News & Events

By Dawn Taylor, director of business services

We all like to believe that our qualifications determine whether we are invited for a job interview and that our performance dictates whether our employers think well of us. Obviously, employers are better off if they hire the most qualified applicants. And of course, the missions of organizations are furthered when managers rate employees according to how well they perform their jobs. Research strongly suggests, however, that implicit bias affects whether people are invited to interview for jobs, regardless of their qualifications, as well as how their performance is assessed.

A 2004 study by Marianne Bertrand and Sedhill Mullainathan showed that implicit biases of employers play a significant role in who gets an interview. According to the study, these biases are often triggered by the name on the resume. By sending out resumes with identical qualifications, half of which had names commonly associated with African Americans (i.e. Lakisha and Jamal) and half which had names associated with whites (i.e. Emily and Greg) in response to job interviews in Chicago and Boston, a 50 percent gap in call-back rates was discovered between white and black named resumes. Whites were invited for one interview for every ten resumes sent; while blacks had to send 15 resumes for a single interview.

The study indicated that whites were called back on average 9.65 percent of the time, while African Americans were called back at a rate of 6.45 percent. The fact that hiring discrimination persists is one reason many would argue that affirmative action programs are still necessary. They serve to create an incentive for employers to overcome their implicit biases and to take a second look at candidates of color.

What measures are you taking to ensure your hiring practices are not racially biased? How are you educating your senior staff and your managers on this issue? For those of you who have taken measures in your organization to reduce or eliminate racial profiling with regards to names, well done! For those of you who have not, look at your processes to ensure you are getting the best qualified candidate regardless of his or her name.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, managing director

This past weekend, the story I shared last week did go south. Many of you probably guessed by now that my friend did not run a background investigation on their CFO. I knew the rest of my friend’s story was headed to a point of no return, and I was right. Let me give you the short version.

The CFO in the story was hired three years ago with no background investigation conducted. Little by little purchase orders and payments approved by the CFO were beginning to look suspicious. During a board meeting, a member quietly asked my friend why the CFO approved payments to vendors for items divisions never received. The board member also indicated that the vendors on the finance report did not look familiar and purchases were never approved through the normal processes.

My friend began an internal investigation and discovered that the CFO had set up bogus vendors and dummy organizations and paid them thousands of dollars for goods and services that never materialized. Needless-to-say, my friend ended up calling the organization’s attorney and filing a police report which led to a more thorough investigation. The CFO along with his cohorts were questioned and eventually confessed to embezzlement!

I told my friend he could have avoided this poor hiring decision even if it was initiated by the CEO. As HR professionals we have a responsibility and a commitment to help our organizations avoid poor hiring decisions that could end up being costly mistakes.

So the next time your CEO hands you a resume make sure your recruitment practices include these top five procedures:

1. Call the applicant and schedule an in-person interview.
2. Have the applicant complete an application of employment.
3. Secure a release from the applicant and run a background investigation.
4. Conduct reference and education verifications.
5. Note and share your flags of concern to hiring managers (including the CEO).

This morning, I asked my friend what he learned from the incident so I could share more with you, and he replied, “No organization has a magic wand when it comes to hiring. I’m sure if you look at your own organization you’d find a few hiring decisions you wish you could take back. We had been looking for the right person for some time and I think this was nothing more than a desperate hiring move.”

My friend sounded embarrassed about how this entire ordeal unfolded. The good news is that the CFO was terminated for gross misconduct and warrants have been issued for several arrests.

By Dawn Taylor, director of business development

I have had the pleasure to interview hundreds of temporary workers. Temps, like full time employees, fall into two categories; those who love doing temporary work and those who are not a huge fan. Interestingly enough, as I think about their interview comments over the years, the good outweighed the bad.

Most temporary workers are grateful to the organizations they worked for, even for a day, because that is experience that they did not have the day before. One comment I recall came from a temp in regards to a one day assignment. As I was telling her about the job, she noticed that I was hesitant to tell her the length of the assignment. Before I could give her what I thought was bad news, she informed me that she was happy to have anything. It would give her a chance, even if for a few hours, to network and to get her foot in the door of an organization that she would not otherwise have gotten access.

Work-life flexibility is another positive temps sight when asked about their employment status. If you are like me, you come from a background that teaches if you do not have a “full time” job then you are not really working. Once after placing a temp on a long term three days a week assignment, I was worried that my candidate was going to seek a better assignment when he got the chance. But in speaking with him, I learned he was thrilled that a position with that kind of flexibility existed. At the time he was taking care of an ailing parent and needed this type of position. The assignment fit perfectly with his personal situation.

Most often my surprise about a temp’s opinion of their employment status is when they finally get full time employment if they are seeking it. Recently, I was having coffee with a former temporary who has been in a full time position now for over five years. As we sipped on our skinny mochas, we started to reminisce about her temping days. She said that she had the time of her life! She loved the variety of the assignments, the people she was able to meet and connect with and being in different organizations gave her a depth that she didn’t think she would get any other way.

So on behalf of all of the temporaries that I have connected with along my staffing journey, I would like to say thank you client organizations. You have given variety, hope, experience and jobs to so many. Good job.

By Dawn Taylor

A few years ago, I visited a prospect that had never had the pleasure of using temporary workers to augment the organization’s workforce. After speaking with the prospect, it was clear that he had an interesting bias against temporary workers. This organization felt that if a person was “professional” then he or she would not lower him/herself to do temporary work. Recently, this attitude has shifted in large part due to changes in the job market caused by extreme economic instability. However, there are still a great number of organizations that I meet that still look at temporary workers as subpar professionals that cannot get a real job.

For those of you who have had the pleasure and the experience to see first-hand how the temporary worker can assist with the growth, morale, and even the overall mission of an organization, than this blog will reinforce your sound decision to use this valuable workforce resource. For those of you who are still on the fence, I have listed some of the characteristics of today’s temporary employee.

Motivated

According to the American Staffing Association (ASA), eight out of ten temporary employees worked full-time earlier in their careers (same ratio as the traditional work force) and nine out of ten are satisfied with their current positions (compared to 60 percent of those in traditional work arrangements).

Educated

Seventy-four percent of temporary employees have at least some college education, compared with only 62 percent of the traditional workforce (in both cases, one in three of those with some college earned at least a bachelor’s degree).

Well Trained

The ASA has also found that nearly 90 percent of staffing employees say their temporary or contract work experience made them more employable; mostly by developing new or improved skills and by receiving additional on-the-job experience. Twenty percent attributed their enhanced skill levels to specific training provided by their staffing firm. A majority said temporary work strengthened their resumes and four out of ten said the experience helped them gain self-confidence.

Higher Caliber

Also according to the ASA, 72 percent of companies that use temporary employees said the quality of temporary and contract employees provided by staffing firms is equal to or better than their full time employees.
As you can see, the temporary work force is not a hub for the down trodden, the displaced, or the professionally challenged. Temporary employees often go through a more rigorous employment selection process. They are vetted not only by the staffing firms (who are usually experts at vetting), but also the client organizations. This increased scrutiny and the recent changes in the job market have increased the quality of professionals available for temporary assignment. Temporary placement has created a new avenue to work for truly elite professionals.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

Over the years, my colleagues and I have run into a few interview blunders. Here are the most memorable that made our top 20 list. Enjoy, we all need to laugh sometime.   

1.  
   1. The applicant’s email address was, “sexymama2000.”
   2. The applicant’s voice mail message played a song for you and you actually listened!”
   3. The candidate said he would tattoo the company logo on his arm if hired.
   4. The candidate interrupted his interview to call his therapist.
   5. The candidate made a typo in the spelling of his own name and then insisted it was spelled that way.
   6. The candidate brought her mother to the interview and asked if her mom could fill out a job application too.
   7. The candidate brought a bag lunch and ate during the interview.
   8. The candidate took three cell phone calls during the interview.
   9. The candidate chewed and popped gum during the interview and wore an iPod, clearly demonstrating their multi-tasking skills.
   10. The candidate said, “I am so well qualified, if I don’t get this job it proves your management is incompetent.”
   11. The candidate arrives five minutes late to the interview and asks “Is my hair okay?”
   12. After the interview, the candidate implies I should consider him for the position because we are of the same race, and states, “Help a brotha’ out” as his closing statement.
   13. The candidate takes off her suit jacket, exposes her bare arms, and immediately begins to use her resume to fan her underarms as she responds to the first question.
   14. The candidate arrives 20 minutes late to the interview; she claimed she just left her babysitting job and proceeded to apologize for her unprofessional attire of flip flops and a beach dress.
   15. The applicant disclosed that he’s been living in his mother’s basement for 35 years.
   16. The candidate wowed me with her tears and won an Oscar for her performance.
   17. The candidate responded to an interview question by giving me a history lesson on Black History Month.
   18. The candidate asked for a moment of silence during his interview.
   19. The candidate asked for grooming techniques for the interview – it was clear that she was dressed for Happy Hour.
   20. The candidate stated, “I hope you’re impressed with my resume, I got all of my highlights from e Harmony.”