Keep Candidates Informed

Provide candidates with an overview of the hiring process and keep them updated on various stages throughout the process. This will demonstrate how you value their time and are taking the decision seriously. Candidates will appreciate not being left in the dark during the process, which can often be lengthy with background checks and employment verifications amongst other things.

Personalized Interviews

Not only should the candidate do research on the company before applying, but the interviewers should also research the candidates. Knowing the candidate’s personal brand will help you ask the right questions and find out if they’re a good fit for your organization.

Ask The Right Questions

There are probably countless questions you want to ask your potential employee or volunteer or tenant, but you only have so much time. Make sure you ask the hard-hitting questions first and then give the candidate some time to ask a few themselves. For example, you can end with this question: “Is there anything you’d like to tell us today that you think we should know?” This question will demonstrate to candidates you are giving them a fair chance at the position because it allows them to discuss additional skills and experience that didn’t come up during the interview.

Provide and Request Feedback

Instead of rejecting a candidate and dropping the matter, tell them why you rejected them. Constructive criticism may be difficult to hear, but it can help them improve and land the next job they apply for. You can also benefit from the candidates’ feedback. If for example they found the application process difficult or the job posting uninviting, you can use these criticisms to redesign the application and rewrite the job post.

Improving the efficiency of the hiring process will also improve your brand as an employer. And depending on what reputation you’re cultivating you can send welcome gifts to new hires or even have existing employees send welcome tweets at the new hire. Cultivating a fun and informative candidate experience will go a long way in driving the top talent to your business.

JD Palatine can help you improve the candidate experience with our innovative and efficient risk mitigation solutions. We offer a variety of services tailored to you and your industry so you can start hiring new employees faster and with confidence. Feel free to contact us if you any questions on how to screen employees!

The post How To Improve The Candidate Experience appeared first on JDP.

According to the National Employment Law Project (NELP), over 100 cities and 18 states have passed some form of Ban-the-Box legislation. Many states have slight differences in their version of Ban-the-Box. For example, in Massachusetts employers can ask candidates about their criminal history after the initial application whereas in Hawaii employers can’t ask about criminal records until after making an offer of employment. So, it’s essential for employers to be aware of the changes in their states. Employers who are unaware of the updated laws aren’t exempt from the consequences of violating them.

Oregon is one of the more recent states to pass legislation which will take effect in January 2016. Under the new law in Oregon, employers can’t inquire about criminal records initially. They can ask candidates about past convictions during the interview or after a position of employment has been offered. New York City also joined the Ban-the-Box movement and passed the Fair Chance Act in June 2015. Under the Fair Chance Act, employers can’t inquire about a candidate’s criminal history until after giving an offer of conditional employment. Employers can rescind the offer of employment after conducting a background check but they must explain and discuss the reasons with the applicant.

Avoid Violating Ban-the-Box Laws

To avoid risking violation of Ban-the-Box legislation, employers should take a few preparatory steps. First, they should double check the laws in their state, city, and county. What are employers allowed to ask applicants about their past? For example, some laws prohibit employers from asking about non-conviction arrests. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a reliable resource for information about specific states. Next, they should revise their employment applications to meet the new requirements. If you have a little box applicants are supposed to check if they have a criminal record on your application form, get rid of it if required. And, finally, make sure you ask about past convictions at the right point in the hiring process.

Other Considerations

Despite the Ban-the-Box legislation, employers should still conduct background checks as long as they comply with the new rules. Employers have a responsibility to protect their employees and provide a safe work environment. Also, employers should consider how this new legislation interacts with previous laws. According to the SHRM, some of the Ban-the-Box requirements conflict or overlap with other existing background screening laws such as anti-discrimination laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). All of these intricate rules and laws can be extremely difficult and time-consuming to decipher and follow properly. As a background screening check company, it’s our job to stay on top of these issues so you don’t have to. If you have any questions about Ban-the-Box legislation, feel free to contact us!

The post What Does ‘Ban-the-Box’ Mean for Your Hiring Process? appeared first on JDP.

Bringing the Strengths of Oracle to You

As Gold level members of OPN, JDP has access to designated business consultants as well as ongoing training and education workshops. JDP also has access to more sophisticated software and resources including Oracle Solaris, Oracle Exastack, and Oracle Validated Integration. How will this help you, our end customers?

Oracle Solaris

With Oracle Solaris software and support, JDP can provide better services for our clients. Oracle Solaris is a superior software that provides efficient enterprise cloud virtualization and storage performance. Essentially, this means we can focus on your needs  while maintaining the security of our data storage and management system. This software also adapts to our needs as our company grows.

Oracle Exastack

Oracle Exastack benefits for Gold level members include assistance from performance experts and lab optimizations. This means we can test software and revise it until it meets our requirements. With these benefits, JDP can provide consumers with a superior screening service that is fast, accurate, and tailored to meet their needs.

Oracle Validated Integration

Oracle Validated Integration certifies that JDP uses reliable software, which has been tested several times to ensure its effectiveness. This means JDP has been validated as a company with experience and will provide customers with satisfactory results that go above and beyond the usual requirements of the hiring process.

Oracle also recently introduced an advanced cloud platform with better data storage capabilities. Oracle Cloud supports over 70 million users and 31 billion transactions a day. With a Gold membership, JDP will continue to grow and adapt to a changing business environment. We can guarantee customer satisfaction with a formal recognition as a trustworthy brand from Oracle.

The post JDP Goes Gold With Oracle PartnerNetwork appeared first on JDP.

Drug Testing

Employers are not required under the Drug-Free Workplace Act to conduct drug tests. Many private companies, however, do feel it is necessary to drug test their employees and they must follow state regulations. Some states are more strict than others when it comes to drug testing. In Maine, for example, before conducting drug tests, employers must get approval from the state Department of Labor.

What You Know

Federal law requires employers to inform employees if they find any red flags preventing them from being hired in their background screening reports. Some states have even more inclusive policies when it come to what your employer finds out and what they tell you. In California, an employer must provide full transparency and tell their employees everything from what they’re looking for to where they’re getting the information. And in Minnesota and Oklahoma, employers have to provide employees with a copy of the report.

Arrest and Conviction Records

In many states, arrest and conviction records will affect whether you get hired if they are directly relevant to the job. For example, in Pennsylvania, an employer can only consider a conviction or arrest record if the offense is relevant to the specific job you’re being hired for. In other states, such as New York, employers have to consider how much time has passed since the conviction in addition to the relationship of the conviction to the job.

No matter what state, background check companies will know the state policies better than most. If you have any questions regarding the variations of background check laws among the states, feel free to contact us.

The post How Employees Are Screened By State appeared first on JDP.

How to screen yourself for employment

Many people are curious about what information they can find about themselves online and may turn to a search engine first. However, there’s more to a background check than just searching for your name and hoping nothing bad comes up. Professional background screening companies will look online, in databases, and in a variety of different locations to find information about you. That’s why you need to do what the pros do: Get a background company to check your background for you. Here’s why:

The Facebook frenzy

Nearly everybody today has a Facebook account, and many people may have dozens of accounts on a variety of different websites. In many cases, what you’ve posted to these accounts is just fine – but for many younger job seekers, especially, Facebook and other social media sites can come back to haunt you. For example, you may not have posted an image of yourself, underage, at a party, but what about your friend? Can you really be sure that your online presence is clean?

Double-check your records

In some cases, you may have a clean record and everything checks out. But during the background screening process, you’re confused with a person who has your name and birthdate. Their offenses show up in your background check – and you might not get a job you’re perfectly qualified for. It’s critical that you know what shows up when employers do a background check. You can help mitigate risk for yourself by knowing what they do.

If you want to ensure that your background check screenings go according to plan, consider Job Seeker Insight, a JDP brand. You can rest assured knowing that you’ve got access to your own information and can take steps to rectify any problems as needed.

The post Can You Do Your Own Background Screening? appeared first on JDP.

Set Yourself Up for Success

When it comes to Baby Boomers (and indeed, nearly every generation today), full-time work may not be what they’re looking for. Many Baby Boomers are seeking part-time work that’s meaningful during retirement, or may want flexibility in their workplace. If you can incorporate this kind of flexibility into your work arrangements, you may find more success in recruiting talented and knowledgeable Baby Boomers.

Understand How to Screen Baby Boomer Employees

When you conduct background screening checks, you’ll want to follow common hiring protocol and screen all employees the same way. Don’t assume that just because a job candidate is older means you don’t have to conduct a background screening. Likewise, checking references and employment history remains a key component of background screening checks.

Think Social

Today’s Baby Boomers are more social than ever before. 70% of Baby Boomers are on Facebook, with large percentages on other networks like Twitter and YouTube. This is important for two reasons – first of all, it gives you a venue for reaching out and recruiting this age demographic. It also means you’ll need to conduct regular social media audits on all employees, not just younger ones. And when it comes to social media, you’ll need to make sure you’re monitoring it appropriately. That’s why we offer Social Media Screening to help you ensure compliance as you navigate today’s increasingly social world.

Baby Boomers Bring Perspective to Your Company

When it comes to hiring Baby Boomers, it’s much the same as hiring any other age demographic. However, you’ll also want to ensure that you take care to pay attention to trends within this age group, since this will give you the best chance of finding a talented, experienced Baby Boomer for your company.

The post Guide to Hiring Baby Boomers appeared first on JDP.

Social Media Screening

When hiring independent contractors, you should start by screening his or her online presence. Most freelance workers need to conduct serious social branding in order to get their names out there. Conduct a social media screening to see if your potential hires will fit well with your company and the job you have in mind.

Professional History

Part of the pre-hiring process for freelancers should include a careful check of their previous employment history. You want to make sure that they are telling the truth about work history and other freelance jobs they’ve taken. Freelancers can work for multiple companies at once, which means they should have plenty of references.

Can They Work In The U.S.?

Freelance workers usually work from home, wherever that may be. So, you should make sure they can legally work in the U.S. If you’re hiring someone abroad the rules may change a little. Depending on the country, make sure you know what the rules are and how to follow them. Other countries have various labor laws and unions that differ from the U.S.

Freelance workers are a great resource to use if you’re feeling shorthanded. Some of the top freelance industries include project development, research, and writing. So, if you never want to conduct research again, hire a freelance worker to do it for you. Just be sure to check their credentials. If you have any questions about the hiring protocol for freelance workers, please contact us.

The post How To Screen Freelance Employees appeared first on JDP.

46 percent of resumes contain at least some false information. Even more unsettling, 70 percent of college students were willing to lie on a resume to get a job they wanted. These “untruths” may not be out-and-out lies, but they can be damaging nonetheless. When you’re looking through resumes, you’ll want to keep a sharp eye out for these signs a job candidate could be attempting to pull the wool over your eyes:

• Avoiding specifics when it comes to previous jobs they’ve held
• Using overly-general wording about past positions
• Leaving gaps in their resume (though there can be legitimate reasons for this as well)
• Labeling positions in years, rather than including the specific month

Fortunately, you can try out a few strategies for seeing through these problematic resume issues, such as:

Using their references wisely

Getting references from your job candidates isn’t just a way to ensure that they’re good at what they do. It can also help you uncover the truth behind a misleading resume. Use reference to verify anything on the resume that you’re unsure of, or that sounds too good to be true. If they really were that good at their previous job, their references will likely want to talk about it.

Learning the most common falsehoods

One of the best ways to ensure you can spot a resume embellishment is to be familiar with the most common falsehoods people use. Keep in mind, many people don’t outright lie on their resume, but they may stretch the truth just a little too far. In the name of “salesmanship” when finding a job, many people will “enhance” their skills, past job titles, and degrees.

Getting professional background screening checks

One of the simplest ways to catch people who might be pushing the truth a little further than you’d like is to get background screening checks on any candidates you’re interested in. That way, you’ll be able to tell for sure whether they actually graduated from Harvard, or just dropped out three credits shy of a diploma.

Learning how to screen potential employees is a challenge for anybody. If you’re not sure whether or not your latest batch of job candidates is legitimate, try these tactics for ensuring that you get honest, dependable employees.

The post Spot the Lie: How to Screen Potential Employees appeared first on JDP.

Many HR specialists and recruiters sort through resumes by looking for “red flags” and using them as a way to eliminate certain candidates. However, as a recent article at Recruiter.com points out, you could be doing yourself (and these candidates) a disservice. In order to ensure you’re getting the best candidates for the position, it’s worth knowing which red flags need to be banned and which ones you should definitely use. Today, we’ll take a look at many common red flags and give you the scoop on how effective they are:

Job hopping

One of the first aspects of a resume that many HR folks look at is job tenure. Candidates who are seen as “job hoppers” might get sent to the bottom of the pile. But should job hopping be considered a red flag?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average tenure for employees is 4.6 years – dropping down to just 3.2 years for the average 25 – 34 year old. Gone are the days of lifetime employment with the same company. Today’s employees, in fact, often consider the opposite side of the argument: How long is too long to stay at a job? For many job candidates, especially younger ones, evidence of job hopping on a resume may not be cause to eliminate them from the hiring process – hiring managers should use their discretion to decide how much is too much when it comes to job changes.

Overqualification

In the past, it was thought that people who are overqualified for their jobs may request too much money or might simply be unhappy in a position. But it turns out that this thinking may be outdated. Could it be time to retire this red flag?

The recession changed many of the traditional tenets of hiring, especially when it comes to overqualification. Many job seekers may have years of experience, but have been unemployed for prolonged periods due to the poor economy. Consider giving overqualified employees the benefit of the doubt, especially if they match what you’re looking for in an employee.

Large gaps between jobs

A big gap between jobs can raise some eyebrows (and red flags) in the hiring manager’s office. Questions about what the job candidate was doing during that time can come up. Should long periods of unemployment be an automatic red flag for employers?

There are many reasons for having a gap between jobs. Whether it’s economy-related unemployment or actively choosing to stay out of the workforce, a resume gap can often be legitimate. If the candidate otherwise has the skills you’re looking for, consider giving them an interview – you can use this time to discuss what skills they may have picked up during their period of unemployment. For example, traveling could lead to language skills, or a stay-at-home mom who’s reentering the workforce may be great at prioritizing. Give them a chance to explain before you write them off.

There are plenty of red flags that may come up during the hiring process. Some red flags, such as a history of criminal behavior uncovered by a screening service, may be cause for not offering a job. However, in many cases, red flags are merely yield signs. Before you eliminate somebody from the running for an open position, consider giving them a shot, especially if they’re otherwise a good candidate.

Want to discuss your “red flags”? Come find us on Facebook or Twitter – let’s chat!

The post Capture the (Red) Flag During the Hiring Process appeared first on JDP.

What happens if you find somebody else with the same name as me when researching for a background check?

Many job seekers often get nervous during a background check even if they have nothing to hide.  Many think that background screenings might turn up the misdeeds of others despite their own personally spotless records.

Don’t worry: most reputable employment screening companies will take into account that many persons can share the same name.

Your name is only the first piece of information used when conducting a background check.  Background reports are matched against other identifying information such as your current and previous addresses, as well as your Social Security number. A reputable employment screening firm will not present a report to your employer unless they are relatively certain that the information they are providing pertains to you and you alone.

If you are the victim of identity theft, this may cause some issues during the screening process.  Because identity thieves can be insidious and link their frauds with your social security number, credit report, and other biographical information, these issues may turn up in your background screening. That is why if you know that your identity had been stolen, let your potential employer know this as soon as possible so that their screening company can be on the lookout for misinformation.  And if you did not previously know your identity has been stolen, a background screening company might be able to point out this danger and may even begin to help you clear it up!

However, if you are using someone else’s identity to pass a background screening, know that a thorough background check may expose this fraud.  A background check can highlight discrepancies in residences, uncover suspicious work histories, and more!

Have you ever been a victim of mistaken identity during the hiring process? Contact us!

The post FAQ: Employment Screening, Background Checks & Mistaken Identity appeared first on JDP.