Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER January 23, 2017 FEATURES 15 BACKGROUND SCREENING Taking out the bias in recruitment Non-biased referencing removes emotion to get to the facts — and a good hire By Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba T he number one way for a company to protect itself from a bad hire is to weed out those bad applicants with thorough screening — before they're given an offer letter. Non- biased referencing (NBR) is the best way to find out prior work history, and the only way to en- sure an applicant is as great in the real world as he looks on paper. NBR ensures the same questions are asked in the same order for every applicant, and allows the hiring party to set questions of im- portance to that specific position. Many times, companies either don't do referencing or do it in or- der to check off that they did their due diligence. However, they may ask questions and phrase them in a way that will garner the an- swers they are hoping for. NBR takes out all personal feelings and judgments and allows the facts to stand on their own. Ordering questions While performing a NBR, it's im- portant to have an order to the questions to allow a past employ- er to tell a story and paint a com- plete picture. Asking questions in a disjointed way does not allow for elaboration or followup ques- tions, or create a conversational flow between the two parties. Having a set of form questions also allows the checker to become familiar with the order of the questions so they spend less time focusing on what's coming up or what they should ask, and they can be present in the answers — picking up on pauses, sighs and all non-verbal codes. It sets up a fair playing ground. When the recruitment process has been narrowed down to two candidates, the NBR can be the deciding factor. Questions that may not seem relevant may pro- vide answers that put one of those candidates out of the running, saving a company from a poten- tially high-cost, bad hire. Incorporating the process ere are many easy ways of in- corporating NBR into the hiring process. Set a criteria for who you will take references from. Are you OK with those of co-workers or will you only accept supervisors? Supervisors are recommended be- cause following direction is a real skill and a co-worker won't have that experience with a candidate. It's then important to establish a timeframe. Dating is an important part of establishing work history. If a candidate has unexplained work gaps, but is trying to cover them up with misdating, that is a red flag. Also, ask questions that provide a rateable response. How many sick days did the candidate take? How much direction did she re- quire? Questions like these put all candidates on the same scale as opposed to questions that have open-ended answers. Ask- ing, "Did the applicant ever take sick time?" can result in a yes or no answer with no real qualifying answer. It's also a good idea to add ac- tual rating scale questions into the NBR. For example, "On a scale of one to 10, how good was the ap- plicant at time management... taking direction... working with others... computer programs?" is requires more rapid answers from the reference and allows for a comparison between two candi- dates if needed. Most of the time, when people get to the referenc- ing portion of the recruiting pro- cess, they are fairly certain about the applicant and just hoping for confirmation. Enlightening process e insights that can be learned about applicants from past em- ployers is staggering — and not just in negative areas of misrep- resentation. Applicants may be uncomfortable talking about themselves or more introverted, but then their references give glowing reviews. ere have also been applicants who were amaz- ing throughout the interview pro- cess but the NBR shows they had major issues that affected their day-to-day work. Gut feelings can be wrong and, as humans, it is our nature to want to believe in the best in people. But bad hires cost big bucks and can be very damaging to staff morale. With a clear process, good questions and proper follow- through, non-biased referencing will help employers make the right decision based on facts — not feelings. Mandy DeCecco-Kolebaba is part- ner and director of operations at Hire Standard in Lethbridge, Alta. She can be reached at mandy@hire-standard. com. For more information, visit www. hire-standard.com.

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