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Perform Due Diligence On Potential Employees

A small-business owner frustrated by tight-lipped references recently asked, "Short of
hiring a detective, what can I do to gather information on job candidates?"

By BOB ROSNER StartupJournal.com

His letter
reminded me of my brother’s high-school reunion. Jay ambled in and spotted someone
who looked vaguely familiar. "Whatcha been doing?" he asked. "Oh, I’ve been up at the
state pen — ten years, armed robbery." Jay did a double take, talked to the guy for a
while, then went off to mingle. "What’s up?" he asked another former classmate. "I don’t
know," the guy answered, "I just got out of the big house."

I believe everyone deserves a second chance, and that you don’t necessarily need to
know a person’s entire history to make a hiring decision. But you do need to know how
your candidates have performed on jobs in the past, and this information is becoming
harder to obtain. The tips below will make it possible for you to ferret out the truth. For
more, check out Robert Half’s book, "Finding, Hiring and Keeping the Best Employees"
(John Wiley & Sons, 1993).

Does your application encourage people to tell the truth? People like to
embellish the past. Reduce that temptation by stating on your application that
anyone who provides false information is subject to dismissal. Also tell candidates
that the information they provide will be verified.

Do you make the best use of references? Ask for at least ten references
instead of the usual three. This will force most candidates to list those with a more
balanced view of them. Then start calling from the bottom of the list.

Do you emphasize your interest in honesty? Tell both candidates and
references that you believe no one is perfect and that you discount purely positive
recommendations.

Are you calling the best references? References from people in
human-resources departments often sound like clips from the television show
Dragnet — "just the facts, ma’am." To get the best information, contact people who
have actually worked with the candidate.

Are you getting the most from your references? Studies show that written
references are considered reliable by only 37% of those surveyed, compared to
51% when the reference is given over the phone and 70% when given during a
personal visit. You can’t visit references for every candidate, but you may want to
do so when filling a really important position.

Do you verify negative references? Perhaps the candidate and the referring
person had a personality conflict. Or maybe the manager was upset about losing
his or her employee. Don’t take any one reference at face value. Double-check any
that stand out, and evaluate them all as a package.

By the way, the importance of checking references doesn’t apply only to permanent
staffers. I received an e-mail once from a supervisor who had just seen her newest temp
on television — on America’s Most Wanted.

— Mr. Rosner is the author of Working Wounded, a Web site and internationally syndicated column. He’s also the co-author of "The Boss’s
Survival Guide" (McGraw-Hill, 2001) with Allan Halcrow and Alan S. Levins.

http://www.startupjournal.com/columnists/newventure/20020227-nva.html

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