Miles Ahead Marketing

Throughout the interview process, one of the most important things to do prior to a structured interview or immediately following it is to check a candidate’s references.  While interviewing a candidate, it is very important to make sure that the structured interview format you are using tries to see if their personality matches the characteristics provided in their resume.  Unfortunately, interviewer skills and techniques cannot always discern the true personality or success of a candidate.

Reference Checking

Selecting the best candidate for a position is a bit like the forensic investigation of a crime scene in that the investigators (in this case you, the interviewer) have to piece together bits of evidence in order to draw reasonable conclusions about what happened and who did it.  In selecting employees, the process involves assembling facts about an applicant’s past in order to make a prediction about performance in the future.  A key component of this fact-finding is reference checking, which for our purposes in this Program includes more than simple verification of employment, salary, and educational credentials.

From the perspective of getting a complete picture of a candidate, reference checking makes good sense.  However, there is a legal reason for checking references.  Companies have been sued under the concept of Negligent Hiring for failing to make a “reasonable effort” to check references, which resulted in the organization hiring a person with a violent background who then caused injury to an employee, customer, or vendor.  Whenever I present the concept of Negligent Hiring, I often receive the following responses:

-          “You can’t get references today.  The only things that former employers provide are dates of employment and positions held.” or

-          “Nobody is going to give you negative information in a reference check.”

Well, both of these statements have a degree of truth to them, but that does not mean that you can’t protect your organization if you know what to ask.

Becoming a great interviewer takes time, and interviewer skills that work often take a long time to develop.  By reference checking all of your candidates that are seriously being considered for a position, you will have great interviewer techniques starting to develop from your first interview.

Resumes are great for the job search, and the employment cover letter and resume cover letter both will significantly aid your chances at being hired.  By setting yourself apart from your competition in one way or another, you will be improving your status with the company because you will be showing a willingness to go the extra mile even before joining the company.  Here is one tip that will allow you to set yourself apart by drawing attention to your job resume from developing a website.

Your Own Website:

Publishing your career information on your own website can be beneficial to your job search.  It enables you to post an entire portfolio of information for employers to view.  In addition to your resume, you can post work samples, case studies, projects, photographs, reports, samples of design work, etc.  This can be especially beneficial if you are looking for a job in web design or a related field.  It also allows your information to be “found” more easily by employers or recruiters looking for “passive job seekers.” 

If you are an “active job seeker,” you cannot rely on a personal website as your only means of distributing a resume.  Remember, you want to be an easy candidate.  Always send an employer your resume and cover letter via email, mail, or through an online application.  Don’t make them go find it. 

Our Advice:  If you do not currently have a website, don’t worry about creating one.  It is probably not necessary unless you are seeking a position in web design or a related field (and if that is the case, you hopefully have a good one set up already).  If you do already have a website, you can refer employers to it.  Just make sure it looks good:

·         If there are links on the page, make sure they work.

·         Keep it professional looking – avoid background images, music, flashing images, etc.

·         Stick with the resume and cover letter guidelines noted in this book.

·         Include supplemental information such as:  projects, presentations, published work, testimonials, recommendations and references, favorable reviews or comments, lists of conferences, seminars, trainings attended or given. Anything that can give you a leg-up.

·         Make sure you have your contact information on the page, including an email link.

Creating a website is just another way to extend yourself to the company you are trying to be hired by.  Not only will it provide them with information about you on the website, but it also will show them that you are technoligically competent at the least due to your ability to create a website that is appealing and eye-catching.  Take it this way: making a website will only help your chances at being hired.