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Hiring

Save medical exams for last step in pre-hire screening

08/01/2005
When you or your hiring managers need to fill an open slot fast, it may be tempting to skip steps in the application process. But don’t do it.
Follow the …

‘Winging it’ during interviews poses double danger

08/01/2005
Using unstructured, “tell me about yourself” questions during job interviews not only opens you to discrimination claims, it often results in poor hires, says Mindy Chapman, national director of training for …

Interviewing older candidates: Don’t cross the bias line

08/01/2005
THE LAW. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) makes it illegal to discriminate in the work-place against people over age 40 on the basis of their age. The law …

Raise campus visibility to attract better grads, interns

08/01/2005
Issue: Becoming more involved in a local college’s career programs, beyond attending job fairs and posting openings.
Risk: Your organization can morph itself into an employer of choice for interns …

Apply now for a ‘dot-jobs’ recruiting Web address

08/01/2005
You can now simplify your online recruiting process by registering for an Internet address that ends in “.jobs.” The .jobs domain was approved earlier this year and SHRM announced that registration …

Benchmark your recruiting site: 4 questions to ask

08/01/2005
Issue: Your Web site’s “Career” page is the first (or only) experience that many potential applicants have with your organization.
Risk: Blow this opportunity, as many do, and those star …

Personality tests: Yours may now be illegal

08/01/2005
If your job-screening process includes personality testing, review that test now to see if it includes any questions that could be considered “medical inquiries” revealing a person’s mental disability. And check …

Don’t punish employees for wrong drug-Test hunch

08/01/2005

Q. We suspected an employee was using drugs, so we sent him to be tested. We told him he couldn’t work until the test came back in two days. The results were negative. What financial responsibility do we have? Do we owe him lost wages for those two days? —L.B., North Carolina

Don’t base hiring decisions on applicants’ childbirth plans

07/01/2005
Issue: Who qualifies for protection under the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)?
Risk: Many supervisors mistakenly believe that women must be pregnant to be covered under PDA. Not true.
…

Can you (and should you) refuse to hire smokers? Know the law

07/01/2005
Some of your employees may be a month into their New Year’s resolution to quit smoking. But what if you, as an organization, wanted to kick the habit in a different way—by refusing to hire employees that smoke?