blandry (7/24/2008)
All good points offered, but I learned years ago when I got into management that you must, and I mean MUST think outside the box if you want to build a great team. It is correct that employers are “supposed” to provide limited information during reference calls and this is especially true with HR people. That is why I use them only to confirm base facts on any submitted resume as Step One. Step Two is talking to former co-workers or bosses. ...
When I worked for the police department, the hiring process was tough. Since we dealt with criminal information, all of the civilian hires, and even volunteers!, went through most of the hiring process that cops went through: background investigation (not just check), polygraph, provide documentation of bankruptcies, divorces, name changes, etc. No felony arrests since you're 18, no questions of moral turpitude, etc. It's pretty thorough. It's also tough: a lot of people working for the city wanted to transfer to the PD but couldn't make it past the screening. I lost a good programmer because she was nervous and couldn't get past the polygraph: she hadn't done anything wrong (as far as I knew), but just general anxiety kept her from passing the poly and we had to let her go when her contract was up.
We were about to hire an IT guy. Made it through the background investigation and polygraph. Then the IT director was having lunch with a friend. Director mentioned "We're about to hire So-and-So." The friend said "Him? We fired his butt."
Turned out he was fired for, *ahem*, performing an act of self-gratification in his office.
He got through the background investigation, he got through the polygraph, he got through reference checks, and he got through the technical interview.
Good thing IT directors network. 😀
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