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there are many creative, insightful questions
you should consider during an interview. And,
whenever possible, we encourage you to ask
them in a “behavioral interview” format, which
is simply posing the question in the following
format: “Tell me about a time when (ques-
tion).”This will reveal the most detail about
the candidates’ past experiences, which are
always the best indication of future behavior.
Criminal Background Check
You will want to run a criminal back-
ground check on your candidate, but given
the myriad “ban the box” laws out there on
the state and local level, it’s best to run the
check
―
which will require a social security
number, date of birth, maiden name and
other personal information
―
once you have
decided to hire the individual, and not before.
We recommend that you extend an employ-
ment offer that is contingent upon a clean
criminal background check. And if you are
thinking about running a credit check, think
again. Federal law prohibits employers from
running a credit check except in certain
instances.
Of course, you will need to collect birth
date, social security numbers, marital status
and dependent information for payroll and
benefit selections, and you will need to review
documentation verifying the candidate’s right
to work in the United States. But you should
collect this information only after the candi-
date has been hired.
Yes, it’s a challenge
―
you are trying to
learn as much about the candidate as possible
without wading into areas of inquiry that
could be interpreted as discriminatory. Our
best advice is to plan your process, clean up
your application and prepare your interview
questions in advance.
Claudia St. John is president
of Affinity HR Group, LLC,
PPAI’s affiliated human
resources partner. Affinity HR
Group specializes in providing
human resources assistance to
associations and their member
companies. To learn more,
visit
www.affinityhrgroup.com.
You will want to run a criminal background check on your candidate, but
given the myriad ‘ban the box’ laws out there on the state and local level,
it’s best to run the check
―
which will require a social security number, date
of birth, maiden name and other personal information
―
once you have
decided to hire the individual, and not before.
“
”
72 •
PPB
• JUNE 2015
THINK