Even the federal government’s Drug-free Workplace program, which once spearheaded employee drug screening, now encourages employers to use drug-testing to identify employees who can benefit from “treatment, rehabilitation, and re-integration into the workplace,” not as a filter to bar employment or a reason to terminate employees.

The situation is a bit trickier in sectors where workplace safety is vital. The information below can help you weigh the options, limitations, and the potential benefits of drug screening before you decide whether to you implement or revise your testing policy.

Why Should You Screen for Drug Use?

Pre-employment drug testing can help identify employees who may benefit from drug counseling or in-patient or out-patient drug treatment programs. If employees continue to use illicit drugs or abuse controlled substances, and it negatively impacts their work, post-treatment drug screening can help you to build a case for termination.

Drug screening can save you money by:

• Reducing the risk of workplace injuries and accidents
• Discouraging and preventing drug use
• Reducing turnover and absenteeism

What Drugs Do Most Tests Screen For?

Drug tests can detect substances that may be legally and necessarily prescribed to your employees for conditions ranging from anxiety to cancer to arthritis, but the most common drugs that are detected by drug screening are:

• Amphetamines
• Cocaine
• Opiates
• Phencyclidine (PCP)
• Cannabis (aka, marijuana)

Even among this short list you may unintentionally trespass upon applicants’ medical privacy. Amphetamines are used for a range of legitimate health issues, all of which would be covered by ADA. Cannabis and even opiates can be used to treat chronic pain or terminal illness, and cocaine is still sometimes used as an anesthetic for particularly delicate surgery and could consequently turn up in a drug screen, opening yourself up to accusations of bias and potential lawsuits.

How Do State Marijuana Laws Affect Employer Liability?

State laws on drug testing, especially for cannabis use, vary widely. In addition, some cities, including New York City, prohibit nearly all testing for cannabis. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provides a frequently updated table that lists state laws governing employee drug screening.

Note: Try to avoid the use of the term “marijuana” when referring to cannabis, which is based on the Spanish word for the flowering component of the cannabis plant and considered by many to be offensive to people of Mexican descent and Latinos in general.

What Steps Should You Take to Implement a Pre-Employment Drug Testing Policy?

1. Know the Law. Employers with federal contracts of more than $100,000 and many federal grant recipients are required to implement drug tests. However, those same mandates require companies to implement employee protections, including the opportunity to contest positive results. You also need to be careful not to single out people who “appear” to be under the influence of drugs since this may be due to a medical condition and thus covered by ADA.
2. Have a Consistent Written Policy. By law, you must have a written policy that is easily accessible to employees and perspective hires and this policy must be in place for 30 days before you begin testing. SHRM provides an easily modified sample. Be sure to cover the costs of all testing, including last-chance and post-treatment tests. Not only is it the right thing to do, but some states prohibit employers from charging employees for screening costs.
3. Determine What Type of Test You Need. Urine analysis is by far the most common way to obtain sample for testing, with blood testing being fairly rare. If what you are interested in is on-the-job safety, implementing frequent, randomized urine or saliva tests may be the best approach. If you are more concerned about habitual use, consider investing in hair follicle testing, since substances can be tested using this method for much longer durations.
4. Find a Reliable Test Kit Provider, a Qualified Lab, or Comprehensive Vendor. SHRM provides a frequently updated list of testing vendors, ranging from offsite labs to companies that will come to your workplace to collect specimens to vendors that will oversee every aspect of your company’s drug testing, treatment, and prevention program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services publishes a list of certified testing centers, which is updated frequently and organized by state.

When Should You Test Candidates and Employees?

Random testing is probably the most successful way to detect habitual drug use; however, employers may also want to consider testing in the following circumstances:

• Pre-employment: By far the most widely used, a pre-employment drug testing policy typically times screenings to take place after an offer has been made but before the candidate’s first day on the job.
• Annual physical: These tests are implemented along with other health screenings provided by the employer. Due to your employees’ rights to privacy when it comes to their health, you’ll need to guarantee the security and privacy of employee health records. You also must alert your employees that drug screening will be part of their annual checkup.
• Reasonable suspicion: If you have documented a pattern of unsafe behavior, you may ask to test an employee as a condition of their continued employment.
• Post-accident: In this case you would want to request to test all employees who were involved in the accident to determine if drug or alcohol use played a part.
• Post-treatment: Knowing that they will be subject to drug testing after employer-provided treatment has been shown to help employees remain committed to their treatment program in the critical first months after completing their program.

Are There Drawbacks to Drug Screening?

The drawbacks and benefits of implementing a pre-employment drug testing policy depend on your goals. If you aren’t using the right test for your circumstances, you could be spending money and incurring potential liability for no good reason.

Societal attitudes about drug use and abuse are shifting, with increasing numbers of job seekers viewing recreational use of legal substances as a private matter and substance abuse as a mental health issue deserving of compassion and employer-provided care options. Your pre-employment drug-testing policy may discourage highly qualified candidates from applying to work at your company.

Is There a Better Way to Discourage Substance Abuse?

There a better ways to screen applicants to make sure that they will be honest, conscientious, and reliable workers than by using tests that can be thwarted and are just as likely to uncover health issues covered by the ADA as they are to unearth substance abuse.

A comprehensive policy that offers mental health benefits rather than retribution to employees struggling with addiction, and highlighting these policies in your HR literature, will help cement your reputation as an employer who prioritizes wellness, which can be very attractive, especially to highly qualified and younger applicants.

Learn About the Latest Practices in Employee Screening and Testing

Now that you have an up-to-date pre-employment drug testing policy, learn more about the latest employee screening methods with free advice and hiring news from Monster.

The post Setting Up a Pre-Employment Drug Testing Policy appeared first on Monster.com.

Unintentional bias in hiring can cause you to overlook talented applicants, thwart your diversity efforts, even undermine profits, and, as research shows, lead to decreased rates of employee satisfaction and retention.

So, how do you avoid something you can’t always see? There’s no easy fix. Unconscious bias requires an organizational commitment to replace outmoded hiring procedures with more equitable ones. The following seven steps can help you get started:

1. Make unbiased hiring a priority
2. Identify structural biases in your hiring process
3. Eliminate illegal questions from your hiring process
4. Revise job descriptions to focus on skills
5. Use the same hiring process for every candidate
6. Implement a standardized interview process
7. Examine your hiring priorities and shift your criteria

1. Make Unbiased Hiring a Priority

Diverse organizations are more innovative and make more money than workplaces with less diverse payrolls and leadership teams. Examining and addressing unconscious bias in hiring can help you attract top talent, increase sales and revenue, and even make wiser investment decisions.

The data may be on your side, but examining assumptions and changing behavior is still a big ask. To succeed you’ll need to:

• Get buy in from the top down. If senior management seems more interested in the appearance of addressing bias than actually increasing the number of underrepresented employees among your ranks and in leadership, then your diversity initiatives will fail. Focus on the business case for diversity to win over top-level management.
• Train your hiring managers about bias and the benefits of diversity. First, make sure they know the data behind the policy goal. Committing to unbiased hiring is going to help them assemble more talented teams and reach their goals.
• Set diversity goals and monitor your progress. Announce your goals publicly and be transparent about your successes and setbacks. Make sure your goals don’t stop with hiring. Implicit bias plays a part in promotion as well.

2. Identify Structural Biases in Your Hiring Process

Research shows that the hiring process as currently practiced by most employers is rife with unconscious bias against underrepresented groups. To mitigate racism, ageism, gender discrimination, and disability bias in hiring:

• Admit that bias exists. Start from the premise that unintended bias exists in the workplace and in most hiring and promotion processes.
• Separate the professional from the social. “Likability” has been found to be a highly weighted aspect of who gets hired across all sectors. But likeability is subjective. Charm may be an important quality in sales, for example, but it may not be relevant for many jobs.
• Be cautious about referrals: A referral program can be an excellent way to find qualified candidates, but if you rely on them too much they can lead to a workforce where everyone has gone to the same schools, has similar hobbies, or similar cultural or economic backgrounds.
• Bring more people into the hiring process, especially at the interview stage. Consider assembling a committee that includes managers, peers, and HR personnel so that a diversity of impressions can be considered at every stage of the filtering process.

3. Eliminate Illegal Questions from Your Hiring Process

Familiarize yourself with the legal guidelines governing hiring in your state and municipality, as well as federal guidelines. Knowing which attributes employers are legally prohibited from using as a basis for employment can help you review your processes to avoid unintended discrimination. Those categories are: race, color, religion, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, and genetic information.

Use these criteria to review applications and interview questions. Understanding why a question is illegal and what kind of questions you can ask instead can help make the process more successful. Consider using software aimed at reducing bias to overhaul each stage of your current process and scrub biased language from your materials.

4. Revise Job Descriptions to Focus on Skills

Poor word choice can dissuade capable workers from applying. For example, “aggressive” might keep some women from applying while “digital native” can be seen as signaling that only younger applicants will be considered.

To address this issue, focus on skills rather than subjective personal descriptions. For example, rather than stating that you’re seeking a “digital native,” say that the applicant should have experience using various digital platforms.” Instead of saying that you are “seeking a native English speaker” say that you are seeking someone “with excellent written English speaking and writing skills.”

5. Use the Same Hiring Procedure for Every Candidate

Whatever procedure you establish, use it for every candidate. Consider implementing the following to further eliminate unconscious bias:

• Establish a blind resume review process. Software can be used to strip out identifying information such as names, addresses, even graduation. At some companies it may make sense to filter out even the names of schools because they can be an indication of class background.
• Assign hypothetical work tasks to applicants. Giving applicants hypothetical work assignments that closely parallel what they will be doing if hired is a better way to assess success than an interview, and far less susceptible to unconscious

6. Implement a Standardized Interview Process

• Use an interview script and don’t deviate from it. Prepare your questions ahead of time using job-relevant language and ask the same questions in the same order to every candidate.
• Cut the small talk. The best way to undermine this tendency is to conduct a streamlined interview that is highly focused on process questions, knowledge, and skills.
• Don’t improvise: In social settings, conversations often center on family or hometown, but in a job interview such topics can reveal information employers can’t ask about, such as marital status or country of origin. The casual improvisation that is part of a typical conversation can easily lead to questions that can be biased, insulting, or even illegal.

7. Examine Your Hiring Priorities and Shift Your Criteria

• Create a grading scale for each phase of the hiring process. Ask each hiring team member to grade candidates on each element in the hiring process—resume, work samples, interviews—to determine the finalist.
• Don’t over-value interview performance. Interviews are too often the primary factor used to decide among top applicants even though they are very unreliable predictors of future job success. To overcome affinity bias, weigh work-related tasks higher than interviews.
• Rethink “cultural fit.” It’s OK to consider an applicant’s cultural fit for your organization—as long as you are assessing the individual’s alignment with your company’s core values, not your own comfort level.

You’ve Learned How to Guard Against Unconscious Bias. Now Get More Cutting-Edge HR Tips

Now that you know how seven strategies that help you recognize your blind spots and eliminate bias in hiring from your recruitment processes, get more management tips from Monster. From the latest hiring trends to useful how-to guides, we can help you stay ahead of your competition.

The post How to Avoid Unconscious Bias in Hiring appeared first on Monster.com.

Use AI and automation

Artificial intelligence, among other things, can help you screen out the least relevant candidates and schedule interviews with the good ones—saving you time. If you’ve been dragging your feet on the right technology, it’s time to get on board. Chatbots, for instance, can handle the resumes that get through your system and act as the gatekeeper before applicants get to a real interview process. (They can also handle applicants who have a lot of basic questions.)

“Chatbots can be an effective way to try to gather information and perform resume screening, particularly for companies hiring large volumes of candidates into relatively similar positions,” says Matthew Spencer, co-founder and CEO of AI recruiting network Suited.

Try resume screening technology

Resume search tools can allow you to refine your searches and get email notifications when a well-matched candidate enters the database. SearchMonster, for instance, offers advanced filters like military status, qualifications, willing to travel, security clearance, and years of experience to help recruiters quickly drill down to the appropriate pool of candidates. A match rate (out of 100%) displays on each candidate’s tile view, so recruiters can quick gauge fit level, with the ability to star their favorite candidates.

Consider skills assessment tools

Once a candidate gets through the resume screening process, you can still vet their skills before you even have a conversation.

“We are developing, on an industry-by-industry basis, custom assessments that look to add to the information that’s traditionally on a resume—things you typically wouldn’t be able to capture until deeper into the interview process,” Spencer says. “We look to add elements of personality, values, stress management style and cognitive ability to get a better understanding of who the candidate is.”

Make sure you have a top-notch ATS

An Applicant Tracking System (or ATS) is software that, among other things, can collect, scan and sort thousands of resumes, screening for the qualifications and skills you really need. A majority of large companies use ATS systems, and different recruiting software works for different firms. If yours isn’t getting you the best results (and making your life easier), scan the market for better tools.

Conduct video interviews

When you can’t be face-to-face, video interviews are not only the next best thing, sometimes they’re even better—especially if you have a lot of candidates to screen in the first round. You can have them answer pre-recorded questions and share the answers with colleagues as well as your feedback.

Even if you’re doing real-time video interviews, the process may be more efficient than in-office visits. “Video interviews don’t need to be that different from regular ones,” says Nelson Sherwin, manager of HR and regulation compliance firm PEO Companies. “At the end of the day, the conversation you have with the candidate is the same, but I would advise hiring managers to pay extra attention to the candidates and try to gauge what kind of person they are.”

Improve your job descriptions

To make sure your ATS is working as hard as it can for you—and to weed out applicants before they even press “apply,” make sure you’re creating the most effective descriptions possible. “Write better job descriptions, and you will eliminate a lot of unqualified candidates,” says Catherine Byers Breet, a career consultant at Arbez. Check out Monster’s pre-written job description templates for inspiration.

Nurture the candidates you can’t hire

Cultivate your talent pipeline by staying in touch with qualified candidates. If you find someone who’s great—but not great for the role you’re filling—you’ll save yourself a lot of time if you keep them on file for the next open position. Regular communication via phone call or email can keep the lines of communication open for the future.

Whatever you do, it’s smart to stay on top of what’s next for resume screening. Monster adds new features regularly, so sign up for Monster hiring solutions to learn more. Or click here to schedule a SearchMonster demo.

The post How to use resume screening to narrow your candidate pool appeared first on Monster.com.

While these tests can shed light on many types of candidate skills and attributes, recruiters should use caution when selecting and implementing a test. Here’s what you need to know.

Types of Pre-Hire Testing

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), any employment requirement set by an employer is considered a “test.” Common screening methods test one or more of the following:

• Work skills: Assess ability to perform job-related tasks, like proficiency with certain software, writing, and customer relations
• Cognitive ability: Measure reasoning, memory, and other strengths related to intelligence
• Emotional intelligence: Evaluate the ability to understand one’s own emotions and those of others
• Language proficiency: Evaluate fluency in a language required for the position
• Personality: Assess traits or dispositions
• Knowledge: Often evaluates for technical expertise
• Physical ability: Measures the ability to perform tasks that require strength and stamina
• Drug use: Test for the recent use of illegal drugs or current alcohol intoxication

Employers interested in implementing a testing procedure must first determine the attributes that are necessary for the job and then select a test that adequately measures those attributes.

Legal Considerations Regarding Pre-Hire Testing

Not all pre-employment tests are created equal. Before you decide to use pre-employment testing, make sure the tests are going to help you hire better. You especially want to avoid any tests that could violate federal, state, or local anti-discrimination laws. Forbes outlines two legal pitfalls to be aware of before implementing a testing program:

• Validity: Make sure the test measures what you want it to and that what you’re testing is related to the position you’re filling.
• Reliability: The test should consistently measure the traits you’re testing.

If the test you use has an adverse impact on any group regarding race, sex, color, religion, national origin, or any other protected status, it may be considered discriminatory, unless it complies with the EEOC’s guidelines for employee selection procedures. And that’s just federal law. There are additional laws related to the timing of certain tests, like medical examinations. As with any decision rife with legal implications, it’s always best to consult an attorney.

Selecting and Monitoring Pre-Employment Testing Procedures

Due to all the legal implications, you don’t want to use any old test, just because it has the word “pre-employment” in it. Once you’ve determined your hiring requirements, look for tests that have been validated. One entity that reviews commercially available tests for validation is the Buros Center for Testing. They publish the “Mental Measurements Yearbook” which is widely accepted as a reliable tool for test selection.

To help ensure that your organization is in compliance with all anti-discrimination laws and regulations, keep track of how you use any validated, pre-employment testing methods. Keep records of the candidates who complete your pre-hire tests and of the results of those tests. If you spot a disparate impact on a protected class of candidates, let your legal department know so they can more closely examine and handle any compliance issues.

Recruit Top Talent

Whether or not you use pre-employment testing, the hiring process starts with finding quality candidates. Reach top talent quickly with a free job posting on Monster.

Legal Disclaimer: None of the information provided herein constitutes legal advice on behalf of Monster.

The post Is Pre-Employment Testing Legal? appeared first on Monster.com.

It doesn’t have to be formal, but the interview confirmation email often is your first direct communication with the candidate. Therefore, you want to present a professional image and make sure you provide as much information as they need.

Below, we’ll take a look at what you should include in the message, explain how it can help keep candidates engaged, and provide some examples to help you get started.

Keep in Mind the Phase and Scope of the Interview

Most companies have a series of interviews that differ in scope and format the closer the candidate gets to the final decision. For instance, the first interview may be a phone screen to assess their interest and get a general sense of their skills and experience. The next interview may be in person and involve more behavioral questions and hypotheticals to gauge how they’d perform in given situations.

Therefore, you’ll want to tailor your confirmation email to the particular phase and scope of the interview. If it’s just an informal phone screen, let them know. But if it’s an on-site interview with a panel of current employees, or a lunch interview, make sure you give them a proper heads-up of what to expect. You don’t want to ambush them; you’re trying to welcome them to your organization (even if they don’t get the final job offer).

What to Include in an Interview Confirmation Email

Here are some elements you may want to include in your interview confirmation email:

• Friendly Intro — Be welcoming with a friendly greeting and a message indicating your interest in speaking with them about the exciting opportunity at your company. But keep it brief.
• Date and Time of the Interview — This is a no-brainer, but remember to list the calendar date (nothing vague like “next Wednesday”) and give the time zone if you’re recruiting talent nationally or internationally.
• Estimated Duration of the Interview — This will help the interviewee get a better sense of what’s expected. A phone screener may last only 30 minutes, but some interviews may take hours later in the process.
• Names and Titles of Interviewers — Again, you don’t want to surprise them or make them even more nervous, so letting them know how many interviewers will be present and their roles within the company will help them prepare.
• Interview Format and Topic — Is it a one-on-one with the CEO or a lunch interview with potential coworkers? Will they be expected to make a short presentation? What will be discussed? Do they need to bring anything?

If it’s the first interview at the office, make sure you tell them how to get there (a link to Google maps, for instance), how to enter the building as a visitor, and where to park. If the interview is through an online video or voice service, give clear instructions on how to use it and whether they need to download any software.

Interview Confirmation Email Sample

You shouldn’t overthink this and it doesn’t have to be formal, but you want to make a positive (and professional) impression when communicating with an applicant. The candidate may very well be sitting down the hall from you as a colleague in a few weeks. With that in mind, here is a sample interview confirmation message:

Subject line: Interview with [name of interviewer] with [company name] for the [job title] position Hi [name of candidate], I’d like to confirm your interview for [job title] with [interviewer]. During the interview, we’ll discuss details about the position and learn more about your experience and skills. I’ve included details below:

When: [date, time, and duration]

Where: [full address, phone number you’ll call, or online venue plus details about how to access it]

Who: [name and title of the interviewer] You may park in the lot next to our building and we’ll validate your parking. The security guard in the lobby has your name and will send you up to our floor, where we’ll greet you. Don’t hesitate to contact me at [phone number and/or email address] if you have any questions or need to reschedule. We look forward to meeting you and discussing this opportunity further. Best, [your name and title]

Send Your Next Interview Confirmation Email to the Right Candidate

It’s important to have a standardized interviewing process, both for efficiency and to ensure fairness for all applicants. Your confirmation emails are a part of the process and help set the right tone, while giving candidates the opportunity to come to their interview prepared. But how do you know you’re getting the right candidates? At Monster, we understand the challenge and have been dedicated to helping employers find the top talent in their industry. Find out how you can get started by posting your next job with Monster for free.

The post Sending an Interview Confirmation Email appeared first on Monster.com.

Agile software development has been around for many years.  Yet thousands of organizations — large and small — lack the right mix of skills on hand to effect a transformation to agile.

What are those companies missing out on?  Agile software development breaks out larger-scale software development into modular stages with incremental deliverables.  Thus it enables organizations to succeed with projects by avoiding unnecessary complexity and constant change orders. The result can help accelerate go-to-market cycles and create competitive advantage. 

A key prerequisite to such a transformation is recruiting or training IT talent that’s a fit for the agile mindset. 

Yet good developers who are well-versed in agile can be difficult to identify and even harder to attract. To successfully recruit them, “You have to demonstrate your commitment to agile conversion,” says Dave West, CEO of Scrum.org, a training and certification provider.

Here are some key insights from industry insiders on how to hire technology talent – and train them — workers who will be key to your organization's transformation to agile. 

Hire techies for soft skills. For developers working in an agile environment, soft skills are essential to success. “We don’t have a lot of developers who are more comfortable talking to computers than to people,” says Wenhold, says Timothy Wenhold, CIO of Power Home Remodeling.

Screen for agile temperament. It’s not easy to predict which candidates will be open to the waves of change that they’ll experience working in an agile framework, but it’s critically important. So screen out personality types who lack a strong record of adapting to change and are motivated primarily by the desire to avoid difficulties, says Patric Palm, CEO of agile tools makers Hansoft and Favro.

Seek out candidates who are customer-oriented. Does it come naturally to a candidate to talk about meeting customer needs, not just solving technical problems? That’s especially important in an agile shop. “Look for people with a passion for product rather than technology,” says Palm.

Screening for technical ability is still important. Assess technical competence early in the recruitment process. “Require candidates to take open assessments that are free and accessible,” says West. “If they don’t want to take assessments, they’re probably not right for scrum.”

Luckily, testing candidates’ coding and software-design chops isn’t as difficult as it once was. “We use Hacker Rank and Ruby on Rails tests,” says Wenhold. “But technical ability counts for only about 20 percent technical. The rest is people skills.” 

Invest time with finalists. Try to bring in the top contenders for at least half a day in your office. “You have to spend more than an hour with people,” says West. “I know a company that gets candidates together, gives them an exercise and observes how they work and interact.”

Ask references specifically about the candidate’s agile performance. When you speak with candidates’ references, get granular about their performance in an agile environment. “Get references and talk to people about how the candidate worked, how they dealt with typical scrum challenges like planning, conflict and surprises,” says West.
 
Apply agile hiring criteria to more than just developers. “Agile change initiatives go wrong by putting the whole thing behind the curtain of software development,” says West. “It isn’t just the software development team, it’s about testing, operations, the whole delivery chain. It involves a lot of people who ultimately are not directly on scrum teams.”

Familiarize HR and recruiters with the world of agile. Your HR managers and recruiters will have much better intuitions for what qualifies a candidate for agile if they see the method in action. “Our recruiters come to some of our scrum meetings,” says Wenhold.

Dedicate training time to agile. Don’t expect IT people to learn agile purely by osmosis. “As part of onboarding new hires, for the first week we have them read a book on the scrum process and learn how our departments are set up,” says Wenhold. “For their second week, they shadow a scrum team and become a team member. We’re teaching them how the agile framework works.”

Use the scrum framework to train developers on agile. Look for an agile training program that’s structured according to an agile framework. “You get the whole training in a safe and complete way in 5 or 6 sprints,” says West.  “You encounter questions like, ‘What does done mean?’ in relation to a specific project goal. ”

Provide support for continuous learning about agile. Especially in the early stages of a transformation to an agile framework, key aspects of this way of working can be distorted by office politics, organizational culture, or mission drift. That makes employee training crucial. So hire or designate an internal agile coach, or an external coach who comes in for long-term gig, to keep your shop on track, Palm advises.

The post How to Hire and Train Agile Software Developers appeared first on Monster.com.

Fortunately, you can speed up the resume review process and identify top candidates quickly by implementing these best practices:

1. Use an applicant tracking system (ATS)
2. Make sure candidates meet the minimum qualifications
3. Single out well-written resumes
4. Evaluate a candidate’s achievements
5. Spot soft skills
6. Identify transferable skills
7. Keep resumes on file

1. Use an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

Use an ATS to significantly narrow down your candidate pool. Start by reading the job description and writing down the most important keywords and phrases like the job title (and similar titles) and the desired skills and credentials.

Have the software scan the resumes for those keywords and phrases so you only need to review resumes for candidates who are likely to be a good fit for the job. (Some software options can also rank applicants based on the prevalence of the keywords and phrases, so you can quickly find probable top candidates.)

If you have a high volume of applicants, it’s helpful to use the software to eliminate candidates who don’t have any of the keywords and phrases in their resume. However, the software isn’t as sophisticated as a human, so it’s important to take the time to review the remaining applicants to choose candidates to interview.

2. Make Sure Candidates Meet the Minimum Qualifications

Some candidates may make the cut even though they don’t meet the minimum qualifications for the position. The system may have spotted a few of the less important keywords and moved a candidate forward even though they don’t meet the requirements.

Start by reading each applicant resume that made the cut to see if the candidates have the required experience and credentials. For example, the position may require an undergraduate or graduate degree and specific certifications or licenses.

3. Single Out Well-Written Resumes

Skim the remaining resumes to look for typos and grammatical and spelling errors. You may want to reject candidates whose resumes are littered with mistakes because it signals a lack of attention to detail and professionalism.

Read the remaining resumes more carefully to evaluate each candidate’s written communication skills. Consider how clear and concise the writing is and whether the candidate uses active verbs and active voice.

4. Evaluate a Candidate’s Achievements

Next, consider the candidate’s career path. Look for candidates who moved up instead of staying stagnant because it indicates that they have a strong work ethic and produce high-quality work.

As you read each applicant resume, identify other signs that a candidate has a proven track record. Prioritize candidates who don’t just list their job responsibilities – they show what they achieved.

Depending on the role, candidates might share the revenue they brought in, the number of client accounts or team members they managed, or the website traffic they generated. Similarly, look for any academic or professional awards they’ve won.

5. Spot Soft Skills

Candidates are apt to list hard skills like specific technical, computer, or language skills on their resume. However, they usually don’t list soft skills such as communication, relationship-building, leadership, problem-solving, and time management.

Fortunately, you can read between the lines. For example, a candidate who:

• Manages people is likely to have leadership and project management skills.
• Leads multiple client accounts is likely to have relationship-building and time management skills.
• Writes and presents reports at meetings is likely to have good written and verbal communication skills.

6. Identify Transferable Skills

When you review each applicant resume, remember that you may not find a candidate who meets all the preferred qualifications. Some may not have even tackled a similar role before.

However, keep in mind that the candidate may have gained valuable transferrable skills from other work experiences or classes. A smart and hardworking candidate with a growth mindset will be able to adapt and learn new skills quickly. For example, an executive assistant may have the time management and organization skills to succeed as a project manager.

7. Keep Resumes on File

Business owners are required under federal law to keep applications submitted by applicants on file for at least one year (three years for federal contractors). There’s another reason it’s a good idea to store resumes: It is a great way to find potential candidates.

If you’re impressed by a candidate but they don’t seem like the right person for the specific job, flag their resume. When you’re hiring for another role, sift through the file to see if any of the candidates are a good fit for the new opening. (One of the benefits of using an ATS is that you can use the search filters to find candidates with the skills and experience you need instead of thumbing through a thick stack of resumes.)

Kick-Off an Efficient Applicant Resume Review Process

Implement these resume screening best practices for every job opening to quickly find people who have the skills and experience to make your business more successful. Ready to put this advice to work? Create a free job posting on Monster to reach qualified candidates.

The post 7 Applicant Resume Review Tips for Employers appeared first on Monster.com.

While you may be able to get a glimpse of a candidate’s emotional intelligence during the resume and phone screening process and from speaking to references, you’ll get a much clearer picture during the interview process if you know what to ask. Behavioral interview questions, the most effective questions for assessing emotional intelligence, require candidates to reflect on past work experiences so you can see how they’re likely to handle similar situations at your company.

Why Emotional Intelligence in Management Roles Matters

Your company will be more successful if you have emotionally intelligent managers. The ability of managers to “read the room” and navigate emotions is more likely to increase employee morale, making your employees more productive, collaborative, and engaged. Companies with high employee engagement are typically more profitable because of increased sales, productivity, and employee retention.

When you have empathetic leaders, your employees will feel heard and valued. They’ll be apt to provide constructive criticism that you can implement to improve your company culture, boost productivity, and retain high performers. Empathetic leaders also are better at marketing to customers or clients because they have a clearer understanding of what they want and need.

Behavioral Questions for Assessing Emotionally Intelligent Leaders

You’re more likely to get a sense of a candidate’s ability to connect with others emotionally during the interview process, as long as you ask the right questions. We’ve pulled together the most effective behavioral interview questions you can ask when evaluating candidates, organized by category.

1. Social Skills

Emotionally intelligent people typically have strong social skills, including communication, collaboration, and the ability to build and maintain personal relationships. You can ask candidates the following:

• Tell me about a time you relied on your written and verbal communication skills to garner support for a project or strategy. How was it received?
• How have you built strong relationships with colleagues in past roles? What makes you a good relationship builder?
• Describe a time you stepped up to help a colleague or direct report with a project or task outside of your normal routine.

2. Leadership Skills

Emotionally intelligent people are often intuitive, positive, encouraging, caring, trustworthy, reliable, and goal-oriented, making them good leaders. You may want to ask the following:

• Tell me about a time that you led your team through a challenge. How did you change your leadership style to connect with different individuals?
• How do you motivate your direct reports to accomplish their goals and objectives?
• What skills and professional values make you a good leader?

3. Problem-Solving Skills

Emotional intelligence, in management as in other roles, typically empowers leaders to analyze issues, evaluate potential solutions, and create and implement a plan. They have the necessary skills to solve the problems that inevitably arise when leading a team. Assess a candidate’s problem-solving skills by asking these questions:

• Share a time when you needed to use problem-solving skills at work. How did you come up with a solution and what was the result?
• Walk me through a time you started a project from scratch. What did you do from start to finish and how did you delegate tasks to members of your team?
• Tell me about a time you faced a difficult problem at work that you couldn’t solve alone. What did you do?

4. Conflict Resolution

Emotionally intelligent people are often good at resolving conflict because they are typically empathetic, diplomatic, collaborative, and have strong relationship-building skills. You can hire for emotional intelligence in management roles by asking the following:

• Tell me about a time you got into a disagreement with a colleague. How did you handle it?
• What’s a time you dealt with a difficult coworker, client, or customer?
• Walk me through a time you disagreed with your manager. How did you resolve it?

5. Resilience

Emotionally intelligent people can regulate their emotions and bounce back from failures and roadblocks. They are typically confident, self-aware, and mature, and should be able to talk about failures and weaknesses without getting defensive. You may want to ask these questions to assess a candidate’s resilience:

• Tell me about a time you failed at something at work. What was the impact?
• What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made at work? What happened?
• What is a weakness that affects your day-to-day responsibilities? How have you improved or found workarounds?

Continue Building an Emotionally Intelligent Team

Now you know the benefits of hiring for emotional intelligence in management roles and how to evaluate a candidate’s emotional intelligence skills. One of the main advantages is that you’ll strengthen your company culture which will help you attract and keep top talent. Continue to build a strong team by implementing more expert-recommended recruitment and retention advice from Monster.

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These employees tend to either rapidly leave due to interpersonal conflict and frustration, stall out in lower-level positions due to their inability to handle the social demands of leadership, or bulldoze through the organization, leaving a trail of poor morale and increased turnover. Fortunately, there are relatively easy and inexpensive ways to decrease the risk of hiring the cognitively skilled but socially inept. One of the most effective ways is crafting interpersonal skills interview questions and scenarios.

Key characteristics of interpersonal skills

Social skills reflect a person’s ability to work with others in a way that accomplishes near-term business objectives while strengthening longer-term working relationships. The concept of social skills has been around a long time, although it is periodically repackaged under titles such as “emotional intelligence,” “tacit knowledge,” and “interpersonal savvy.” Social skills depend primarily on four fundamental characteristics:

• Self-awareness: Monitoring how our actions affect the behavior of those around us
• Sensitivity to others: Showing concern toward the needs and feelings of others
• Social intelligence: Understanding methods for influencing others’ behaviors and perceptions
• Self-control: Being able to control our actions and emotions, particularly when under stress

One need not be highly adept at all of these to be socially skilled. However, a serious deficit in any one area can result in major interpersonal issues with problem employees.

Interpersonal skills interview questions

Social Intelligence

There are several methods for assessing job candidates’ social skills, and an interview is the most common. A candidate’s lack of social intelligence may show up during the interview process as social errors. Carefully observe how the candidate interacts informally with others. Create social settings such as group discussions or luncheons that require candidates to display social skills. Some questions you can ask to assess social intelligence include:

• Can you describe a time when you persuaded someone to do something they didn’t want to do?
• Tell me about a time you convinced someone to agree with your idea or plan of action.

Moderately low levels of social intelligence won’t be a problem unless the job requires the ability to quickly develop a rapport with others.

Sensitivity

Sensitivity to others can also be assessed during an interview, but it is a bit more difficult. During the interview, ask candidates to describe influences on their careers or interpersonal conflicts they have experienced at work. Pay attention to how they describe others in their answers. Answers that are highly judgmental or give little credit to the contributions and interests of others could be associated with low sensitivity to others. References can also be a good source of information. Ask people to describe what it was like to work with this particular person. If they say things like “highly independent” or “difficult to manage,” you may want to probe a bit more.

Self-control and self-awareness

Self-control and self-awareness are perhaps the most difficult social skills to assess in an interview setting since, for example, few people will admit to a time they lost their temper at work. However, you can ask the candidate behavioral interview questions to elicit how they’ve handled more extreme scenarios, such as:

• A client or co-worker who became verbally aggressive
• Managing a stressful, heavy workload and being asked to take on yet another task
• Confronting someone about a sensitive topic

However, even more than interpersonal skills interview questions, one of the best ways to evaluate self-control and self-awareness is through role-play exercises. This involves having candidates interact with trained assessors in a simulated work scenario. For example, you could have the candidate give feedback to a fictional, underperforming employee with an attitude problem. If properly structured and conducted, role-playing can be one of the most valid predictors of social skill.

Using social skills questionnaires

Social skills can also be evaluated using standardized questionnaires such as personality tests and social style measures. These tests measure underlying beliefs, preferences, and attitudes that affect interpersonal behavior. Many of these measures are relatively straightforward to use, fairly inexpensive, and can be highly valid. There are a wide variety of well-designed measures to choose from, but it’s often difficult to tell the difference between a good measure and one that looks good but does little. Consequently, it’s a good idea to consult with an independent assessment expert when choosing this sort of measure.

Weighing an applicant’s interpersonal skills

The weight you give to a candidate’s social skills depends on the position you’re filling. A salesperson will need to be more socially adept than a software developer or a mortician. Matching the right skills to the job will help ensure a smooth ride inside your organization. Get help with this and more from Monster Hiring Solutions, where you’ll receive expert recruiting advice and information on the latest hiring trends.

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For many recruiters and hiring managers, the existence of online candidate information and the ease of accessing it seems to provide a wealth of knowledge and an endless pool of potential job candidates. However, this presents questions for employers, such as:

• How should recruiters represent us online?
• Is our company’s employment-based social media presence adequate?
• What kind of information is relevant to the recruitment process and what can be ignored?

If you’re not using social media to engage with potential candidates or research applicants, then now is the time to update your recruitment procedures. Below are some points for employers and recruiters to consider as they begin their social media recruiting process.

Why Social Media is Such a Powerful Recruitment Tool

Not only are social networks powerful tools for promoting your company and sourcing top candidates, they also are overtaking many of the more traditional recruiting venues. Percentages vary by source, but most surveys and estimates show that roughly 80 percent of job seekers and more than 90 percent of recruiters already use social media for employment purposes. This means your competitors are finding candidates you’re missing if you’re not also using this method.

There are numerous benefits to using social media, both mainstream and professional networks, as an integral part of your recruiting and screening process, including (but not limited to):

• Higher job visibility. With billions of active social media users worldwide, virtually all of your potential candidates are on at least one popular social network. Even if they don’t follow your company’s profile, one of their connections may see your job listing and forward it to qualified individuals.
• Opportunity for branding. Social media recruiting also presents an opportunity to build your employer brand, allowing you to market your place of employment beyond a simple listing on a job board.
• Better candidate targeting. Depending on the network, you can target your job ads to specific niche groups in a way that attracts the right candidates without appearing “spammy” or desperate.
• Ability to screen candidates. While it’s sometimes controversial to look into the personal lives of candidates on their social networks, it can also help you gauge their professionalism, maturity, and sense of ethics. Professional social networks, meanwhile, serve as online resumes.
• Greater efficiency. The “always-on” nature of social networks, the speed at which people tend to engage on them, and the shareability of posts can work to your advantage by shortening the time (and cost) of recruiting, screening, and ultimately hiring employees.

Social Media Hiring: Getting Started

Social media is one of many recruiting tools at your disposal and should be integrated in a way that enhances your other tactics. For example, you could encourage existing employees to promote job openings on their social media feeds in correlation with referral bonuses. You could also promote your social media channels in print and other offline platforms.

If your company already has a social media manager, you could leverage their expertise by including them in your recruitment efforts. Otherwise, you’ll want to take the time and effort to learn about social media metrics so you can get a sense of how effective your efforts are and make adjustments as needed.

Of course, you’ll need to create social media accounts to get started. But, before you even get to that point, it’s important to take a moment to determine your goals, decide which social networks make the most sense for your recruiting efforts, make (and stick to) a detailed deployment plan, and be sure all of your social media channels funnel candidates into a single bucket.

Social Media Recruiting Strategy Basics

Social networking companies have made their sites so easy to use that it’s tempting to jump in without properly planning your strategy. As long as you’ve taken the time to really understand the benefits of social media hiring strategies, your next steps will include:

1. Targeting key sectors
2. Determining your message and tone (which may vary for different networks)
3. Managing your social media marketing plan
4. Measuring results using metrics
5. Readjusting as needed

One key piece of advice is for recruiters to be aware of their tone on social media. For example, rather than aggressively recruiting candidates for specific positions, they can discuss the state of the employer’s industry, share “day in the life” profiles, or use other, more-subtle approaches to attract top prospects. Considering the concept of the recruitment funnel, it’s not necessary to solicit applications right out of the gate.

For instance, you could say “I’m happy to welcome to our team so-and-so, who’s an expert in such-and-such,” in order to connect with other members doing related keyword searches. This can help you promote your company’s successes in a manner that’s not overly promotional but increases awareness of your employer brand.

Legal Considerations of Online Information

Once candidates are in your hiring pool, it’s tempting to search social media sites (and the web in general) to see what comes up. But the mix of public, private, professional, and personal information that can be found online must be used with abundant discretion, if at all. For instance, learning about a candidate’s pregnancy could open you up to claims of discrimination if that person isn’t hired and they suspect their pregnancy was a factor in the decision.

Regardless, any pertinent information you glean from your social media recruiting efforts should be verified to avoid liability, since misuse can lead to infringement of privacy or unintentional discrimination. When considering information about a candidate found on a social network (or anywhere online), it’s important to consider whether:

• The information is relevant to job performance
• There is a legitimate and legal reason to discount a candidate based on the information posted online

Still, you may question the judgment of candidates based on certain personal postings. Online evidence that a candidate celebrates their abuse of alcohol online, for instance, is hard to ignore. If information you find online suggests a candidate lacks the self discipline or judgment for the job, then you’re free to reject that candidate accordingly as long as you don’t factor in any legally protected characteristics, such as race or gender.

Make Social Media Recruiting Part of a Larger Strategy

In the age of social media, the tools and platforms available for sourcing, screening, and hiring candidates have only multiplied. Still, every successful hiring strategy includes multiple tactics. Expand your talent reach with free expert recruiting advice, the latest hiring trends, and more.

Legal Disclaimer: This article is not intended as a substitute for professional legal advice. Always seek the advice of an attorney regarding any legal questions you may have.

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