The first step to a new hire is to recruit applicants, and one great way to do that is from within your own staff.  Your current employees are already familiar with the company, and employee morale is improved by knowing there is room for growth and good performance is rewarded.

Employees should be encouraged to apply for new positions, or to recommend acquaintances they know who would bring needed skills to your workforce.  An internal search can be conducted prior to, or alongside, other recruiting efforts.

Those outside efforts can include advertising in industry publications, word-of-mouth in the industry, job posting websites, traditional print media, and employment agencies.  Depending on your business and the position, there may be professional association websites and university career centers that are excellent places to post the opening.

A superior workforce requires planning. Whether you are hiring your first employee, or one among many, there are steps you should take before you even place an ad for a new employee. First, of course, is to clearly determine the actual need for the new or replacement hire. Consider if there is another way to accomplish the work: review improving processes, redistribution of workload, or eliminating redundant or out of date procedures. Once the decision is made that a new hire is required, involve current staff who are familiar with the work involved in planning and developing the list of key requirements and other desired traits for the ideal new employee to fill the job. From there, rewrite or develop a job description and pay range. Make a final decision that the pay range is within current budget for hiring at this time.

Once a job offer has been made to a person with a disability, the employer may ask questions relating to the disability, as well as conduct medical examinations. The only restriction is that the same questions and examinations must be used with every employee in the same job category. If, during the course of the additional questions and medical examination, it becomes clear that the new hire cannot perform the essential job functions, or that they would pose a significant threat of harm to the health or safety to others or their self, you may withdraw the job offer. Before doing so, however, you should consider if there is a reasonable accommodation that could enable the person to complete the job duties.

Obviously, it’s important to have interview questions that will give you the information you need to assess the applicant’s ability to do the job, and how well they will fit into your company. However, care must also be taken not to ask questions which are discriminatory, and therefore illegal. The wording of a question can open you to discrimination claims, even if the intent is to obtain information that is legal to request. For example, you may not ask an applicant if they are a U.S. citizen, but you may ask if they are authorized to work in the U.S. It’s worth doing research to be sure you are asking appropriate questions! Other subjects to be sure you are clear about are race, color, sex, religion, national origin, birthplace, age, disability, and marital or family status.

In cases where a business serves vulnerable populations (such as the disabled, elderly, or youth), local or state laws and/or licensing requirements may mandate screening of at least some employees. There may also be clauses included in agreements with your insurance carrier, or in contracts for use of local government-owned facilities. In the instance of your insurer, it would most likely be if they are insuring you against claims that would arise out of negligent hiring lawsuits. When using government-owned facilities where vulnerable populations will be served, screening clauses are to be expected as part of the contract.

Reasonable Accommodation for Disabled Employees

All employers with 15 or more employees are required by the ADA to make ‘reasonable accommodation’ for individual with disabilities to have equal employment opportunities. Examples of this would be a deaf person needing someone to read bulletin board notices, an interpreter for a deaf person during the interview, or special scheduling to accommodate a diabetics need for regular food and time to monitor blood sugar. Reasonable accommodations must be provided to disabled employees so that they can apply for, perform the duties of, and enjoy the benefits in their job equal to other employees. Reasonable accommodations do not mean that an employer must suffer undue hardship, such as a significant expense (based on the employers resources and normal business operation). Most such accommodations are actually very low cost, and can then often be offset with tax credits.

Until a job offer is made, an employer cannot ask questions related to a disability, nor can a medical examination be performed. All questions on both the application and during an interview should focus on non-medical job qualifications, education, and employment history. It is acceptable to ask a disabled applicant if they can meet the job’s essential requirements and duties. You may also ask why they left a previous job, about any past discipline, and how much time they took off in a previous position (but not the reasons). You may not ask about prior worker compensation history, use of medication, any question about their impairment, or how they became disabled. A person with a disability can be asked if they will need a reasonable accommodation to perform the job being applied for.

The expected benefit of background screening applicants is to prevent hiring someone with a dangerous criminal background, or perhaps to uncover dishonest resumes. By advertising that you will use background screening as a normal part of your hiring process, you can gain an additional benefit. Known criminals will be reluctant to even apply for the job, and applicants are much more likely to provide a complete and truthful application or resume. This will obviously save time and money in an employer’s hiring process, before they even being reviewing applications!

Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) Text

Read the complete text of the FCRA here:

www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Information

http://www.ada.gov/

The Americans with Disabilities Act has the goal of providing equal access and opportunities to individuals with disabilities; it is not meant to give unfair advantage to the disabled. Employers are not required to hire a disabled person over a more qualified applicant. It is important for employers to be sure to provide equal opportunity to those with disabilities to both apply for, and work in, jobs for which they are otherwise qualified. It is also mandatory to provide disabled employees equal access to the benefits and privileges as other employees (including such things as training and health insurance), to assure the disabled are not harassed because of their disability, and to provide equal promotion opportunities for all employees without regard to disability.