Blog 13a (part 01) pre employment screening
Pre-employment Screening, Interview Questions & Background Checks
In the process of hiring new employees we must conduct pre employment screening which among other items will also include employee background checks. In this four part blog I will cover the first of 100 interview questions that you can utilize and discuss a very no-nonsense approach to employee background checks.
Generally the first part of the face to face portion of the pre employment screening process is the face to face interview. We have reviewed the applications and resumes and whittled the pool of candidates down to this group of candidates. I have always felt that the key to a more successful final choice is a consistent interview with all candidates. It is the “apples to apples” thought process. If you interview everyone in your candidate pool using different questions then you are going to have an “apples to oranges” result. This does not mean that you do not dive deeper into a candidate’s response to a question. Quite the opposite, the standard questions you are asking should expose both strengths and weaknesses that you look further into. That is one of the beauties of a standard pre employment screening process.
Once the interview process is completed then we would move onto employment background checks. Over the years I have seen many leaders downplay the value or need to do even the simplest of employee background checks. The reasons are varied but it all adds up to this. Would you buy a used car, house or anything else of value without first having a professional such as a Mechanic or Inspector look at it first? So we are going to entrust our business, sales, customers and other employees to chance? Wow, that is way more than I am willing to do. What happens if that candidate had stolen from a previous employer? What if they had assaulted another employee at a previous company and you did not discover these easily discoverable facts? They do the same thing at your company. You would be held responsible. It is not like “the old days” where you could say “I didn’t know”.
Yes, we conduct employee background checks; criminal, credit, SSN traces, employment drug screening, and more. Contact us for more information. So let’s go back to the interview questions. In this blog we are going to cover both personal and education areas. Keep a few things in mind for all of the questions.
• These are not the only questions you can ask in these areas.
• Change the questions to suit your interview style or need. Just keep the intention of the question the same
• Of course you should check with your legal counsel before you use them. Law does change over time.
• The intent is not to ask all questions in a given area. Look at these like you would a menu. What suits your tastes, needs, etc.
PERSONAL
• Tell me about yourself.
• What are your hobbies?
• Describe your ideal job.
• What can you offer us?
• What do you consider to be your greatest strengths?
• Can you name some weaknesses?
• Define success. Define failure.
• Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
• What are 3 accomplishments of which you are most proud?
• Who are your role models? Why?
• How does your college education or work experience relate to this job?
• What motivates you most in a job?
• Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
• Have you ever done volunteer work? What kind?
EDUCATION
• Why did you choose your major?
• Why did you choose to attend your college or university?
• Do you think you received a good education? In what ways?
• In which campus activities did you participate?
• Which classes in you major did you like best? Least? Why?
• Which elective classes did you like best? Least? Why?
• If you were to start over, what would you change about your education?
• Do your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why or why not?
• Were you financially responsible for any portion of your college education?
• Do you plan to return to school for further education?
Keep in mind that if you discover something that needs follow up, then you should ask at that time before moving on to another question. For example, if you ask “define success?” and their response is “I consider not hitting another employee once a week with a chair a pretty good week”. You may want to look into that a bit further.
So look for the next part. I will layout questions on the position they are interviewing for and the schedule. If you have any questions about pre employment screening, employment drug screening or employee background checks contact us or call us toll free 1-770-426-0547.
In the process of hiring new employees we must conduct pre employment screening which among other items will also include employee background checks. In this four part blog I will cover the first of 100 interview questions that you can utilize and discuss a very no-nonsense approach to employee background checks.
Generally the first part of the face to face portion of the pre employment screening process is the face to face interview. We have reviewed the applications and resumes and whittled the pool of candidates down to this group of candidates. I have always felt that the key to a more successful final choice is a consistent interview with all candidates. It is the “apples to apples” thought process. If you interview everyone in your candidate pool using different questions then you are going to have an “apples to oranges” result. This does not mean that you do not dive deeper into a candidate’s response to a question. Quite the opposite, the standard questions you are asking should expose both strengths and weaknesses that you look further into. That is one of the beauties of a standard pre employment screening process.
Once the interview process is completed then we would move onto employment background checks. Over the years I have seen many leaders downplay the value or need to do even the simplest of employee background checks. The reasons are varied but it all adds up to this. Would you buy a used car, house or anything else of value without first having a professional such as a Mechanic or Inspector look at it first? So we are going to entrust our business, sales, customers and other employees to chance? Wow, that is way more than I am willing to do. What happens if that candidate had stolen from a previous employer? What if they had assaulted another employee at a previous company and you did not discover these easily discoverable facts? They do the same thing at your company. You would be held responsible. It is not like “the old days” where you could say “I didn’t know”.
Yes, we conduct employee background checks; criminal, credit, SSN traces, employment drug screening, and more. Contact us for more information. So let’s go back to the interview questions. In this blog we are going to cover both personal and education areas. Keep a few things in mind for all of the questions.
• These are not the only questions you can ask in these areas.
• Change the questions to suit your interview style or need. Just keep the intention of the question the same
• Of course you should check with your legal counsel before you use them. Law does change over time.
• The intent is not to ask all questions in a given area. Look at these like you would a menu. What suits your tastes, needs, etc.
PERSONAL
• Tell me about yourself.
• What are your hobbies?
• Describe your ideal job.
• What can you offer us?
• What do you consider to be your greatest strengths?
• Can you name some weaknesses?
• Define success. Define failure.
• Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
• What are 3 accomplishments of which you are most proud?
• Who are your role models? Why?
• How does your college education or work experience relate to this job?
• What motivates you most in a job?
• Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years?
• Have you ever done volunteer work? What kind?
EDUCATION
• Why did you choose your major?
• Why did you choose to attend your college or university?
• Do you think you received a good education? In what ways?
• In which campus activities did you participate?
• Which classes in you major did you like best? Least? Why?
• Which elective classes did you like best? Least? Why?
• If you were to start over, what would you change about your education?
• Do your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why or why not?
• Were you financially responsible for any portion of your college education?
• Do you plan to return to school for further education?
Keep in mind that if you discover something that needs follow up, then you should ask at that time before moving on to another question. For example, if you ask “define success?” and their response is “I consider not hitting another employee once a week with a chair a pretty good week”. You may want to look into that a bit further.
So look for the next part. I will layout questions on the position they are interviewing for and the schedule.
If you have any questions about pre employment screening, employment drug screening or employee background checks contact us or call us toll free 1-770-426-0547.
Stop Shoplifting – 3 WC Blog 803
Sensormatic Tags- 3
It Takes Teamwork To Run A Store And Stop Shoplifting
Efforts to stop shoplifting in a store must involve more than just the store owner or manager. An effective strategy incorporates the input from department managers or whatever leadership hierarchy a store has in place. This has been something I have always been in favor of since my days as a Loss Prevention Manager. It came to me again recently when I was invited to be a part of a Veterans Committee at the college where I work. This was the second meeting of this particular group (I was not a member at the first meeting.) The Chairman of the committee outlined some of the goals from the first meeting. As discussions about everything the committee wanted to accomplish were laid out it appeared there was much the leader was taking upon himself. This group of military veterans and retired military leaders and college leadership started jumping in and giving suggestions and offering solutions to some big challenges. For example one of the goals of the committee is to send five members of the student veteran’s leadership team to a national conference. This includes finding sponsors, donors, arranging flights, hotels rooms, etc. The Committee Chairman was trying to do this and run his department on campus. My fellow committee members are men and women of action. They started volunteering to take on some of these tasks. What does this have to do with Loss Prevention? Theft prevention cannot be the responsibility of one person. Whether it is ensuring merchandise is being tagged with Sensormatic tags to daily testing of equipment to creating a shortage plan, it cannot fall on one person.
Store managers have to have a team of people who will assist them in putting together an effective shortage prevention strategy. The manager has to have a vision for what he/she wants but without the help of people who are willing to share the load that vision will not be fulfilled. The store owner or manager can make the initial purchase of a Sensormatic security system and have it installed but once that is complete there is more that goes into a Shortage Plan. Someone has to be responsible for the training of employees who will be responding to electronic article surveillance alarms when they activate the towers. Since turnover is going to occur from time to time this trainer has to be continually reviewing procedures with employees and training new employees. Properly responding to alarms is important and can determine if merchandise is recovered or how the person will respond who has caused the alarm. When executed in the right way, responders to electronic article surveillance alarms can stop shoplifting and recover merchandise without causing a scene. They can also keep a situation from escalating by the manner in which they interact with the customer who causes the alarm.
Not only does someone need to take responsibility for alarm response training someone has to be charged with the tagging and auditing of merchandise. The store management team should determine the items that they want to have protected with Sensormatic tags. At that point someone has to get the job done and make sure it is a continual process. It can be tedious (I know I have had to do it) but when the merchandise program is followed on a daily basis it is easy to keep up with. Lapses in tagging and auditing create headaches as employees have to backtrack to locate what is not tagged and get caught up. You can understand how hard it would be for a Store Manager to do this with the rest of his/her workload.
While it is not as labor intensive the system equipment must be checked for operational readiness on a regular basis. This may be daily or weekly but it is a test that should include the pedestals, deactivation pads, Sensormatic cameras or traffic counting devices if they are part of a system and accounting of detachment tools. Identifying issues quickly plays an important role in store efforts to stop shoplifting. Broken or damaged equipment can mean that thieves are not being detected as they leave the store. That results in an increase in unnecessary shrinkage.
Putting an anti-theft program in place and incorporating Sensormatic tags and towers into that plan is important. Having a team that gives their support and participates in the program is crucial. No matter how well-intentioned a store owner or manager may be they cannot carry that load by themselves. Getting team buy in and support is necessry in all aspects of a business and theft prevention and shortage reduction is no different. Teamwork makes running a store easier on everyone and a more productive environment overall.
For more information on Sensormatic tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Efforts to stop shoplifting in a store must involve more than just the store owner or manager. An effective strategy incorporates the input from department managers or whatever leadership hierarchy a store has in place. This has been something I have always been in favor of since my days as a Loss Prevention Manager. It came to me again recently when I was invited to be a part of a Veterans Committee at the college where I work. This was the second meeting of this particular group (I was not a member at the first meeting.) The Chairman of the committee outlined some of the goals from the first meeting. As discussions about everything the committee wanted to accomplish were laid out it appeared there was much the leader was taking upon himself. This group of military veterans and retired military leaders and college leadership started jumping in and giving suggestions and offering solutions to some big challenges. For example one of the goals of the committee is to send five members of the student veteran’s leadership team to a national conference. This includes finding sponsors, donors, arranging flights, hotels rooms, etc. The Committee Chairman was trying to do this and run his department on campus. My fellow committee members are men and women of action. They started volunteering to take on some of these tasks. What does this have to do with Loss Prevention? Theft prevention cannot be the responsibility of one person. Whether it is ensuring merchandise is being tagged with Sensormatic tags to daily testing of equipment to creating a shortage plan, it cannot fall on one person.
Store managers have to have a team of people who will assist them in putting together an effective shortage prevention strategy. The manager has to have a vision for what he/she wants but without the help of people who are willing to share the load that vision will not be fulfilled. The store owner or manager can make the initial purchase of a Sensormatic security system and have it installed but once that is complete there is more that goes into a Shortage Plan. Someone has to be responsible for the training of employees who will be responding to electronic article surveillance alarms when they activate the towers. Since turnover is going to occur from time to time this trainer has to be continually reviewing procedures with employees and training new employees. Properly responding to alarms is important and can determine if merchandise is recovered or how the person will respond who has caused the alarm. When executed in the right way, responders to electronic article surveillance alarms can stop shoplifting and recover merchandise without causing a scene. They can also keep a situation from escalating by the manner in which they interact with the customer who causes the alarm.
Not only does someone need to take responsibility for alarm response training someone has to be charged with the tagging and auditing of merchandise. The store management team should determine the items that they want to have protected with Sensormatic tags. At that point someone has to get the job done and make sure it is a continual process. It can be tedious (I know I have had to do it) but when the merchandise program is followed on a daily basis it is easy to keep up with. Lapses in tagging and auditing create headaches as employees have to backtrack to locate what is not tagged and get caught up. You can understand how hard it would be for a Store Manager to do this with the rest of his/her workload.
While it is not as labor intensive the system equipment must be checked for operational readiness on a regular basis. This may be daily or weekly but it is a test that should include the pedestals, deactivation pads, Sensormatic cameras or traffic counting devices if they are part of a system and accounting of detachment tools. Identifying issues quickly plays an important role in store efforts to stop shoplifting. Broken or damaged equipment can mean that thieves are not being detected as they leave the store. That results in an increase in unnecessary shrinkage.
Putting an anti-theft program in place and incorporating Sensormatic tags and towers into that plan is important. Having a team that gives their support and participates in the program is crucial. No matter how well-intentioned a store owner or manager may be they cannot carry that load by themselves. Getting team buy in and support is necessry in all aspects of a business and theft prevention and shortage reduction is no different. Teamwork makes running a store easier on everyone and a more productive environment overall.
For more information on Sensormatic tags contact us or call 1.770.426.0547.
Free ROI Calculator – 3 WC Blog 796
Loss Prevention Calculator- 3
Before Making The Wrong Decision Use The Free ROI Calculator
I crinkle my nose and furrow my brow thinking about how I wished there had been a Free ROI Calculator for some of the bad hiring decisions I have made in the past. I could have made better choices in more than a few instances. I cringe when I reflect on my first two hires. Now, I will own the fact that I hired them but to be fair I was a new Loss Prevention Manager and my District Manager strongly nudged me to pick them. I don’t know if you can have a negative Return On Investment for a hiring decision but I certainly did. One of the two claimed to have Loss Prevention experience and put it on her application but I don’t think our background check company did any kind of employment verification. If she did work for the other company it soon became clear why she jumped ship…she was probably on the verge of being fired! Despite my training this employee could not or would not get the hang of being an undercover floor detective. I came to work and she would be wearing the most outrageous, bright, clothing and wearing ridiculous hats. I coached her about how to walk back aisles and behind fixtures. Nope! She would walk with my other employee on the main aisles gabbing. I did eventually get rid of both of them but I lost credibility with my new store manager and had zero apprehensions to show for the investment. Yup, I was in the negative. That was one of my worst decisions but not THE worst. In light of this decision on my part I wonder if any store managers have made their own bad decisions when it comes to their efforts to stop shoplifting?
If you own a store, have you chosen not to purchase a Sensormatic security system? Maybe you decided to buy a knock-off system from an internet seller. Either way you have made your own bad decision that could be having a negative ROI for you. Owning a Sensormatic security system has been proven to be effective at stopping shoplifting and that adds value back into your store. The Loss Prevention Calculator shows you how much you can save by installing a system in your business. Even better than that, the calculator shows you how fast a Loss Prevention system can pay for itself.
I would guess that if you opted to purchase a second-hand or cut-rate anti-theft system you had a few nagging doubts. Just as I had concerns about the Loss Prevention Officers my boss was pushing me to hire you probably had doubts about your system but ignored your gut feeling. Don’t be too hard on yourself neither one of us had a Free ROI Calculator to guide us in our decision (and for me it is too late to go back for a re-do). On the other hand, you do have the option of accessing the Loss Prevention Calculator and learning now how you can still get a new Sensormatic system and get it at an affordable price! If you chose not to purchase one at all because you did not think you could pay for it Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) has financing available for customers who choose to purchase with them. They also toss in free training for stores which purchase a system from them (I sure could have used them to train my associates maybe they would have learned something). In case I forgot to mention it the Free ROI calculator is exactly that, FREE. You can use it without any obligation of purchase and no one is going to flood your email with pushy sales pitches. LPSI just wants you to see that an electronic article surveillance system can save you money, help improve your sales and is extremely affordable.
Did I ever get past that bad hiring decision? Yes, after I helped my employees decide that finding other opportunities for employment would be a good idea I did hire two very productive Loss Prevention Associates. There were other bad apples that got past me over my 13 plus years at that store as a Loss Prevention Manager but overall I was able to bring in some good workers. Poor decisions can be the result of being in a hurry, being pressured, being deceived and even due to a lack of information but they can be overcome. If you have made a poor decision in whether or not to invest in an anti-theft system or purchasing a budget system that does not meet expectations you can turn that around. Use the Loss Prevention Calculator to see how you can alter course and purchase a Sensormatic system.
Need information on the Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
I crinkle my nose and furrow my brow thinking about how I wished there had been a Free ROI Calculator for some of the bad hiring decisions I have made in the past. I could have made better choices in more than a few instances. I cringe when I reflect on my first two hires. Now, I will own the fact that I hired them but to be fair I was a new Loss Prevention Manager and my District Manager strongly nudged me to pick them. I don’t know if you can have a negative Return On Investment for a hiring decision but I certainly did. One of the two claimed to have Loss Prevention experience and put it on her application but I don’t think our background check company did any kind of employment verification. If she did work for the other company it soon became clear why she jumped ship…she was probably on the verge of being fired! Despite my training this employee could not or would not get the hang of being an undercover floor detective. I came to work and she would be wearing the most outrageous, bright, clothing and wearing ridiculous hats. I coached her about how to walk back aisles and behind fixtures. Nope! She would walk with my other employee on the main aisles gabbing. I did eventually get rid of both of them but I lost credibility with my new store manager and had zero apprehensions to show for the investment. Yup, I was in the negative. That was one of my worst decisions but not THE worst. In light of this decision on my part I wonder if any store managers have made their own bad decisions when it comes to their efforts to stop shoplifting?
If you own a store, have you chosen not to purchase a Sensormatic security system? Maybe you decided to buy a knock-off system from an internet seller. Either way you have made your own bad decision that could be having a negative ROI for you. Owning a Sensormatic security system has been proven to be effective at stopping shoplifting and that adds value back into your store. The Loss Prevention Calculator shows you how much you can save by installing a system in your business. Even better than that, the calculator shows you how fast a Loss Prevention system can pay for itself.
I would guess that if you opted to purchase a second-hand or cut-rate anti-theft system you had a few nagging doubts. Just as I had concerns about the Loss Prevention Officers my boss was pushing me to hire you probably had doubts about your system but ignored your gut feeling. Don’t be too hard on yourself neither one of us had a Free ROI Calculator to guide us in our decision (and for me it is too late to go back for a re-do). On the other hand, you do have the option of accessing the Loss Prevention Calculator and learning now how you can still get a new Sensormatic system and get it at an affordable price! If you chose not to purchase one at all because you did not think you could pay for it Loss Prevention Systems, Inc. (LPSI) has financing available for customers who choose to purchase with them. They also toss in free training for stores which purchase a system from them (I sure could have used them to train my associates maybe they would have learned something). In case I forgot to mention it the Free ROI calculator is exactly that, FREE. You can use it without any obligation of purchase and no one is going to flood your email with pushy sales pitches. LPSI just wants you to see that an electronic article surveillance system can save you money, help improve your sales and is extremely affordable.
Did I ever get past that bad hiring decision? Yes, after I helped my employees decide that finding other opportunities for employment would be a good idea I did hire two very productive Loss Prevention Associates. There were other bad apples that got past me over my 13 plus years at that store as a Loss Prevention Manager but overall I was able to bring in some good workers. Poor decisions can be the result of being in a hurry, being pressured, being deceived and even due to a lack of information but they can be overcome. If you have made a poor decision in whether or not to invest in an anti-theft system or purchasing a budget system that does not meet expectations you can turn that around. Use the Loss Prevention Calculator to see how you can alter course and purchase a Sensormatic system.
Need information on the Loss Prevention Calculator? Give us a call at 1.770.426.0547 now.
