Aurico Nominated for 2014 Chicago Innovation Awards

Aurico is proud to announce its nomination for the 2014 Chicago Innovation Awards.  In its ongoing commitment to the development and launch of innovative pre- and post- employment background screening and drug testing products and services, it has been selected to compete with other businesses that generate novel solutions to important problems.

Turnaround Time vs. Time to Hire

Seventy-one percent of the US labor force is currently on the job market. So says a new survey of today’s job seekers¹. Even more important, thirty-five percent of the labor force will change jobs at least every five years. In other words, workers are more willing to ‘wander’, even if they’re currently employed.

What does this mean for the staffing industry? HR professionals must keep pace with the job market’s massive cultural changes. Buzz words like turnaround time are quickly changing into Time to Hire. Recruiting is highly competitive and your talent acquisition workflow needs to map closely with today’s dynamic business needs.

The background screening industry makes reference to the term “Turnaround Time” (TAT) every day.  It uses this parlance to describe how long a background check takes. The truth is that these times vary significantly, based on what searches are bundled together in a package, the particular courthouse where records are being searched, and other factors. Some searches take minutes or hours, while others take many days and even weeks.

From the Blooper Book

We’d like to thank those candidates who, for whatever reason, may not have been thinking when it came time to their job application. This wouldn’t be possible without you:

On the plus side, nobody had to worry about awkward small talk for the rest of the night:

Have you been convicted of a crime in the past seven years, other than minor traffic violations? (Checked yes) “Yes. At a party, I drove my SUV into a swimming pool. Unfortunately, there were guests swimming in it.”

I think he should be introduced to Ms. Take:

Have you been convicted of a crime in the past seven years, other than minor traffic violations? (Checked yes) “Yes. A Mr. Meanor.”

Can any of us really say otherwise?

Rhode Island passes law restricting access to applicants' and employees' personal online content

Rhode Island joins 16 other states to enact regulation prohibiting employers to access employees or applicants personal online content. The law also restricts employers from requiring, coercing or requesting that applicants disclose their passwords and other means for accessing a personal social media account.  The other states that have enacted similar laws are: 

• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Louisiana
• Maryland
• Michigan
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• Nevada
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Rhode Island
• Tennessee
• Utah
• Washington
• Wisconsin

Illinois Enacts "the Job Opportunities for Qualified Applicants Act" (Ban the Box)

Illinois becomes the 5th state to "ban the box" for private/publicly traded employers, joining Hawaii, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Baltimore, MD, Buffalo, NY, Rochester, NY, San Francisco, CA, and Seattle, WA.  Other cities/states have passed similar laws that impact state and/or city employees.

The law was signed by Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn on July 19, 2014 and becomes effective on January 1, 2015.  The law applies to all private and publicly traded employers and/or employment agencies in the state of Illinois with 15 or more employees.

Ban the Box Update Reminder

This month two ban the box legislations will go into effect, Baltimore, Maryland; and San Francisco, California.  Both were passed earlier this year.  San Francisco also requires that the employer must provide the applicant with a written notice before making any inquiry into the applicant’s criminal history and display a poster in the workplace developed by the City’s Office of Labor Standards Enforcement (OLSE).

Aurico wants to remind employers to consider the timing for which they are inquiring about past criminal records and finds that the best practice trend is to eliminate the criminal question from the application.  Most of the ordinances that have passed the “ban the box” legislation allow for the question to be asked later in the process after a first interview and/or a contingent offer of employment.

Other states/cities ordinances passed for private employers are as follows: Hawaii, Illinois (January, 2015), Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Rhode Island, Baltimore, Buffalo, Newark, Philadelphia, Rochester, San Francisco, and Seattle.

What Does Aurico Know That The New York Times Doesn't

In a recent column of the Sunday New York Times¹, a professional wrote to ‘the Workologist’, asking, “I fear that I recently but unwittingly became a ‘stealthy bad reference.’” The former employee involved had worked for me on a contract basis. I got a call from a potential employer who began asking increasingly pointed and fairly specific questions. I didn’t want to undermine the person’s chances, but I also didn’t want to lie. What should I have done? 

The Workologist responded, “Helping people get jobs for which they are unqualified helps no one: It’s bad for the employer, makes you look unreliable and sets up the job seekers for failure. The fact that the potential employer was “hitting on exactly those areas” where you had misgivings suggests something a little more specific: Maybe this potential employer had related misgivings, or had heard similar doubts elsewhere. I think that you did the only thing you could: offer the best possible spin without lying.