by Employment Screening Alliance | Dec 1, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | Job Candidate with a Criminal Record? Pt. 2
Fingerprinting | Results Validated
The Harvard-Amherst study isn’t alone in its assessment.
Canadian Big Data firm Evolv crunched numbers and found that “criminals can make better employees than anyone else.”
The firm calculated that employees with criminal backgrounds are 1 to 1.5 percent more productive on the job than people without criminal records.
Such productivity “could result in tens of millions in profit and loss gain” said the company.
Why the Surprising Results?
Evolv speculated that perhaps employees with records may feel a sense of loyalty and/or gratitude to a business that would see beyond their mistakes and provide them with an opportunity.
Is that enough to persuade prospective employers?
Evolv’s CEO Max Simkoff said, “…I tell them their own data is showing this—if they want to save $10 million a year, they should make the change. But what they do with the data is ultimately up to them.”
Sociologist Jennifer Lundquist, one of the authors of the Harvard-Amherst paper, speculatedthat people with criminal records may want to “go the extra mile” for businesses offering them a chance to get beyond their pasts.
“Our main argument is that the ‘whole person’ criteria is something we think employers should explore as a possibility.”
Otherwise, employers “may be losing out by just banning ex-felons altogether who turn out to be pretty good employees when given that chance—and when properly screened.”
“The screening process clearly works, there’s no question,” Lundquist noted. “But I also suspect there may be something else going on here, which is the interesting social question.”
She hypothesizes that criminal record holders may do better than those without a record and outperform their peers because they want to pay back an employer – in this case, the military – that offered them a second chance.
Another explanation may lay in the fact that, in serving in the military, they were removed from an environment that may have tempted or influenced them to break the law.
The military also offers a highly-disciplined hierarchy that is so responsibility-focused it may keep individuals from misbehaving. -HireRight
Learn what ESA can do for you! Call 866-830-3724 to discuss fingerprinting services or complete the form on www.esascreening.com now!
by Employment Screening Alliance | Nov 11, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | 9 Reasons Not To Ignore Active Job Seekers Pt. 2
Fingerprinting | Judging a person by the small amount of information available on their LinkedIn profile is to unnecessarily narrow the options.
6. Passive job seekers tend to have outdated profiles
When a person is happy in their current role, they usually do not maintain an updated profile on LinkedIn or any of the job search sites. Approaching someone with outdated information about their job history can waste time and resources.
Passive job seekers are in control – because YOU called THEM
Negotiating a package with a passive job seeker starts with you, the employer or recruiter, on the back foot. You called them so they know they have the upper hand. Landing a qualified person for the role who was recruited passively may cost more than landing a qualified person for the role who was recruited actively. Same result, more money spent.
7. Active job seekers are ready to go – now!
When you’ve got a time-sensitive recruitment job, passive candidates are not your best friend. You’ll destroy your reputation or hurt your business in the process of attempting to only recruit people who are currently happy in their roles and who may have lengthy notice periods. If you need to open a new office in a new city and staff it with 20 employees, you should be prepared to consider active employees or you’ll never get it off the ground.
8. Passive does not necessarily equal ‘talented’
Theoretically, if someone searching for a job means they are untalented, someone who is not searching for a job must be talented – right? This is completely untrue and quite ridiculous. There are plenty of deadbeat, uninspired and quite simply average employees quite happily sucking their current employer dry and getting through their regular 9-5.
9. Why does it matter how they got to you?
A great candidate is a great candidate.
Judge their ability to do the job not by how they arrived at your door but by how they have evidenced their ability to perform in the past, what that says about their future ability and how they respond in your interviews and questioning. These are greater predictors of their future success at your company than how their resume got into your inbox. -Recruit Loop
Learn what ESA can do for you! Call 866-830-3724 to discuss fingerprinting services or complete the form on www.esascreening.com now!
by Employment Screening Alliance | Nov 9, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | When Employers Don’t Get Back to Candidates
Fingerprinting | You’re busy and you simply don’t have time to let every candidate know when they didn’t make the cut.
And you’re certainly not alone. Recruiters and hiring managers at nearly every organization advertising an open position is overwhelmed these days.
But if you find a few moments, peruse any job website or bulletin board focusing on jobs and one of the most frequently asked questions – and probably the greatest source of anger, discouragement and confusion in searching for a job – is why organizations don’t communicate with candidates following the interview.
Just take a look at www.reddit.com/r/jobs. Posts from frustrated job applicants include titles such as:
“I’m getting really tired of employers saying they’re going to call you and then not”
“Waiting on formal job offer/start date after informal offer.”
“After final interview – was supposed to hear a decision yesterday and didn’t. When do I reach out?”
“(rant) Please don’t set up a phone interview if you’re not going to call.”
Such angst is understandable. They’ve spent countless hours fine-tuning a resume, tweaking it so their applicable skills are accentuated. They’ve had a friend further scrutinize it with a fresh pair of eyes to make sure every “I” is dotted, every “t” crossed, and spellcheck didn’t miss something. He or she probably sweated bullets preparing for one or more interviews that could enable him or her to land that dream job – fresh challenges, a salary he or she may really need, a career with a future, and insurance coverage that his or her family may have been desperately looking forward to.
The interview goes well. So does the next one, and the one with the big boss. “We’ll be in touch,” he or she is told as you firmly shake hands and they head home, head held high and a smile on their face.
And then they wait.
And wait.
And wait some more, hoping to get good news. Heck, any news!
They check their email every few minutes. And make sure their phone’s battery hasn’t died and their ringer is turned up.
And they hear nothing.
Nothing.
The sad truth is that only the candidate who is offered the job actually hears back. The others are left in limbo.
Typically, recruiters and hiring managers say they’re too busy to let candidates know they didn’t get the job. And no one enjoys being the bearer of bad news.
Yet, letting candidates down can be done quite simply.
You can write a simple email that states your organization has decided to hire a candidate whose qualifications more closely match your needs. You don’t go into detail as to what the candidate lacked; this also allows you to use the same email for multiple candidates. Don’t give advice as what they can do better; but do let each candidate know they didn’t get the job, and do it in a timely manner.
Even classier: Have postcards printed that gently delivers the bad news. It’s more personal than an email and, since space on a postcard is limited, the message won’t and can’t be too long. Extra points for you and your company if you address and sign them by hand.
If you’re really comfortable doing so and have time, call the candidates and tell them what’s up. This very direct method requires skill in delivering an uncomfortable message and, again, you would want to be tactful and avoid reasons, subjective judgments, and other conversation that could be misconstrued.
Will it take some time to contact the candidates? Sure. But in this age where anyone with an internet connection and accounts on Facebook, LinkedIn, or countless job sites can besmirch you and your organization’s reputation when they feel they’ve been ignored or insulted, it may pay great dividends to invest some time into contacting the runners-up. Consider at least contacting candidates who made it to the final round(s).
Tom Petty’s song “The Waiting” hits the nail on the head: “The waiting is the hardest part.” Put yourself in the candidates’ shoes: Wouldn’t you feel better – and wouldn’t you have more respect for a company – if you weren’t left in the dark about whether or not you got the gig? Some candidates may think he or she got the job and not continue looking, wasting precious time. Let him or her go and move forward with their job search!
HireRight created a “Candidate Resentment Calculator” to determine how much a negative candidate experience may hurt a brand’s reputation and potential revenue. It noted that:
Resentment manifests in a variety of ways:
- Sharing negative experiences over multiple social channels
- Communicating those experiences with an inner circle
- Spending consumer dollars at a competing business in both the short and long term
Take a few moments to take this informative survey. The results may surprise you. And for an in-depth exploration of Candidate Resentment and its repercussions, tune in to HireRight’s On-Demand webinar, “Beyond Talent, What Else Are You Losing during the Recruitment Process,” conducted by talent management strategist, consultant, and trainer, Elaine Orler.
Again, a candidate who never hears back, particularly when he or she is told “We’ll be in touch,” may make your company famous – and not in a good way. Let him or her know what’s up, even if it takes a little time. In the long run, spending those few minutes on something else may cost you: As Warren Buffett said, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” -HireRight
We strictly verify the potential employee’s past education and employment records to see if they are aligned with the information the potential employee has given us.
For more information regarding E.S.A’s background screening solutions contact us at 866-619-9646.
by Employment Screening Alliance | Oct 31, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | 5 Reasons You Should Eliminate Chairs From Meetings Pt. 2
Fingerprinting | Holding standup meetings creates an opportunity for team members to alternate their workspaces and encourages them to get out of their seats throughout the day.
4. The energy is higher
Professional people spend a good number of their working hours in meetings. If you’ve participated in your share of them, you know they can be draining at times. It’s not hard to imagine that 91 percent of people reported daydreaming during meetings and 39 percent have fallen asleep.
This can’t solely be because people are not interested in the content being presented, or that their meetings take place after eating a big lunch. There’s a physiological rationale for why people are tuning out.
Sitting causes people to be less energetic overall, but holding standing meetings are one easy way to mitigate this unfavorable effect. Scientific evidence supports the benefits of standing because it releases endorphins, the naturally produced hormones that make you more alert and energetic.
Also, team members may exhibit more creativity and excitement when removed from a sedentary space. One study found that teams that stood had greater physiological arousal than teams that sat for meetings. By altering the environment where your team meets, you may be giving them subconscious permission to be more liberal with innovative ideas. People feed off one another’s energy, so if standing encourages a feeling of liveliness and high engagement with several team members, that will likely transfer to others in the group.
5. Changing the format can change the perception
Meetings are a function of business that can’t be eliminated.
They’ll exist as long as team members need to exchange ideas and information and come to consensus. But they do have a bad reputation for being time-consuming, boring and the reason people can’t get any real work done.
You still have to conduct meetings, so finding a way to keep people interested in them will benefit the entire group. When team members come with the expectation that the meeting will be focused, productive and efficient, it may yield better results.
While standups of today are credited with coming from the technology world, some military leaders held standups during World War I. They have a long history of being an effective communication channel, and the trend toward them is alive and well.
Some companies keep standing meetings interesting by adding rituals to them, such as starting and ending them with music to signal to participants that the meeting is beginning and ending. Others have incorporated fun rules such as having latecomers pay a small fine or sing a silly song in front of the group. –Recruit LOop
Learn what ESA can do for you! Call 866-830-3724 to discuss fingerprinting services or complete the form on www.esascreening.com now!
by Employment Screening Alliance | Oct 26, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | Benefits of Outsourcing Occupational Health Programs
Fingerprinting | While there are any number of reasons that an employer may desire to conduct medical screening on their employees, employers generally conduct medical screening on their employees for two basic reasons:
1. An employer may be required by regulation to perform some form of medical screening.These regulations are often based on either federal or state laws. Examples of employers subject to such regulations are those in the Transportation, Healthcare, and Mining industries. There are, of course, other regulations and industries that may have the need to conduct medical screening beyond those highlighted here.
2. Create a safer and more effective workforce. The major benefits of these programs are:
- Reduce absenteeism due to injury
- Reduce work related injuries
- Help assess an employee’s ability to safely perform your particular job requirements
- Reduce employee turnover
- Establish a baseline health condition for future comparison
While many employers are aware of the need to perform medical screens, some employers may be unaware of the hard costs associated with these types of testing.
Examinations, immunizations, respirator clearance testing, audiograms, and other such related exams all cost money.
One item, however, that employers often overlook is the administration cost of managing these programs.
The costs that employers often miss are:
- Cost of clinic selection
- Picking the best clinic at the best price
- Cost of clinic management
- Making appointments
- Tracking down exam statuses
- Cost of a poor applicant experience (use of an inconvenient clinic)
- Candidate attraction
- Employee retention
The cost of clinic selection is an easy concept to appreciate, but it is hard to quantify.
Companies often have static clinics networks that do not change. Over time these clinics often increase their fees.
Since companies do not routinely go out to bid for these occupational health services, these fee increases will cause a substantial increase in their program cost.
Not managing clinic selection could cost companies a substantial amount of money since they are not leveraging their size to help mitigate program cost inflation.
Cost of clinic management for companies is substantial.
In the post offer arena, companies have their Talent Acquisition team manage making clinic appointments for candidates as well as track down occupational health service paperwork.
In the post-employment arena, the responsibility may be managed by another team, but the hard cost remains the same.
The management cost can be quantified by tracking the number of hours the personnel managing the program spends dealing with the clinic.
According to a recent report by Bersin by Deloitte, companies reported that their average talent acquisition cost increased to nearly $4,000 per hire.
A positive candidate experience should definitely be valued while spending this much per person.
If a candidate or employee has a better impression of a company, their employee retention rate may increase as well.
Outsourcing the management of clinic services also coincides with a positive candidate experience, along with other significant cost savings.
When opting to use a third party vendor, the following benefits are appreciated:
- Clinic Selection – vendors who are in the business of managing clinics may be able to select clinics with the best price point. Vendors also can regularly evaluate clinics for performance and compliance. Even though it is hard to quantify this value, it is easy to appreciate the benefit of using the best clinic at the best rate possible, while also saving you time in the process.
- Clinic Management – setting appointments and tracking down occupational health service statuses and paperwork cost companies significant amounts of money. The real cost is figured by tracking the number of hours spent managing this program in-house. For example, a large telecommunications company states that they saved over $900,000 in one year by outsourcing their clinic management to a third party. This cost savings was garnered over 10,000 candidates making the savings per candidate around $90. This figure per candidate is most likely pretty standard. Outsourcing the clinic management can be an effective way to mitigate this line item expense.
- Candidate Experience – using a vendor who can work with your candidates to establish a convenient testing site location will enhance their candidate fingerprinting experience. This positive experience is fostered by individual coordination of the medical screening event. When services are individually coordinated, the candidate feels that they are being treated as an important individual. This may make a positive impression on the new employee which may enhance employee retention rates. The impact of reducing employee turnover, even as little as 1%, is huge when it comes to return on investment. -HireRight
Learn what ESA can do for you! Call 866-830-3724 to discuss fingerprinting services or complete the form on www.esascreening.com now!
by Employment Screening Alliance | Oct 14, 2016 | Fingerprinting
Fingerprinting | A Guide To Quality (Not Just Quantity) Hires Pt. 2
Fingerprinting | A strong brand or positive reviews in the industry or on social media can go a long way in attracting more candidates. [ Tweet this!]
6. Consider using temporary staffing agencies
Staffing a temp is sometimes a good way to “try someone out” before you commit to hiring them full-time.
7. Conduct thorough background screens
This is can be a crucial step to help you evaluate who you are hiring.
The fact is that candidates may try to embellish their resume and can potentially fake their way through a great interview.
Background screens can help weed out the impostors and may deter candidates who know about your screening process from lying. [ Tweet this!]
How to Keep Quality Employees:
1. Offer better benefits besides pay
Candidates consider many factors when looking for a job, besides the pay.
Other benefits, such as flexible work schedules, positive work environments, or longer parental leave, may be more important to a candidate than salary alone.
2. Conduct exit interviews
Exit interviews can give great insight to why people are leaving your organization. [ Tweet this!]
Another way to focus on employee retention is to conduct stay interviews. These types of interviews allow managers to assess what is and isn’t working in the work environment.
3. Start quality hires at the top
Hire supervisors that are supportive and can communicate clear expectations that will facilitate a positive work environment and promote job security. [ Tweet this!]
4. Create an open work environment
Employees should be able to offer feedback and feel that they have a voice that is heard within an organization.
5. Offer opportunities and growth
People will tend to leave a job when they feel like there is no more room for growth. -HireRight
Learn what ESA can do for you! Call 866-830-3724 to discuss fingerprinting services or complete the form on www.esascreening.com now!
