Hiring a candidate just because they have a college degree and a job may not be the best strategy. Being unemployed doesn’t mean the candidate is not qualified or not a good employee. Many good workers are unemployed and just need a chance to prove themselves. Instead of dismissing a candidate whose employment was terminated, consider these possibilities:  

• They may not have fit well at their previous company or organization, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t a good fit for you. You can ask the candidate to explain their termination to help you get a sense of whether they will work well in your company culture.
• People can also get fired if they had to work with bad managers. You can probably think of a boss you had in your employment history who wasn’t easy to get along with or wasn’t qualified to lead. If you put yourself in their shoes, can you really blame them?
• Making mistakes is part of the learning process. A mistake that cost them their job won’t be easy to forget so you can hire them knowing they aren’t likely to make the same mistake twice.
• Some people just have really bad luck. If you’re the employer to give them a second chance, your new employee will be grateful and anxious not to return to unemployment.

Hiring the right people for your organization is difficult and you’re not alone in this. It’s difficult for most organizations and businesses. So, just because this candidate was a bad hire somewhere else, this doesn’t mean they aren’t worth your time.

You should try to get a comprehensive understanding of the candidate’s qualifications, skills, and personality before making a decision. In order to do this, you can conduct background screening checks and interviews. If you have questions about employment verifications, background screening and reference checks, feel free to contact us!

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Education vs. Employment History

Significant research has been conducted on the correlation between a student’s performance in college and how it will help in the workplace. Ernst and Young’s U.K. office decided to remove the degree requirement from their application. After conducting an internal study of 400 employees, they found little evidence that academic success was correlated with the job performance of new hires.

Whether you require candidates to have a degree or not also depends on your industry. You wouldn’t hire someone to be a doctor or a teacher if their highest form of education was high school. Other industries, however, can benefit from hiring candidates without degrees. The tech industry in particular seems to agree that hiring outside of the college educated applicants is a smart move.

Advantages to Removing Degree Requirements

There are a few benefits to allowing candidates without degrees apply for positions at your organization. Here are some of the advantages:

• About 68% of Americans age 25 or older don’t have a bachelor’s degree so by eliminating the college education requirement you’re expanding the candidate pool.
• Many candidates who don’t have bachelor’s degrees will have more hands-on work experience.
• Candidates won’t be pressured to lie about their education history on resumes or during interviews.

Removing degree requirements can be beneficial for some positions but this isn’t always the case. Some skills and traits can only be acquired on the job whereas others require a college education. Consider the requirements of your industry and the position before removing degree requirements because every position is different and the benefits listed above may not work for your industry.

No matter what criteria you’re looking for in candidates, whether it’s education or work history, make sure you verify their claims. With about 40 percent of applicants lying on resumes, background check screening and verification processes are essential to an efficient workplace. If you have questions about risk mitigation solutions, feel free to contact us!

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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!

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Hiring new employees is a stressful process no matter what size company you work for. Many screening services, however, aren’t as accessible to small businesses as they are to large corporations. A small to medium size business could get left in the dust at a background check company that’s designed to focus on large companies.

Don’t let that discourage you. Small and medium size businesses should conduct background checks on employees for the same reasons as larger companies. Hiring the wrong person can be expensive. 27% of U.S. employers claim a single bad hire can cost around $50,000 and small or medium size businesses usually aren’t equipped to handle extra costs for liabilities. Large corporations, on the other hand, are more likely to have the resources to absorb the ramifications involved with a bad hire.

The best option for any size business is to do everything in your power to avoid sticky situations that might lead to terminating an employee or paying for the consequences of a negligent hire. So, what should a small or medium size business owner do if they want to start hiring new employees quickly?

JDP Self Signup Portal

That’s where we come in. JDP has an online tool designed to meet the needs of small to medium-size businesses of about 500 employees or less. JDP’s Self Signup Portal simplifies the process of setting up an account and requesting services for smaller companies. Instead of getting lost amidst tons of other small businesses, JDP’s new signup tool allows you to start requesting background screening services within 48 hours of using the Signup Portal.

The Self Signup Portal allows you to select one of four recommended packages or create a custom package of background screening services. With options for every industry from health care to trucking, you can select services including drug testing, employment verification, criminal database searches, and more.

This tool allows for quick account setup so you can start screening applicants and help your business grow faster. The Self Signup Portal combined with JDP’s accurate, hand checked reports and innovative risk mitigation solutions makes background screening your future employees easy, whether you’re a small mom-and-pop shop or a promising startup company harboring a million-dollar idea. If you have any questions, please contact us!

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How Long Must Employers Keep Records?

Depending on the status of a company, you are usually required to keep documents for at least one year according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Documents include anything related to employment and job candidates such as:

• Application forms

• Requests for reasonable accommodation

• Records involving hiring, training and promotion

• Documents regarding transfer, termination, and compensation

Private companies are required to keep these records for one year, while state and local governments and educational institutions must maintain records for at least two years. If an outside company has a sizeable contract with the government they must also maintain records for a minimum of two years.

In some cases, employers must keep records indefinitely. For example, if an employee files a discrimination claim against a company, the employment records must be maintained throughout the subsequent legal procedures.

Proper Disposal Methods

After the appropriate amount of time, you can finally destroy the records, if you choose. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforces the disposal regulations for organizations with sensitive information on individuals. As a consumer reporting agency, JD Palatine must also follow the proper disposal methods. You can find out if the rules apply to you and your organization on the FTC website. When it comes to destroying sensitive information, the disposal method depends on what type of records you have:

• For hard copies, you must burn, pulverize, or shred records

• For electronic files, you must erase them. Because electronic files can be more difficult to destroy, the FTC suggests hiring a document destruction contractor.

The hiring process is stressful enough without also having to worry about identity theft and security. So, make sure you store sensitive information properly and for the appropriate amount time before destruction. It’s also recommended you keep track of the personnel information you have. If you have records of the personnel records, you will be able to determine if something has gone missing. If you have any more questions about how to handle consumer reports appropriately, please contact us!

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