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Hiring

That’s not a contract! Feel free to make hiring contingent on passing background check

08/23/2011

It’s common to tell a job applicant he’s hired—as long as a background check doesn’t reveal anything that would disqualify him. But some applicants think such an offer creates a contractual relationship. Under most circumstances, it doesn’t.

Experience isn’t the only valid job qualification

08/23/2011

The job candidate with the most experience might also be the oldest applicant. But that doesn’t mean you always have to pick him. You can use other factors as long as none of them hints at age discrimination. The key is to maintain impeccable records showing how and why you chose the candidate you did.

The price of a poorly worded want ad: a cool $1 million

08/23/2011
“Recent college graduates” in their “early 20s and 30s” is how ­Cavalier Telephone described—both orally and in writing—their preference for sales candidates. This overt age bias brought the wrath of the EEOC.

Words that win: 4 nontraditional job interview questions

08/17/2011

Filling a job opening can be tricky if there are several great candidates. You can separate the best from the rest by changing up the usual interview questions. Here are four nontraditional job interview questions to elicit answers that will help you assess candidates on a different level.

Photo Matching and E-Verify?

08/10/2011
Question: If an employee provides an I-9 document that’s subject to photo matching in E-Verify, can an employer ask or require the employee to provide a copy of the document to use during the E-Verify process?

How should we respond to a ‘no-match’ letter?

08/10/2011
In April 2011, the Social Security Administration resumed the practice of sending no-match letters, which notify an employer of a discrepancy between information they reported on an employee’s W-2 form and information in the SSA’s database. The DOJ’s Office of Special Counsel for Immigration-Related Unfair Employment Practices recently issued the following “do’s and don’ts” regarding no-match letters:

What do we need to do to hire an H-1B immigrant currently working for another employer?

08/10/2011
Q. We are interested in hiring someone who is currently working for another company in H-1B status. Do we have to file a new H-1B application before this person can work for our company? If so, how long do we have to wait until he can start work?

The ICE man cometh … with a notice of intent to audit

08/10/2011
You may have noticed a slight chill in the air recently. For the second time this year, ICE has notified 1,000 employers that it plans to inspect their Form I-9 records. Whether your company has received a Notice of Intent to Audit or you have been lucky enough to avoid one until now, it is important to understand how a NOI may impact your organization.

Clear and fair hiring process yields the best candidates–and impresses judges

08/10/2011

Employers that develop clear, fair and transparent hiring processes seldom have to worry about losing a failure-to-hire lawsuit. That’s true even if they end up using so-called subjective reasons for not hiring a candidate. Simply put, judges are impressed when it looks like a potential employer bends over backward to ensure it doesn’t discriminate.

Does your organization plan to add staff between now and the end of 2011?

08/09/2011
Despite economic doldrums, HR Weekly readers say they’ll do at least some hiring in the second half of the year.