How to assess an application for employment for your small business

How to assess an application for employment your small business? Some employment firms have reported that it can cost $10,000 to replace someone who is performing a needed group of tasks for your company. There is the loss of these tasks being done; there is the cost of time to interview applicants, and to train the person you hire. This is the price of advertising for that ideal employee to do the job.

Before that applicant can be hired and trained, a recommended part of hiring should be a job analysis, to determine what the new hire should do, what skills are needed, the hours to work, days new hire will work, etc. With this information, an employer can decide what skills an applicant will need to be qualified for the job opening.

As you assess an application for employment for your small business, you will need to know what an ideal employee is. An ideal employee should show up to work on time and work hard, and bring with him or her, the ability to contribute to the success of the organization,

It is impossible to determine the willingness of an applicant to comply with all work rules. However an employer can conduct a proper screening of the applicant's background.

Also a great tool to aid in choosing a new hire is a well-drafted employment application. This form can give some clues to what questions an employer would need the right answers would be searched for, in an interview.

A background check may assist an employer fill a key position. Sometimes a criminal history is enough. Other times a national search including fingerprints may be appropriate or required by law. Additionally driving records, drug testing, and, in some cases, a credit check may be critical.

There are legal requirements for background searches. An employer must be cautious to satisfy these legal steps before obtaining certain kinds of information.

The Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act enables an employer to obtain a background check on an applicant for "employment purposes" subject if specific notice is given to applicants. Typically, on a job application, there will be a question similar to "Can we check with your previous employer?A `yes' answer on this question is considered compliance with these provisions.

Before a prospective employer can receive a "consumer report", the applicant must sign to give consent to the employer who will obtain the report and use it for employment purposes. This consent paragraph cannot be buried in the employment application; but must be on a separate sheet of paper containing only the acknowledgement and consent form.

The cost for doing several background checks will be well worth it, by having more information when interviewing, and being better equipped to hire the best and most suited applicant for the position.

In all cases, an employer must make sure no decision to hire or not to hire, is based onillegal standards, such as race, color, sex, religion, age, disability, marital or military status (of draft age?), or national origin (place of birth.)

Some times, when evaluating the job and deciding if it is still the same today as with the previous employee, someone within the company could be promoted who already knows a lot about the company and policies, and have the needed skills already.

Some applicants need additional education to qualify, and there are state and federal training programs, which will provide these skills.

Many employers are choosing not to take the time for background checks and screening applicants. Their choice is to contact a temporary employment company. These `temp services' have done a lot of the foot work, know the people on their list of available personnel, and can send over a trained employee with a record of job skills, attendance, dependability etc. This method is popular in thriving companies looking for someone either short term or long term. If a permanent job is the offer when an applicant is referred by the temp service, then that service will receive a contractual percent of the pay earned for the agreed 90 days is a good ballpark number.

The temp company is paid by the firm seeking employees, and then gives a check to the employee they refer. Some of the general labor jobs fit well into this bracket. Many office jobs can be filled this way. On all levels from ground floor to management, employees begin their trial period being a "temp".

This information along with using your own instinct will make assessing an applicant for employment for your small business more successful.