employment background checks advise job seekers to know what their records will say to a potential employer and be prepared to correct or explain them in an interview. 

“If they got a degree at a diploma mill, that will be revealed in a respectable background check; if they didn’t work at an employer they listed, or didn’t have the job title they said they had, that will come out,” said Les Rosen, former California deputy district attorney; president of Employment Screening Resources of Novato, Calif.; and founding member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. 

The problem for job seekers is that there isn’t a lot they can do to keep “secrets” under wraps while they’re job-searching or even afterward. If you have a black mark on your record, expect it to surface, Rosen said. “When a person with something minor in their background tries to hide it, they are taking a risk.” 

The article also discusses the fact that so much information is now available online: 

“Derogatory information honestly revealed and discussed by the applicant is much less harmful than if it’s discovered by a third party,” ESR’s Rosen said. “Even if the company’s not really looking, one of the most productive sources of background checks is co-workers. 

“If you’re a six-figure person, you have to start with the assumption there are a lot of people working with you or under you who are interested and are going to look you up,” he said. “They’re ready to go on the Internet and see if you’re a sex offender – because that information isn’t hard for consumers to find – or what degrees you’re claiming in your LinkedIn profile or other business connection, and whether you ever went there.”

 The full article is available at:  http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/background-check-makes-tough-interview-questions A companion article discusses what can be found in a background check, at:  http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/anatomy-background-check

For more information on Employment Screening Resources, see: www.ESRcheck.com

An article on NPR, ”Spotting Lies: Listen, Don’t Look,” confirms what ESR has been advising employers for some time: people are not nearly as good a they think they are at detecting liars.  Even highly trained interviewers can make mistakes. See:   http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111809280 

This article underscores again that employers are at a big disadvantage if they are relying on job interviews to avid bad hiring decisions.   Good applicants that are nervous may come off poorly at an employment interview while practiced liars can look you in the eye and you would never know it.  This is yet another  reason that when it comes to employment decisions, employers need objective and verifiable criteria.  This gives new meaning to, “Trust but verify.”

For more information, see the  following ESR post all about why employers cannot rely on job interviews to detect liars, found at:

http://www.esrcheck.com/wordpress/613/how-to-tell-if-someone-is-lying-at-an-interview-hint-it-helps-to-have-a-coin-handy-2

Employment Screening Resources (ESR) has released a free web based interview guide generator to help employers build printed interview forms for any position. The tool allows employers to select from generic interview questions, or to create their own questions, and then create a printed form that can be saved or modified.

 The tool also gives employers the flexibility of adding their own question to different sections of the interview guide. 

This free tool solves several issues for employers. It helps employers and HR professionals produce a printed structured interview guide and focus on developing relevant questions for each position. Printed interview forms also help employers ensure that interviewers are asking the right questions every time, in the right way. It  helps to ensure that all applicants for a position  are treated fairly and uniformly  Using a “structured interview “guide helps employers ask permissible questions in a consistent fashion for all applicants for a position. An employer should only choose those questions that are valid predictors of job performance for a particular position.  The tool was created by employment screening background check expert Lester Rosen.

The tool can be found at:  http://www.esrcheck.com/Interviewgenerator.php