Multi-Unit Franchisee Magazine Issue II, 2011 | Page 94

People
By Mel KleiMan

Checking Your References
How to get useful responses from former employers

I

n the course of my speaking and
consulting engagements, I’ve found
that many franchisees have given up
even trying to get meaningful references on promising job applicants. From
the frustrating experiences recounted to
me by others and my own company’s
policy, I know that most employers will
report only dates of employment and the
starting and ending wage or salary figures.
The information clampdown is the
understandable, but misguided, response
to the number of lawsuits filed—and
won—by former employees who went
to court to dispute what they believed
were unfair, unfavorable references.
To complicate matters, the turbulent
economy has made it possible for dishonest people to list defunct companies
as former employers, as well as to create
a job title and range of responsibilities
that lead you to believe you’ve found
just the person you’ve been looking for.
A pre-employment screening company in Colorado reports that one in 10
job applicants they screened had a criminal record. The fact that this company
ran approximately 800,000 background
checks last year makes that number even
scarier. They also found one in three applicants misrepresented themselves on
an employment application, and one in
four provided false educational or credential records.
If you’re not getting references, those
numbers give you an idea of the kind of
risk you’re taking. When you rely only on
information provided by the applicant,
you’re at risk for everything from hiring
a dishonest person to a costly negligent
hiring lawsuit. The only good news here
is that if you at least try to get references
and someone withholds unfavorable information, it will probably reduce your
liability should anything untoward happen. (Just be certain to document your
conversations and keep these records.)
While this is a good defensive strategy,
it’s better yet to get the information you
need to make a sound hiring decision.
And it can be done.

92

MultI-unIt FRanChIsee i s s ue ii, 2011

steps you can take

First, if it’s not already a part of your
employment application form, get written authorization from all applicants to
check their references and run a background check (whether you actually do
so or not). This release helps hold you
and everyone who provides information
harmless and free of any liability that
could result from the process. (For a
sample form, register at www.kleimanhr.
com and visit the “Members” page.)
Then, when you conduct the interview, position the applicant to tell you
the truth. Job seekers are inclined to put
things in their very best light on their

We owe it to
our employees
and the publics
we serve to hire
decent, ethical,
safety-conscious
employees.
resumes, on your application form, and
in person. However, there is a specific
positioning technique that gets people
to tell you what you need to know. It was
discovered during the early use of lie detector technology for pre-employment
testing when administrators found they
would get more admissions pre-polygraph
when they carefully positioned people
to tell them the truth by saying, “We
expect you to be honest. If you aren’t
completely honest and it shows up on
the lie detector exam you’ll be taking
later, we cannot hire you.”
Because people have a propensity to
meet our expectations, we can use this
technique to our advantage when conducting interviews—without hooking
anyone up to a lie detector.
Job applicants show up for interviews
well prepared to ѕ