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Stan Bundy, owner of
Bundy’s Building Services, had a problem. His largest client was
reporting thefts at night from their offices. First, it was money
missing from desk drawers and liquor missing from cabinets. When a
laptop computer was reported missing, that was the last straw.
Mr. Bundy had to determine whether it was his crew responsible for
the thefts. He knew other small contract cleaners who had lost major
accounts because they refused to consider the possibility that their
employees were stealing from customers’ buildings.
Mr. Bundy had each of his 17 employees complete an investigative
questionnaire for theft. Analysis of the questionnaires pointed to
three employees as strong suspects. One employee overheard Mr. Bundy
talking on the phone to a professional investigator. He was
arranging for the investigator to come and interview the employees
about the missing items. Mr. Bundy was
saying, “I know who is stealing and I want to put them in jail.”
The eavesdropping employee shared this information with her
co-workers. Two of the suspects quit immediately when they heard an
investigator was coming. The third suspect quit when the
investigator arrived. Mr. Bundy got rid of the thieves, but
was unable to recover any of his losses.
This made him wonder how he might prevent future thefts.
Job Applicant Screening
Prevents Employee Theft
The best way to prevent employee theft is to identify dishonest
applicants before they are hired. A comprehensive system for
screening of job applicants is the key. Preventing employee theft is
just one benefit of screening job applicants.
Reduced turnover, better job performance, less absenteeism, and
improved customer service are some of the others.
Brief History of a Bad Hire
Archie, one of the employee suspects, was recommended for
employment by one of Mr. Bundy’s friends. He meant to check Archie
out, but two of his employees had just quit. So
Mr. Bundy simply looked over Archie’s job application, saw no
glaring problems, and put him on the payroll. Archie was the suspect
who quit when the investigator arrived.
Hire the Best Job Candidates Quickly
The best job candidates don’t stay unemployed long. They are usually
in the running for several jobs at the same time.
If you can offer jobs to top candidates quickly, you can hire more
of the best. There are two basic sources of information about job
applicants:
1. The first is the applicant himself. Use the right tools and he
will divulge much of the information you’re looking for. What he
tells you about himself will advance him on the list of potential
employees or eliminate him from consideration.
2. The second is outside sources including criminal record checks,
credit reports, drug tests, work and personal references.
This type of information
is usually more difficult to obtain. So try to learn all you can
from the applicant himself first.
Here are seven steps to help you hire the best employees.
Step 1: Have each applicant complete your company employment
application. All employment applications are not created equal. A
thorough employment application is a great screening tool. Your
employment application provides your first look at the applicant –
her identity, her work
record, and much more. Most applications are too brief, failing to
ask many important
questions. If you think your employment application could be
improved, obtain a model from
www.TheftStoppper.com.
Seventeen other employment-related forms are included.
Step 2: Give each applicant an “answer truthfully” 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: “Mary, 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 five years,
including temporary and part-time jobs. Make sure you list the true
reasons for leaving each one. If you have been convicted of any
criminal offenses, list those too. We have hired people with
criminal records, but only when they
were truthful about it. 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 little
speech than without it.
Step 3: Have each applicant take a preemployment honesty test. A
comprehensive pre-employment honesty test will tell you much more
than whether the applicant’s likelihood to steal from your
customers. You can administer these inexpensive tests on site during
the applicant’s first visit to your location. Internet scoring
provides test results in minutes.
The best pre-employment honesty tests include:
a. Three types of questions that evaluate the applicant’s likelihood
to steal – theft admission
questions, theft attitude questions, and behavior in hypothetical
theft situations.
b. Questions about other areas predictive of employee suitability,
including work attitudes,
work history, customer service attitudes, current alcohol and drug
use, and undetected crimes.
c. Validity scales to identify those applicants trying to “beat the
test” by answering
falsely to make themselves look like saints.
d. An individualized post-test interview worksheet included with the
test scores. The worksheet lists key questions answered incorrectly
with suggested follow-up questions. The
follow-up questions will help you evaluate the seriousness of
admissions made on the test. You can incorporate these follow-up
questions into your applicant’s employment interview.
If you hire young people, written honesty tests are especially
important because
outside sources of applicant information are geared toward adults.
Most young applicants
do not have adult criminal records or credit histories. And their
job histories are
usually very short.
Step 4: Interview the applicant. Steps 1, 2, and 3 will wash out
most undesirable applicants
without any significant investment of your time. Next, interview
those still in the running.
Before the interview, review both her application and honesty test
results, making
notes about answers you want her to explain. Begin the interview by
briefly introducing
yourself and your company.
Candidly explain the negatives as well as the positives of the job
you are seeking to
fill. Ask the applicant if she is still interested after hearing the
job’s negatives. Including
this frequently overlooked step decreases turnover.
Asking the applicant about her work history is extremely important.
Discuss her previous jobs and responsibilities – those she liked and
those she didn’t. Make sure you get specific explanations as to why
she left each job in the past five years. Make sure she explains any
periods of unemployment between jobs. Periods of unemployment on
employment applications may conceal unsuccessful short-term job
experiences deliberately omitted. Gaps may also conceal
incarcerations.
Step 5: Conduct a do-it-yourself credit check. With the adult
applicant’s consent,
conduct an Internet search under “free credit report.” You can do
this in minutes.
Print two copies of the applicant’s credit report – one for her and
one for you. Compare
her starting pay with her debts and reasonable living expenses. This
comparison
will tell whether she can afford to work for you. Employees whose
installment debt
plus living expenses exceed their incomes have a monthly shortfall
to make up. Some
will make up their shortfalls by stealing.
Step 6: Conduct quick and easy criminal record checks. Tell the
adult applicant that
he can expedite the hiring process if he stops by the police station
nearest his home
and obtains a copy of his own criminal record. Tell him you will
reimburse him for the costs.
Few applicants who have criminal convictions will seldom return with
copies of
their criminal records. They will prefer to seek employment
elsewhere. Some states
have put their criminal records online.
In Ohio, for example, applicants’ criminal records can be accessed free,
in minutes. If you have free and immediate access to applicants’
criminal records, move this up to Step 2, right after the applicant
completes his employment application. If the job will require the
employee to drive his own vehicle or a company vehicle during work
hours, have him stop by a Department of Motor Vehicles office and
pick up a copy of his driving record and bring it
to you, along with his criminal record.
Drawbacks of Criminal Record Checks
According to experts, criminal record checks fail to identify at
least 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 are not convicted. Thus, few
employees who steal from their employers end up with criminal
records for employee theft. Contrary to popular belief, criminal
record checks alone will not insulate your company from negligent
hiring lawsuits
should your employee injure a customer or co-worker during work. You
must also document
the other steps in your hiring process that prove the employee’s
criminal behavior was unforeseeable. These other steps include
interview notes, information from references, test results and
credit checks.
Advantages of Criminal Record Checks
If criminal checks miss 30 percent of applicants with criminal
records, then they do identify 70 percent of applicants who have
criminal records. A 70 percent batting average is not that bad.
In addition to revealing convicted felons, criminal records checks
also reveal scofflaws. A scofflaw is a person who ignores or
disregards the law.
Some applicants’ record reveals recent clusters of minor misdemeanor
convictions. For example, one applicant was cited for three
disorderly conducts and four littering violations in the past year.
This applicant displayed an obvious disregard for the law. Is it
likely that he would follow your company’s rules?
The Truth About Drug Testing
Years ago, most job seekers did not know they could pass a chemical
drug test if they quit using most illegal drugs for only three days.
Now they know. Unless you are testing locks of hair, drug testing of
job applicants is only good for documenting due diligence and
catching hard-core users.
Step 7: Check the applicant’s references. Many companies’
personnel offices will provide only minimal information about former
employees, such as beginning and ending dates of employment and
positions held. If this is all you get, record this information on a
reference check form and file it. Your file of reference checks will
prove you performed this important part of
“due diligence.”
Call the applicant’s previous supervisors. Supervisors know their
former subordinates well. Supervisors feel obligated to help former
employees who did a good job for them. Most supervisors can be
coaxed into giving a reference.
Personal References
The Personal Reference section is not the only source for personal
references on the applicant’s employment application. Here are some
common questions found on thorough applications that often yield
useful references:
• “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 make excellent reference
sources.
• “Have you ever been convicted of a criminal offense as an adult?”
A “yes” answer
may mean he is still on probation or parole.
If so, his parole or probation officer might provide some useful
information.
• “How did you find us?” or “How did you hear about this job?” If
the applicant answers
“referral” or “former employee,” you get another potential reference
source.
• Finally, call the people the applicant names directly as personal
references.
Some frustrated reference checkers will tell you that personal references
will never
say anything negative about the applicant. Not so. Asking the
personal reference questions
you would ask a work reference can yield interesting results.
Establish a standard applicant screening procedure, starting with a
comprehensive employment application and a pre-employment honesty
test (for an example, go to www.TheftStopper.com). Make sure each
step in your hiring process is followed foreach applicant. Hiring
the best will make your life easier and profits greater. Hiring
undesirables will cost your store money and
make your life miserable. You can reduce employee theft drastically
and protect your profits. Just follow the seven easy steps. FSM
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. |
