Hiring

Hiring bias alert: Beware smoking-gun e-mails

03/26/2010

Remind everyone involved in the hiring process: It’s much better to pick up the phone to discuss a candidate than it is to send an e-mail. E-mails can be recovered (and used as evidence in court); phone calls cannot.

Newark software firm must pay $1.9 million for H-1B violations

03/26/2010

Newark-based PERI Software Solutions has been cited for underpaying foreign computer analysts who came to the United States under the government’s H-1B visa program. According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, that violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.

Hiring? The legal risk of falling for great interview skills

03/23/2010

Does your selection process rely heavily on how applicants handle themselves during job interviews? If so, be aware that courts are often suspicious of such inherently subjective decision-making. That’s why it’s best to document how objective qualifications counted for more than the fleeting impression of an interview. (For another perspective on hiring, see “The top 15 oddball interview questions” below.)

Take advantage of tax breaks offered in new HIRE Act

03/23/2010

With the unemployment rate still holding stubbornly near 10%, Congress this month approved a new $18 billion bill that offers tax breaks to employers who add certain new employees to the payroll. President Obama signed it on March 18.

Gore employees use video to attract new workers

03/22/2010

Employees of Newark, Del.-based W.L. Gore & Associates are drafting new colleagues—by starring as themselves in videos about the company on a recruiting web site. The maker of GORE-TEX waterproof breathable fabrics and other textile, industrial and medical products enlisted employees for its “Join Gore & Change Your Life” campaign.

New online services give aid to résumé cheaters

03/17/2010

The Internet continues to make HR’s job of verifying résumé claims almost impossible. As job-seekers have become more desperate in the past year, a host of new online services have emerged that help applicants falsify their résumés.

Beyond the bland: 11 questions to identify ‘must hires’

03/16/2010

Most managers rely too much on a list of standard interview questions for which most applicants have canned responses. Instead, try these queries, each designed to get applicants to really tell you about themselves and their skills. Plus, read the winning entries from our just-concluded HR Professionals Week question: What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve ever experienced in a job interview?

Hiring foreign professionals and techs? H1-B visa deadline is April 1

03/16/2010

The federal government will begin accepting employers’ petitions for H1-B visas on April 1, the first step employers must take to hire foreign workers to fill certain “professional” and “specialty occupation” positions. A better economy means the available 85,000 visas might be snapped up fast this year. Here’s how to get a jump on your competition.

Lawsuit-proof hiring tactic: Develop a policy to post all jobs–and follow it

03/15/2010

Here’s one of the simplest ways to avoid failure-to-hire litigation: Adopt a uniform system for posting openings—and then stick with that system. If you do, employees won’t be able to claim later that they didn’t know about an opening and would have applied if only they knew. Plus, transparency protects you against claims you were trying to dissuade certain individuals from applying.

Use ‘no-reapplication’ clause to settle discrimination cases once and for all

03/12/2010

Some discrimination cases have a way of resurfacing even after you thought you had settled the matter. That can happen when the litigious employee reapplies for work. If you’re going to settle a case, consider including a clause that guarantees the former employee will never apply again. That might have been prudent in the following case: