OK-
So, we’re talking talent management right? HR pros all know that rejecting applicants is recruiting 101. But what happens when your reject tap dances on the back of a bad background check. OK-still 101, but I have to question, how many of you pick up the phone and actually talk to a rejected applicant. Really. Really-really? Most will say not often because they don’t have to. Many others will say never because legally it’s too risky. I say it’s because you are chicken. Uh-huh. As Morrissey once said …stop me if you think that you’ve heard this one before…
You’ve spent 3 months looking for a niche professional in a niche market? Since it’s a specialty role, in an extremely hard market to fill, an A- or trainable B+ candidate will do. Now, before elitist recruiters throw tomatoes at my head for resting on my laurels-you KNOW that is a reality of an efficient fill process. You’ve got to weigh the A+ candidates against the applicant pool. But I digress…back to the story…
You’ve found your trainable B+, not perfect, but hirable. You’ve invested in prescreen interviews, MGT phone interviews, MGT face-to-face interviews, and the glorious panel interview for good measure. Still moving forward. Goodness, you feel tingly thinking about it. You process the background check…
Pla-dow…it is staring you in the face. A background check bad enough to put the brakes on in a big way (and I’m talking stuff that could be detrimental to the job requirements, so we are legally sound here folks).
So— what do you do?
- Ignore and hire anyway—(NO, I’ll give you that one)
- Send an adverse action letter and say nothing
- Hide behind your background check company
- Call the candidate and tell him you are not moving forward with his candidacy?
Well, I can’t tell you what to do—in each situation you’ve got to weigh out pros, cons and risk. I do feel comfortable saying I am not a rogue HR pro who thinks protecting your company is evil, quite the contrary, I think it’s pretty big and it is your job. But, I am a believer in erring on the side of humanity-being fair-hell, being nice. So, do what you have to do to protect your company (i.e. send the adverse action letter, get legal counsel if you must) but don’t HIDE behind it. Too many say they are hiding behind fear of the law when really they are just hiding: Scared to confront, scared to explain, well-just plain scared.
So many recruiters say-I LOVE my job because I get to do the fun stuff, I get to hire not fire…blah, blah, wink, wink. The HR Triple P’s (Perky-People-Persons). Well, you may be a great cheerleader, but if you can’t do the hard stuff-then you are not a great professional. You are far from an HR Pro and very far from an HR Rockstar.
If a person has invested months of their time going through your recruiting process, then the right thing to do is be a human being-pick up the phone and make a smart and humane call. No big whoop, nothing big, nothing long-just humane. Don’t blow them off. Legally can you? Of course, but DON’T. It’s good business. It’s good for your culture. It’s good Karma. It’s good. You may be surprised that some candidates may even thank you for it. OK-they won’t love you-but if you get a solid thanks you’ve done your job well.
Good stuff, Dawn! I think there are 2 big reasons recruiters might not directly contact a rejected candidate if a background check was the reason….1)if they aren’t sure if they can legally use the background check to reject the candidate and 2)if they are afraid of confrontation.
To the first point, you really should know when you can and can’t use a background check to reject a candidate. The problem can be deeper though, in that you are not supposed to use the info but the hiring manager does not like how the results reflect upon the person’s “character” and simply is not going to move forward. This is when some difficult conversations with the hiring manager (or their manager) will need to take place….but you could still be in a tough spot.
To the second point, if you cannot face the confrontation, you need to get help in that area. As HR pros, you mentioned we HAVE to be able to have difficult conversations, so I won’t say more. I WILL say that in my experience, this really isn’t that hard of a conversation. For example, if they said they had NEVER been convited of a felony, then you find a felony charge, simply stating the facts (not making personal judgements) of falsifying an application is usually all you have to say and as you mentioned, a person is usually glad that you told them the truth.
Certainly NOTHING in HR is black and white, but the article you wrote makes some very good things to think about! Well done!
Face slap, this is our wake up call. Dawn, thank you for presenting a refreshing post that draws the exposes the hard truth. I find you honesty energizing and I so enjoy our connection on twitter.
Sincerely,
@hrmargo Margo Rose
I love The Smiths reference.
I was delayed, I was way-laid
An emergency stop
I smelt the last ten seconds of life
xo/laurie
It’s just the right thing to do (call). You never know, a candidate that doesn’t your current role could fit your next job. I’ve called candidates to say no thank you only to call them later for another position they were perfect for and hired them! It’s just the right thing to do.
Thanks for the comments all:
@Kim Bailey–too true,not really that hard of conversation to have. It is as hard as you make it. We’ll also assume that as the hr rockstar you are–you’ve weighed out the legal pros v cons….
@HRMargo–enjoy your tweets too! I guess my overstated reality check will be for HR folks to get back to basics (in a new way). Funny, since mastering the basics has a remarkably understated feel
@laurie–I sat down on the crossbar and the pain was enough to make a shy bald buddist reflect…..:)
Dawn,
Great Post – The HR Triple P’s – I think most people would think of HR Pros as – Pissy, pushy and imPossible!
Love it…
Great post! Most people don’t think about the rejection part or tend to put it off. Be a MAN or WOMAN, step up. Remember, candidates (rejected or accepted) are advertisement for your company too.
I only read this post because I am currently scratching my head as to why an employer has NEVER informed me of their final hiring decision. I was brought out for a site interview after a couple of sucessful phone interviews. That at least seemed to go well, and I received a couple of follow up emails updating me on the selection process. And then – NOTHING. I have emailed both HR and the hiring manager asking about their final decision – neither has replied. Reading this it makes me wonder if either some bitter ex girlfriend torpedoed me or some other nonsense gave the company cause for pause in a background check. I have already accepted another job offer, but I am on the side of the author on this one – I have a right to know SOMETHING. It does reflect negatively on the company, at least in my opinion. Who runs a business in this manner?
I worked once for a company where employees had to be bonded. If an issue was raised due to a background check, I had no option but to contact the applicant. Is this a fun conversation? Uh,..no. Is it necessary? Absolutely. And for all the reasons you stated. Recruiting is not a warm & fuzzy job. As a recruiter, you have to say “no” more times than you get to say “yes”. Of course it hurts some people’s feelings. But you have to do the applicants the consideration of closing the loop. You’re right, for yourself, it’s good karma. Chances are, you have been in the applicant’s shoes once before. And chances are you will probably be back there in the future.
And just to throw my own Morrissey/Smiths quote in: “It’s so easy to laugh. It’s so easy to hate…It takes guts to be gentle and kind.”