09/03/2010
Here’s a simple hiring best practice to follow: Advertise all your open positions internally and let employees and applicants know how to look for opportunities. Otherwise, you could be sued by an employee or potential applicant, alleging that she would have applied if she had only known about the opening.
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09/01/2010
Many employers are discovering they have many—perhaps dozens—of well-qualified applicants for each opening. That may leave some perfectly qualified applicants wondering why they weren’t picked. Don’t fret about selecting the applicant with the best résumé. While you may be sued by another applicant who believes some form of discrimination must have been at work in the selection process, that lawsuit won’t go far.
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08/27/2010
Buoyed by a good education system, low costs and a falling crime rate, Pittsburgh has placed fourth on Forbes magazine’s annual list of the nation’s best cities for working mothers. The rankings were based on a survey that weighed women’s income, cost of living, availability of pediatricians, safety, employment and spending on education.
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08/24/2010
DHS has issued final regulations clearing the way for employers to electronically sign and store the I-9 employment eligibility verification forms that must be on file for all employees. Here are the links you need to capitalize on this initiative, which should reduce your paperwork burden.
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08/24/2010
One of the country’s fastest-growing companies, Kirkland, Wash.-based LTC Financial Partners is looking for 300 new sales agents—and when those jobs are filled, more will open. Because the organization is constantly hiring, it’s also constantly trying to get new employees up to speed. So it created the LTC Insurance Training Institute to get recruits ready to work within five days.
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08/20/2010
“Hi, this is Mike from XYZ Company. I’d like to ask you a few questions about a former employee whom you used to manage.” At some point in managers’ careers, they’ll receive such a phone call from an ex-employee’s prospective employer. Be careful: One simple mistake in your response could trigger an expensive lawsuit. Remember: Never disclose medical information about former employees.
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08/19/2010
Transportation Security Administration job ads let potential hires know the federal agency offers “a career where X-ray vision and federal benefits come standard.” Lately, it’s letting them know it on pizza boxes. The agency has started paying to post want ads on pizza boxes all around the D.C. metropolitan area in an effort to reach more applicants.
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08/18/2010
Q. What are the new hiring preference requirements on Illinois public works projects?
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08/18/2010
When hiring people who tout themselves as Microsoft Word “experts,” here’s a way to see if they really know how to use the software: Ask them to send the résumé in Word format, then simply click the Show/Hide button. It can reveal telltale signs of rookie moves.
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08/16/2010
I keep warning readers about the “new” EEOC and how it’s getting much more aggressive. The agency is keeping more cases, rather than issuing “right to sue” letters. It’s securing smaller settlements, but in greater volume. Now, a new court ruling just gave the EEOC even more powerful ammunition to use against your company if it’s accused of discrimination …
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08/12/2010
If you can’t explain how you select candidates or why you hired one applicant instead of another, get ready for court! However, there’s a simple, two-step way to keep from being sued: 1. Create a hiring process that makes sense. 2. Follow it rigorously.
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08/11/2010
If you’re hiring for a position with very specific requirements, you may get a limited number of applicants, maybe even just one. But take note: It’s perfectly legal to decline to hire—or promote—somebody simply because he’s the only applicant. If the lone applicant doesn’t fit the job description, it’s allowable to wait for more applicants or change your recruiting strategy.
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08/11/2010
In a Robert Half International survey, employees rated “working for a stable company” and “having a strong sense of job security” as the two most important factors about their work situation. Robert Half District President Brett Good suggests that organizations should leverage that new desire for stability during the hiring process. Here are six ideas from the survey that might work for you:
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08/10/2010
Every employee needs a Form I-9 on file to establish his or her identity and legal work status. Now the Obama administration is pushing hard to get employers to adopt the online E-Verify employment eligibility verification system. Learn what this shift means for your HR shop.
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08/10/2010
“Communications don’t have to come from benefits people to raise concerns about company benefit liability,” says Pamela Perdue, a benefits attorney with Summers Compton & Wells in St. Louis. For that reason, Perdue suggests employers give their hiring managers a “cheat sheet” to reference when talking about company benefits.
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