No matter how many job interviews you may have been to, sitting in front of a potential employer and answering the question “why should we hire you?” can still be pretty nerve-racking.

Being well-prepared is by far the best way to ease the pre-interview jitters and show the interviewer your best side.

Kandi Mensing shares her knowledge. Read more at: http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/careers/resumes/job-interview-tips

It can be tempting to write your job requisition and then just wait for the resumes to come flooding in. It may seem redundant to have a job application as well, when all the job applicant's information is hopefully already on their resume, but here are some reasons why you need an application.

• An application allows you to compile all the information you need in one place.
• An application is the perfect place for a permission statement, which gives you the authority to call former employers and check references. You can also include at-will and false information statements, which inform candidates of your requirements.
• You can customize the application to gather the information you need, including education requirements or certifications, to make a preliminary decision what candidates to bring in.
• Although you can't make hiring decision based on protected classes, if your company is required to meet affirmative action benchmarks, the application is a good place to allow candidates to willingly self-identify.

Job applications are one more thing that a company can do to protect itself. If someone threatens legal action for discrimination because you didn't hire them, you can use the paperwork provided in the job application to prove that you hired based on fair practices. Applications are easy to create with our HR Form Templates. 

The biggest frustration that many business owners bring to us is recruiting and retaining quality employees. They don't know where to find quality candidates, the type of people applying for open positions are less than overwhelming, and when they do bring someone in for an interview, the candidate acts like they'd be doing the business owner a favor to accept the job and show up to work!    

Elite HR Team™ has taken the guesswork out of recruiting for you. Here are five tips to get you started:

1. Implement HR Forecasting. Your strategy should be proactive, not reactive. Instead of waiting until you've lost an employee to think about your hiring process, analyze where you want to go and how you're going to get there so you can be prepared. 
 
2. Explore Hiring Methods. Some businesses still rely on newspaper want ads to find their new hires, but in the digital age, there are many different options. Which one you choose determines the audience you will be speaking to. Find the best people for your business. Elite HR Team uses HiringThing as our online portal.

3. Ensure Recruiting Compliance. If you've never sat down and audited your recruiting process, now is a great time! You should make hiring choices based on a candidate's education, work history, and ability to do the job -- and not on any protected classes they may exhibit.

4. Streamline Your Interview Process. Do you know what questions to avoid? Have you created job descriptions for all your positions so you know the qualifications? Have you trained your managers in proper interview techniques? By creating a list of questions that you use to interview every candidate, you can analyze their skills and better compare them. Using the same interview questions for every candidate protects you against discrimination claims, if one should arise.

5. Identify the Candidate. The easiest way to identify your candidate is by first identifying the essential traits and skills you want to see, which are typically taken from the job descriptions you've created. You can also create a skills matrix to objectively rate candidates based on core traits and skills.

We have created a new, free tool that expands on these ideas in a comprehensive workbook, which we're launching this week. Sign up for our NEW, FREE Small Business Recruiting Workbook on our website. There is also more valuable information about Hiring and Firing in our Elite HR Business School™. 

Bringing in a candidate for an interview means that you were impressed with their skills and background and you think they might be a good fit with your company. The first thing that you do is make small talk to get to know them and make them feel comfortable. But what many interviewers don’t realize is that the innocent questions they’re asking may be illegal!

According to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, any questions that reveal protected classes, such as age, race, national origin, gender, religion, marital status, or sexual orientation, are off-limits. Now, obviously things like age, gender and sometimes race may seem fairly obvious, but hiring decisions cannot be based on these qualities. Below is a list of example questions to avoid:

1.     Are you married? This can reveal marital status and sexual orientation, both of which aren’t allowed.

2.     Do you have children? You also can’t ask if the person is planning to have children in the future. Even if the woman is visibly pregnant, you can’t refer to it. Instead, ask questions such as, “Do you have responsibilities that will interfere with specific job requirements, such as travelling?” or “Do you have anything planned in the next six months that will interfere with your availability?”

3.     What religious holidays do you practice? Instead, ask, “Are you available to work on Saturdays or Sundays.”

4.     What country are you from?  

5.     Is English your first language? Instead, you can ask “What languages do you read, speak, or write fluently?”

6.     Do you have any outstanding debt? Credit checks are allowed for positions where money is handled, as long as you check the credit of all the candidates you’re considering. You must also have their permission first.

7.     Do you drink? Likewise, asking about past drug use is protected by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

8.     How long have you been working? This questions allows employers to calculate age, which is unlawful. Similarly, they can’t ask what year you graduated high school or college, or your birthday. However, they can ask how many years’ experience you have working in a certain industry.

9.     What kind of discharge from the military did you receive? You can ask about the skills and experience that the applicant acquired during their service.

10.   Have you been arrested? Instead, you can ask if they have been convicted of a crime, but the crime may not disqualify the applicant from the job, unless the conviction directly relates to the job at hand. For example, you don’t want to hire someone who has embezzled money from an accounting position.

Knowing the questions to ask are important in finding the right candidate for the job.

Group Interviews Explained Have you ever been in or conducted a group interview? Group interviews involve having an interview with a range of 5-15 candidates at the same time. The interview can be conducted by asking the same question to the whole group and allowing each individual to answer among the group. Or, the group may also be divided into subgroups for group activities and assignments. Group interviews can save an employer a lot of time in the interview process. For example, a manager is more likely to have time for a 1-hour group interview with 10 people but making time for 10 one hour interviews may not be possible. Group interviews can aid in identifying those candidates with leadership skills as they stand out in the crowd and take the lead in the group. 

Group interviews are a great idea for certain types of positions, but for other positions should not be utilized. A group interview should not be conducted for mid-level management positions or higher. Upper management is an integral part of any company. It's important that their interview time is spent one-on-one to really get to know them. Plus, it can be perceived by the applicant as demeaning and degrading for an executive to be interviewed in this way. Let's be honest, it is difficult to find good managers. You want to spend one-on-one time with them for your own sake and for the sake of showing them respect in the recruiting process. Group interviews are a great tool for lower level positions, to entry-level management positions. These positions often have a lot more applicants than management positions, so you can really maximize your interview time with group interviews. Plus, as mentioned above, you can see what applicants show strength, confidence, and leadership. 

Would you consider a group interview situation? What roles would you put through a group interview? Leave your comment below. 

By: Dan Cozzi

Veracity is one of our core values at Elite HR Team. We define Veracity as, "extending permission to embrace unique qualities and serve genuinely."

Passion means to have a strong, almost uncontrollable emotion about something.  Where do such emotions come from?  They aren't logical, but they are tied to something deep within us; extremely personal.  One of the great philosophers in western history, Thomas Aquinas, held that temperance binds our passions.  In the realm of morality and justice temperance protects society, but the absence of it can turn an individual into a sociopath.  However, when related to the health of your workforce, encouraging certain passions is a goal of the highest order.  Passionate people greatly engage in the things they are passionate about, and here is where veracity is important. 

Companies that don't embrace veracity find it difficult to promote passionate workforces. Without it managers, executives and company leaders risk tempering their worker's passion for their work. Think about it, how passionate can someone be where her/his unique qualities are suppressed in an effort to force compliance to tasks and exercises which are counter to their strengths or individuality. 

At Elite HR team, we embrace veracity as one of our values to avoid tempering our team members’ passion for their work.  In whatever we are working on, for our clients or for our business goals, we give ourselves and our partners permission to embrace their unique qualities and strengths and live them in their work. These unique qualities determine our strengths which we welcome and encourage to strengthen our team and yours.

We've shared why we feel veracity is key to our vision for our future, please share how or if veracity plays a role in your company, team, or work group.  We look forward to learning from you! Comment below or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

You can also watch our video about Veracity where Dan interviews Kandi on Elite HR Team's core Value Veracity here: 

When life is dragging you backwards, remember you are getting ready to be launched into something great, like an arrow. Keep focus and aim.

Kandi discusses. 

By: Kandi Mensing, SPHR, MBA
In my career as a professional recruiter, I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates, and hired hundreds! It seems like most applicants don’t put much time into their resume. The typos, the inconsistent formatting, the grammatical and punctuation errors all reflect negatively. In fact, when I’m looking at applicant resumes, I circle these items with a red pen. The point of your resume is to get the interview, not necessarily to get the job. It is the interview that determines whether you get the job. Today, we share with you 5 resume tips to get the interview. 

Consistency. Lack of consistency is the number one reason resumes get kicked out of consideration. Some people don’t get chosen for an interview simply due to lack of consistency on their resume, especially if the job requires strong grammatical skills, attention to detail, or handling company correspondence internally or externally. Ensure your information is all formatted in the same way. If you have your job title first, then your company, format it the same for every job. Same with dates. Too often I see some jobs only have years, and some have months. Be consistent

Objective. An ‘Objective’ is often listed as one of the first things on a resume. Why? What is the point of the objective? Did you google “resume objective” and then choose the best sounding one? Yeah, so did everyone else. We see the same objectives all the time! Stop using objectives. If you insist on an ‘intro’ use a summary or a skills section instead. Objectives are not serving you. 

Your name. Make sure your name is large, and obvious. When a recruiter is looking at your resume, your name should make impression in their mind. All too often I see resumes that have the candidate’s name seemingly hidden in the text. This is YOUR resume; own it! 

Education. If you have a degree from a higher education institute, make sure it is listed first on your resume. The fact of the matter is that only 30.4% of the US population over the age of 25 holds a bachelor’s degree or higher (source: New York Times). The second component is to use the word “Acquired” next to your degree. If you just put dates, for example 1996-2000, that doesn't necessarily tell the recruiter that you obtained your degree, but rather that you attended that school for those years. Don’t short sell yourself. Make sure they know you have that degree. And, you don’t necessarily need to put the year you acquired the degree as much as you just need to make sure they know you have the degree. You will fill in the year on their application. Remember, the resume is intended to get you the interview. 

References. Stop using the phrase “references available upon request” on your resume. We all assume you’re going to give us references if we ask. Substitute that phrase for a quick “thank you” to the recruiter. You could say something like “Thank you for reviewing my resume. I look forward to interviewing with you” or anything that is friendly, thanks them, and speaks of you personally and the way you would talk with them. Let your personality come through. Another thing, don’t take up valuable space on your resume listing the references. Wait until we ask for them.

The US Department of Labor has passed laws that prohibit discrimination when it comes to a company’s hiring practices. Most companies know that it’s illegal to ask about or make decisions about employment based on protected classes. Some of these classes include age, gender, disabilities, sexual orientation, religion, national origin, and of course, race. 

Not only does such discrimination show that a company is prejudiced and stuck in a former century, but it can cost that company in exorbitant lawsuits or fines. 

M.C. Dean, Inc., is learning that lesson the hard way. The US-based multinational contractor will pay $875,000 to settle discrimination claims involving hundreds of African American, Hispanic, and Asian American job applicants. The 381 applicants claim that M.C. Dean failed to provide equal employment opportunity. After an investigation, the Department of Labor concluded that the contractor “used a set of selection procedures, including invalid tests, which unfairly kept qualified minority candidates from securing jobs as apprentices and electricians." 

The company has agreed to review its hiring processes. Meanwhile, the former applicants will receive back wages, and some may be given job offers, as the M.C. Dean will extend 39 job offers to the class members as opportunities become available. The company has also agreed to go through self-monitoring procedures and personnel training to ensure its employment practices are compliant. Because M.C. Dean has held more than $600 million in contracts with federal agencies, they must comply with Executive Order 11246, which prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating in employment on the basis of race, color or national origin.

When you go through the hiring processes, all questions should be aimed at determining if candidates are qualified for the position. If you are asking personal questions that reveal family, religious, or racial information, you may want to rethink your hiring practices before it’s too late!
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