How to hire honest people
By James W. Bassett
The owner of Glenn Cleaners had a
problem. Two months ago, small amounts of money had been coming
up short from the store’s cash register. Then,
customers’ garments began disappearing. The most recent
was an expensive leather jacket.
Mr. Glenn knew he had to do something
immediately. So he had all six of his employees complete
investigative questionnaires. Analysis of the questionnaires
strongly pointed to one employee – Nellie – as the
probable perpetrator.
When Mr. Glenn began questioning Nellie
about the missing money and clothes, Nellie became irate.
She told her boss, “You can take
this job and shove it!” Nellie then tossed her smock on
the counter and walked out the door.
The best way to prevent employee theft is
to identify problem applicants before they’re hired.
Whether you’re a large drycleaning company with many
employees, or a small neighborhood store with just a few,
applicant screening is critical to hiring the best employees.
Screening job applicants yields other
benefits too. To name just a few: reduced turnover, better job
performance, and fewer employees with personal problems that
they bring to work.
The best job candidates don’t stay
unemployed long. They usually apply for several jobs at the
same time. If you can offer employment to top candidates
quickly, you can hire more of the best. The key is to utilize
the right screening tools in the right order.
Brief history of a bad hire
Nellie was recently hired to work
part-time at Glenn Cleaners. More would have been done to check
Nellie’s background, but it was an extremely busy time
and two other employees had recently quit.
So Mr. Glenn simply looked over
Nellie’s job application, saw no glaring problems, and
offered her a job. Had he checked her credit report, he would
have discovered that Nellie had been living far beyond her
means.
Gathering information
There are two basic sources of
information about job applicants:
1. The first is the applicant herself.
Take the right approach and she will willingly divulge much of
the information you’re looking for. What she tells you
about herself will enable you to either advance her on the list
of potential employees or eliminate her from the running.
2. The second is outside sources,
including criminal record checks, credit reports, drug tests,
work and personal references, etc. This type of information is
slower and more expensive to obtain.
Seven steps to ensure you hire the best
employees.
Step 1: Each applicant completes a
thorough employment application.
All employment applications are not
created equal. A thorough employment application is worth its
weight in gold. Your employment application provides your first
look at your applicant – who she is, where she’s
worked, and why she left each job. Most employment applications
are far too brief, failing to ask all the necessary questions.
If you think your employment application
has room for improvement, obtain a model application from
www.Theft
Stopper.com.
Stopper.com.
Step 2: Give a “carrot and
stick” speech.
Job applicants are more likely to answer
your employment application questions truthfully if you tell
them why they should.
Instead of saying, “Here, fill out
this application.” tell the applicant something like this:
“Ms. Smith, I’d like you to fill out this
employment application. Please take your time. Make sure your
answers are true, correct, and complete. Every one of your
answers will be checked for accuracy. Be sure to list every job
you’ve held in the past ten years, including temporary
and part-time jobs. And make sure you list true and complete
reasons why you left each one. If you have been convicted of
any crimes, list them too. We have hired many people with
criminal records, but only when they were truthful and
explained their circumstances in detail. You don’t have
to be a perfect person to work here. You didn’t see any
employees with halos over their heads when you walked in here,
did you?”
Will this speech magically persuade every
applicant to answer every question on the application
truthfully? Of course not! But your applicants will give you
more truthful answers with this speech than without it. What
you will learn from a comprehensive employment application
presented to your applicants with a “Carrot and
Stick” speech may amaze you.
Step 3: Have the applicant complete a
pre-employment honesty test.
A good pre-employment honesty test will
tell you much more than the applicant’s propensity to
steal from your company. Some can be scored on the internet,
with results available in minutes.
The best pre-employment honesty tests
include:
• Questions that evaluate the
applicant’s likelihood to steal in three different ways:
by theft admissions, theft attitudes, and behavior in
hypothetical theft situations.
• Questions about other areas
predictive of employee suitability, including work attitudes,
work history, customer service, current substance abuse, and
undetected crimes.
• Validity scales to identify those
applicants trying to “beat the test” by answering
falsely to make themselves look sainted.
• An individualized post-test
interview worksheet generated along with the test scores. The
worksheet lists key questions answered incorrectly along with
suggested follow-up questions.
You can incorporate these follow-up
questions into your applicant’s employment interview. The
follow-up questions will help you evaluate the seriousness of
admissions made on the test, make sure you ask all the
important questions, and help you improve your interviewing
skills.
Step 4: Interview the applicant.
Steps 1, 2, and 3 will wash out most
undesirable applicants without any significant expenditure of
your time. Now it’s time to interview those who remain.
Before you begin the interview, review
both his application and pre-employment honesty test results,
making notes about answers you want him to explain.
Begin the interview by briefly
introducing yourself and your company – and the specific
position he is applying for. Explain the negatives as well as
the positives of the job. Learning the negatives will cause
some applicants to tell you they’re not interested in the
job after all, saving you training costs.
An inquiry into the applicant’s
work history is paramount in predicting future job performance.
This is the area where most interviewing time is spent.
Try this approach: When interviewing an
applicant about his work record, have his completed application
in hand. Ask him about his previous jobs in reverse order
beginning with the most recent. And ask your questions as if he
had written nothing in the work history section. This approach
can be revealing. For example:
Interviewer: “Please tell me about
your most recent job.”
Tim: “Well, I didn’t put it
on there. I only worked there a week.”
Interviewer: “Where?”
Tim: “Monfort Dry
Cleaners.”
Interviewer: “Why did you
leave?”
Tim: “They said I was coming to
work late.”
Interviewer: “How often were you
coming to work late?”
Tim: “Oh, about once or twice a
week.”
Interviewer: “Before Monfort Dry
Cleaners, where did you work?”
Tim: “The one I put on my
application.”
Interviewer: “Which one was
that?”
Tim: “Uh, Eastern Dry
Cleaners.”
Interviewer: “When did you work
there?”
Tim: “Same dates I put on
there.”
Interviewer: “And those dates
were…..?”
Tim: “I can’t remember right
now exact dates!”
Interviewer: “You just filled this
application out ten minutes ago. You remembered
then…”
Tim: “You’re trying to
intimidate me! If you don’t want to hire me just say
so.”
Interviewer: “Tim, I’m just
asking you about where you worked. No need to get
upset.”
Tim: “I’m not getting upset!
I know when someone’s messing me over!”
Interviewer: “Okay, Tim.
We’ll check your references and maybe we’ll get
back to you. Thanks for coming in today.”
The interviewer politely ended the
interview when he realized Tim’s application was a work
of fiction.
Step 5: Conduct a do-it-yourself credit
check.
With the applicant’s consent,
conduct an internet search under “free credit
report.” You can do this in a matter of minutes. Print
two copies of the applicant’s credit report – one
for her and one for you.
Comparing her starting pay with her debts
and reasonable living expenses will tell whether she can afford
to work for you. Employees whose debts and expenses always
exceed their income have a shortfall to make up. Some will do
it by stealing.
Step 6: Conduct quick and easy criminal
record checks.
Tell the applicant that he can expedite
the hiring process if he will stop by the police station
nearest his home and obtain a copy of his own criminal record.
Tell him you will reimburse him for his costs.
Few applicants who have criminal
convictions will return with copies of their criminal records.
They prefer to seek employment elsewhere.
The minuses of criminal record checks.
According to experts, criminal record checks fail to identify
30 percent of applicants with criminal records. Most employees
who steal are not caught. Most employees caught stealing are
not prosecuted. Many employees who are prosecuted for stealing
are not convicted. So, few employees who steal from their
employers end up with criminal records for employee theft.
The pluses of criminal record checks. By
law, employers can be found liable if they fail to make a
“reasonable attempt” to check the backgrounds of
employees who later injure customers or co-workers during work
hours. Making these reasonable attempts is called “due
diligence.”
Failing to perform due diligence invites
a lawsuit for “negligent hiring.” If the injured
party wins damages, it can cost you a bundle. It is true that a
man with a briefcase can steal more money than a man with a
gun.
Step 7: Reference checks.
Have you ever called a big
company’s personnel department for a reference on a job
applicant and gotten shut out? Many previous employers will
provide only minimal information about former employees, such
as beginning and ending dates of employment and position(s)
held. Record this information on a reference check form and
file it. This file is proof that you performed an important
part of “due diligence.”
The applicant’s answers on a
comprehensive employment application will disclose personal
references in sections other than the personal reference
section.
Here are some common questions found on
employment applications that may yield useful reference sources:
• “Have you ever worked
for our company before?” If yes, a former supervisor or
co-worker can be a great source of information about the
applicant.
• “Do you have any
friends, relatives, or acquaintances who work for our
company?” Current employees who know the applicant can be
very useful.
• “Have you ever been
convicted of a criminal offense as an adult?” A yes
answer may mean he is still on probation or parole. His parole
officer may tell you the true story of the applicant’s
crime. He may clue you in on how the applicant has been
behaving since his release.
• “How did you hear
about this job?” If the applicant answers
“referral”, “former employee”,
“current employee” or even “employment
agency,” you get another potential reference source.
• Finally, call the people the
applicant names directly as personal references.
Establish a specific applicant screening
procedure, starting with a comprehensive employment
application, a pre-employment honesty test and interview notes.
Make sure all steps in the hiring process are followed on every
applicant.
James W. Bassett is the president of the
James W. Bassett Co. headquartered in Cincinnati, OH. He helps
companies make better hiring decisions and consults on employee
theft problems. He can be reached at (513) 421-9604 or www.TheftStopper.com.
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