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4 Tips for Effective Social Media Hiring and Marketing

February 2, 2016 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

Social media has saturated the online world, with users drawing value from it personally as well as when seeking out products, services and entertainment. Businesses can benefit from social media hiring as well as other social media usage in a number of areas from building and promoting a brand to drawing in quality new hires.

The following are some of the top ways to use social media hiring in business:

1. Business Branding

Social media allows companies to spread their brand message in a much more dynamic way than with just a static website. Social media home page designs should be consistent with the company website and other marketing materials. The tone and objective of all posts should mirror the company’s mission statement and brand ethos.

2. Spreading Goodwill

Business and customer relationships are a two-way street, and social media allows for an extremely effective way to communicate and share positive sentiment with current clients and potential new customers. Business promotion via social media should include:

Posting information and media that informs, uplifts, entertains, or otherwise adds value to the reader’s experience
Thoughtful, attentive responses to user comments
Hiring a social media manager if needed
Testing, assessment and fine-tuning results using metrics like built-in analytics

3. Workplace Branding and Recruitment

Social media isn’t just for business branding; it’s also a great way to “brand” and promote the company as a desirable, fun, or hip place to work. Posts featuring an insider view of what it’s like to work for a company can help to draw in ideal candidates. The social media site LinkedIn can be used to recruit quality talent directly, but spreading the word via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube can be highly effective as well. These types of social media hiring practices are becoming more common. Companies have found social media hiring to be a cost-effective way of hiring candidates who are more likely to be engaged with the company’s mission and values.

4. Employee Screening

Social media can sometimes be used as a component of pre-employment screening. From their LinkedIn profile to their personal social media pages, the online postings of an individual offer a way for employers to determine if they will be a fit. However, care should be taken that this process is used fairly and consistently. It is also advisable to use reliable vetting tools like a professional employment screening service.

Social media is all but ubiquitous these days, and businesses have taken notice. Social media hiring and the other applications of social media can help any company to achieve new heights of success in the areas of branding, promotion, customer relations, and recruitment.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

“Ban the Box” Can Affect Employer Hiring Practices and Results

January 18, 2016 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

More than 100 counties and cities nationwide in 19 states have recently adopted “Ban the Box” laws. Employers and small businesses should be aware that these laws compel employers to consider job applicant qualifications first, not their past behavior.

Ban The Box

“Past” refers to a criminal record history including convictions. “Ban the Box” refers to employers not requiring job applicants to check a box revealing their criminal history. Employers must refrain from factoring this information into their hiring decisions, at least at first.

Balancing Worker and Employer Rights

“Ban the Box” types of initiatives offer job applicants a fair shake at a brighter future by taking the conviction history query from the application and delaying inquiry until later on in the process.

Momentum has grown quickly for this policy, with six more states adopting a Ban the Box rule in 2015. A total of 19 states now enforce this policy. The current list of states that “ban the box” during hiring as of this writing are as follows:

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia. Seven states have taken away conviction history queries on private employer applications, indicating further evolution of the Ban the Box policy.

On a federal level, the EEOC (U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) endorsed removing the question about the convictions as a best practice for 2012, saying that civil rights laws apply. The “My Brother’s Keeper” Task Force of the Obama Administration also endorsed this movement when plugging hiring practices that encouraged employers to judge candidates on their individual merits and give them a fair chance.

“Ban the Box” legislation could affect employer hiring processes and results in the following ways:

Employers Have a Unique Opportunity to Assist the Community

Policies promoting a fair chance can benefit communities profoundly. In some cases, those who made mistakes in the past have reformed and are just looking for an opportunity to prove themselves.

A Reward of Quality, Loyal Workers

Many employers are seeing the value in hiring someone who is truly looking to make a fresh start. A job can make all the difference in someone’s life; giving someone with a past a chance can result in a loyal, hardworking employee.

While Ban the Box has been banned in some states, vetting for viability is allowed later in the hiring process. Using a professional employment background screening service for criminal checks can help take the guesswork out of proper job applicant screening so that businesses stay in compliance with current laws.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

Branding Success: 5 Ways to Protect Your Brand from the Inside Out

December 16, 2015 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

Branding isn’t just about logos and marketing; it’s also about the integrity of the inner workings of a business. A company may have the ideal image acting as a veneer for a great first impression; however, if there isn’t integrity and consistency at the core, the image and brand will inevitably suffer.

Business owners can use these branding tips to protect their business brand from the inside out:

Create a Company Mission Statement

If a business doesn’t have a set of clear goals and values, they cannot be upheld and adhered to by staff. Every business should have a mission statement to inspire staff as well as inform the brand, marketing, direction and ethos of the workplace.

Have Management Set the Tone

A ship needs a captain, and each department should have management at the helm that exude brand integrity. If a company’s leadership is acting on behalf of the company mission statement, staff are more likely to follow suit.

Employment Background Screening

The honesty and integrity of staff members is crucial to a solid workforce and a trustworthy brand going forward. Using pre-employment screening for all staff is essential in making sure that quality individuals are hired. Employment background screening can assist businesses in finding out if an applicant has a criminal record or a poor credit rating, allowing them to avoid negligent hiring.

Create an Appealing Workplace Culture

While businesses have branding that the public sees, each workplace culture also has its own “brand.” Take steps to create a workplace culture that supports the needs of staff and draws in ideal workers. This internal brand can be “advertised” and promoted via social networks like Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube to coalesce the cultural ethos and draw in workers who are a fit.

Post-Hire Screening

While pre-employment background screening is crucial for selecting new hires, many employers are extending the screening process to existing staff. Post-hire screening at regular intervals can help to ensure that current staff are still a good fit according to SHRM.

Branding isn’t just about creating a surface-level appearance that’s attractive to clients; at the most successful companies, it goes much deeper than that. For a business to have impact and longevity, branding must extend to the core of a workplace. Use these five steps for branding success from the inside out.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

Part-Time Employee And Juvenile Background Checks

October 6, 2015 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

Juvenile Background Checks

Background checks are par for the course among full-time employers, but an increasing number of part-time employers are also following suit. The result is a greater number of high school employees being asked to satisfy background screening requirements, with many of these young workers not even having reached the age of eighteen. Although records for young offenders are often sealed, juvenile background checks have a way of revealing details indicative of whether a particular teen could be a risk to take on. Equipped with this information, employers must determine whether juvenile applicants who fail to pass obligatory juvenile background checks are worth the risk they pose.

Why Screen for Juvenile Background Checks

When making hiring decisions, some employers are quick to give younger applicants the benefit of the doubt, with many failing to even bother with a criminal background search for teenage prospects. These employers believe that they can learn everything they need through the interview process or, perhaps, by checking a few references. While both approaches are excellent for determining whether an applicant has a future with the company for which they have applied, this may not be enough to determine whether a young applicant could pose a risk if hired. With teens, as with all other applicants, background screening can remove some doubt.

Even trusting employers find themselves performing background screening on adolescent applicants simply because they believe that it is fair to all of the other employees. If one applicant must pass a background screening in order to be hired, it is only fair to ask the same of the others, regardless of age.

What To Do If A Teenage Applicant Fails A Juvenile Background Checks Screening

Failed juvenile background checks are of major concern for any employer, as this most likely indicates that the applicant has committed a crime within the last year or two. Can the prospective employee be trusted to have changed his or her ways since then? It is important to follow through and ask the employee for an explanation, as well as proof of completed community service hours. Some leniency is to be expected, as teenagers are prone to mistakes. Through the criminal background follow-up process, worried employers can determine whether potentially problematic adolescent applicants are likely to make similar mistakes while on the job.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

How Employers Can Reduce the Odds of Violence in the Workplace

September 16, 2015 by screeningintel 1 Comment

From employees creating a hostile and emotionally unhealthy work environment to workplace shootings, there seems to be no shortage of reports of violence in the workplace these days. A Virginia man killing two of his former co-workers while they were broadcasting live on the air is just the latest of these disturbing incidents. Vester Flanagan gunned down Adam Ward and Alison Parker in a shocking display of workplace hostility being taken to its most tragic extreme.

Violence in the Workplace

Whether caused by a tough job market or just the stresses of modern life, violence in the workplace is a very real risk for employers today. However, there are steps companies can take to help reduce the risk to their employees as well as their own liability. It starts with knowing who is being hired, and there are ways to screen potential new hires for the risk of workplace violence so that they are not hired.

Here are four effective ways employers can reduce the odds of violence in the workplace:

1. Criminal Background Check

A criminal background check is perhaps the best way to screen for a history of documented violence or criminal activity. Any criminal incident should be a big red flag for business owners and HR departments.

2. Check References

It is standard for applicants to provide work and character references on their resumes or job applications. Employers should contact every reference and ask a question or two about the candidate’s temperament, how they handle stress, and if they are prone to any problematic behavior.

3. Using Interview Intuition

While some persons can hide a bad temper or a tendency toward violent behavior very well, with others, the signs of a volatile nature can show during the interview. If the interviewer senses edginess or glimpses of a disposition prone to anger, these are also red flags.

4. Professional Employment Background Screening

A professional employment background screening service can help take a lot of the guesswork out of vetting potential new hires and can potentially uncover a candidate who has had a history of violence in the workplace. This service should screen for a criminal history, the sex offender registry as well as government watch lists. Professional employment background screening helps employers to avoid hiring employees who poses a risk to the safety, security and positive energy of a workplace environment.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.