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HR Forum Answers...

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Resume Writer

Registered User
Joined
Feb 7, 2004
Posts
1,121
Hi Everyone,

Well, I just finished with the HR Forum that I wrote about in an earlier post. We had a great turnout - 35 people from every aspect of HR. We had some very interesting answers to the questions I asked. I am going to post below the questions and then the answers to them for you to read. While they may not be specifically aviation related, the general nature of the questions may prove helpful.

Please understand that these questions and the answers that follow are DIRECTLY from HR Managers. If you do not like the answers - please do not shoot the messenger. (me) I am just reporting what was told to me. :)

Electronic Job Board Questions

Q. What percentage of positions do you post on the internet?
A. 90-100%


Q. Do you utilize job boards in addition to company websites for recruitment?

A. Yes, although they said that they used the job boards more frequently to attract a larger pool of candidates.

Q. Do you post your position on just one job board or do you post on several job boards?

A. Most said that they use more than one job board, but some preferred to only use local job boards as they were getting too many candidates from outside the area.

Q. Do you participate in purchasing database searches from job boards or do you typically post an advertisement?

A. Most said they typically posted an advertisement, but if they were looking for someone with a certain specialty, they would pay for a database search rather than putting an ad on the job boards.

Q. What is the average number of responses you get from a typical employment advertisement?

A. Between 200-500, sometimes more, depending on the position. They said additionally that most people were not qualified for the position, as the candidates did not READ the job posting thoroughly. Those were immediately eliminated.

Q. What happens to the resumes once you receive them? Are they printed out and filed or put into a database?

A. Some of them said that they printed them out and read everyone of them (especially the people from the City of Phoenix recruitment department) to see if the candidates matched the position requirements. Others said that they were scanned into a database.

Q. How many candidates are generally selected from the initial pool of candidates?

A. The average answer was 12, some as high as 20 and others as low as 5

Q. How many candidates do you interview for the second or final interview?

A. Average answer was 5, as low as 3 and high as 10

Q. How does your company follow-up with applicants for:
1) the initial application?
2) after the first interview?
3) after the final interview?

A.

1) initial - most said that they respond with a card or an email receipt.
2) first interview - they said that they respond with a letter saying that they did not get the position, but invite them to apply again.
3) final interview - they said they respond to all candidates

***interesting side note - they said that they do not let all 1st interview candidates know that they have made the cut until they interview the top choices in case they end up with duds.


General Questions on Resumes and Cover Letters

Q. What is the first thing you look for on an applicants resume?

A. They said they look for skill matches first to their ad, then they look at dates of employment. They said if you job hop, you should have a good explanation of why. (I personally do not see this as a problem in aviation, because everyone moves quite a lot to gain hours and experience)

Q. Are cover letters an absolute must to accompany a resume?

A. An absolute must, especially if they ask for one. Cover letters no more than 3-4 paragraphs. They also said that if they are looking at your resume and have a question, they refer back to the cover letter to see if there is an explanation.

Q. Do you read the cover letters?

A. Yes, but not if it is too long, they do not have the time.

Q. What about an individual who has been unemployed for some time? Should they explain the reason for this in the cover letter?

A. They do not discriminate against this because of the economy the way it is right now. Yes, explain the reason in the cover letter.

Q. How do you feel about cell phone or company numbers on resumes? What about email addresses?

A. Do not use company email or phone numbers. Use a home phone if possible - but ONLY if you can get a reliable message. No stupid messages on voice mail (like a long Van Halen song or your child's voice on the message). They said it was a turnoff.

*** side note to this - one woman shared a story about a job seeker getting 2 phone calls in an interview and making an outbound call - needless to say, the interview ended!!

References

Q. How many references do you want an applicant to provide?

A. Most said a minimum of 3, some said as high as 5

Q. How many actual references do you contact?

A. Most said that they contacted all references and some said as few as one.

Q. How often do you contact the former employers on the application?

A. Once again, a mixed bag on this question. Some said they contacted every one. Others said that they only contacted the last few. We all know aviation is different.

Q. What if a candidate does not want you to contact a current employer? Is that a red flag?

A. They said they do not contact a current employer unless there was a job offer. The job offer was contingent on the background checks. Some said it was a red flag. (I gently reminded them that people have to feed their families and that is why they do not want the employer contacted until there was a solid job offer. Most said they contacted HR)

Q. When contacting a current employer, what questions do you ask about the candidate?

A. This was interesting. They said that they asked any questions they felt they could get answers to. They said if it was offered on the other end, they would take the answers. (I would suggest ONLY putting HR as a contact, not your direct supervisor on an application, as HR people know better what to answer.)

Q. Have you increased background checks on employees since 9/11?

A. Yes, but it depended on the position. Sensitive areas definitely.

Q. What kind of background checks do you conduct? Credit checks?

A. Most said that they did FBI, fingerprint and some said they did credit checks if the position was one that required it. (for instance, defense contractors do a credit check because if you are in a top secret area, they do not want to think you will sell secrets to get out of debt)

General Interview Questions

Q. Do you tend to hire more for skillset or personality?

A. Most said they hire for personality and fit with the company. They said they assume you have the qualifications and will check that out in the employer background check.

Q. When candidates are asked what goals they have in 5 or 10 years, what are you looking for?

A. They said that they were looking for something that was more original then the standard answer of "advancement." They wanted to know that you did some research on the company and had ideas of where you might want to go within their company.

Q. What percentage of questions are general, situational and behavioral?

A. They said that the situational and behavioral questions were about 90% of their interview. They said to make sure that you come with examples of times where you solved problems, etc.

Q. How many times should someone contact you if you are playing phone tag with them?

A. Some said no more than twice per week. Others said that if they call you and leave a message, call them back. If you get a voicemail for them, leave a message. HOWEVER, do not continually leave messages. One HR person said that a gentleman left him 10 voicemails within a 2 day period.

Those were all the questions we had time for. I hope that perhaps this has shed some light for all of you.

Kathy
 
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Q. How often do you contact the former employers on the application?

This is not a big deal with my current employer as they use an external 3rd party to respond to reference inquiries. In fact, they charge $10 to verify employment. Also, they will only provide dates of employment. It's kinda funny, when I got my current mortage, I had to pay $10 for the company to verify my employement and salary.
 
Thanks, Kathy

Interesting information. Great points about cover letters. Mine have always been about three-four short paragraphs because I believed that no matter how well-written and literary your cover letter might be, no one wants to be greeted with a piece of paper blackened by prose.

Also interesting comments on the reference checks. Smart companies will only reveal dates of employment and salary. Anything else could open them up for a defamation action.
 
Bobby,

I definitely agree about the potential for lawsuits. Still, I thought it was very interesting that they said they would TRY to ask the questions. Once again, ONLY put the HR department down on an application, as there will most likely be no more for a mishap.

One comment they did make was that many of the department managers were unaware of what questions they could ask. Makes me wonder WHY they have not put these individuals through some kind of HR training course.

I hope the information helps everyone on the board. While it is not specific to aviation (I tried to get someone from the airlines to join us), it confirmed many things I did know from my hiring days and also shed light on some issues that I was unaware of.

On a side note, the City of Phoenix HR Manager invited the resume writers to go on a tour of her facility so that she can give us a behind the scenes view of what happens in her operation. This will be very interesting as the government hires differently than the private sector.

Stay tuned...I will report my findings back from that visit which should occur in the next week or so.

Kathy
 
KigAir said:
Q. How often do you contact the former employers on the application?

This is not a big deal with my current employer as they use an external 3rd party to respond to reference inquiries. In fact, they charge $10 to verify employment. Also, they will only provide dates of employment. It's kinda funny, when I got my current mortage, I had to pay $10 for the company to verify my employement and salary.

Kigair,

There are many companies that do hire these outside agencies to provide information about employees. My former employer did this very thing. Smart move on their part. You go to a website and it provides the information on date of hire, position, date of "separation" (notice I did not say "termination" as they cannot report that) and your pay if you give them that information to be disclosed.

Small companies do not have the means to pay for these services. One woman, who was with Wells Fargo, said that they pay about $50 a piece to have these background checks done. That price is probably lower because they do hiring in mass volume.

I have had clients who have almost lost their current jobs because they asked for a current employer not to be contacted and the company did. If you MUST put down someone at your current company, either put down someone in HR or put down someone that you have had a previous conversation with about the change of jobs issue. That way you will get a good reference, in addition to not alerting your employer you are looking and possibly lose your job.

Kathy
 
Kathy,

If the company you used to work for gets bought out by a larger company and they change the business name, do the personell records of the former company always stay intact?

Meaning, if in providing work history, I used the contact number for the new company, whom I never worked for, would they still have records showing I worked for the former company?
 
redd said:
Kathy,

If the company you used to work for gets bought out by a larger company and they change the business name, do the personell records of the former company always stay intact?

Meaning, if in providing work history, I used the contact number for the new company, whom I never worked for, would they still have records showing I worked for the former company?

Redd,

Yes, the records stay intact. The length of time an employer must keep your records by Federal Law is 6 years AFTER your separation. The records will be transferred to the new owner and I believe the former owner has to keep the records also for a period of 6 years.

If you question whether an employer has your records, you can go to your department of economic security in your state and I believe they have records for every place that you have worked. Perhaps even the Social Security Administration has those records also since they base your SS benefits on the income that you made. I know when I got my benefits report from the SSA that it goes back to when I first started working.

Hope that helps! :)

Kathy
 
Employment records and background checks

Good discussion. I found some enlightening information about background checks on this page. Check it out. Also, this page about background check problems.
 
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Re: Employment records and background checks

bobbysamd said:
Good discussion. I found some enlightening information about background checks on this page. Check it out. Also, this page about background check problems.

Bobby,

Those were good sites. If people have specific questions, I believe it is USC 29 that has all the employment laws. Further, you can check your revised state statutes for information. In Arizona, it is Title 23 that deals with employment.

Kathy
 
One More Thing...

I thought of one more thing today that was said at the forum.

The HR Managers said that they were getting a lot of letters that candidates were addressing to each company to which they were applying. The problem was, the candidates were forgetting to switch people's names or company's names on the letters they were sending out. So, it would have say Bill Jones, but then the company name was not the right one. It was the one from the previous letter.

So, be careful before you send any letters or emails off that you are addressing them to the appropriate contact and company.

Kathy
 

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