9 Questions NOT to Ask Your Applicants…in a job interview at least

Vivian Giang of Business Insider reviews the 9 illegal questions NOT to ask your job applicants.

Have you ever asked any of these questions below? And felt out of place for doing it?

Lori Adelson, a Labor and Employment attorney from Arnstein & Lehr, says your questions need to be job-related only and not about who the person is, as in, WHO the person actually is. The questions below show what she means:

1. Have you ever been arrested?
2. Are you married?
3. Do you have children?
4. What country are you from?
5. Is English your primary language?
6. Do you have any outstanding debt?
7. Do you drink socially?
8. How long have you been working?
9. What religious holidays do you practice?

Although some of these may seem obvious, they can go forgotten when in the midst of casual conversation. Adelson suggests that if you are asked any inappropriate questions, “…not to lie, but, instead, politely decline to answer.”

Facebook says ‘Little Bro.’ shouldn’t want your Password

Following a boston.com article last month about interviewers requiring passwords to better get to know their job applicants, Facebook now suggests that companies do otherwise.

FB is now telling employers NOT to require passwords.

“If you are a Facebook user, you should never have to share your password,” said Erin Egan (Director of Privacy at Facebook).

What if the applicant is a member of a protected groupErinasked? Then if the applicant isn’t hired, the interviewer’s company has put themselves in a position for discrimination claims from minority groups, cautioned Egan.

Have you ever been worried about discrimination claims from any minority groups?

Top 10 Companies Hiring This Week

From Sales to Finance positions, full-time to part-time, these 10 companies are hiring!

1. Sears
2. Citigroup, Inc.
3. Terminix
4. AT&T Retail
5. Macy’s
6. Concentra
7. Chrysler-Mopar
8. Sunrise Senior Living
9. Dollar General
10. Enterprise Rent-A-Car

Read commentary for each company in this AOL Jobs Contributor article.

Which of the above 10 companies is most appealing to you?

Just Glance at their Facebook Profile

“Every question that you can’t ask in a job interview is on Facebook.”- Donald Kluemper, Professor and a lead Researcher in Employee Indicators Study, Northern Illinois University

Just one look at your applicant’s Facebook profile can tell you everything. A ten-minute Facebook glance can even tell you whether you want to set up an interview with them or not.

However, before we go launching into every candidate’s personal life, Max Drucker, CEO of Social Intelligence Corp., provides a word of caution:

“If employers are going to use publicly available social media, I would encourage them to obtain consent from the job applicant first.”  Drucker added, “They also need to provide the candidate with an opportunity to dispute any disqualifying information that comes up, and they should have clear criteria for what they’re looking for online.”

The Facebook Profile Screening

According to the Chicago Tribune, a five- to ten-minute review of a candidate’s Facebook page predicted employee’s job success better than traditional standardized testing could.

One caveat to the study is that only 274 Facebook profiles were reviewed, which is not enough for a statistically reliable number that makes a law-like generalization for ALL HR departments, anywhere.

But what do you think?

As the Tribune points out, Facebook provides an “unvarnished look at a job candidate” and yields future red flags.

Top 5 College Degrees Employers Want in 2012

The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2012 survey is an annual forecast of employers’ hiring expectations.

The idea is to help future college graduates select a degree program that will lead to success in their search for later employment.

According to the survey, here are the top 5 college degrees employers are looking for in 2012:

1. Business Administration
2. Engineering
3. Computer and Information Sciences
4. Accounting
5. Economics

You can read Lisa Manterfield’s Yahoo Education story and learn why each of these degrees are in demand.

10 Reasons Top Talent Leave Your Organization

Boiled Down to 2 Things, Plus 2 Solutions

In a recent Forbes article by Erika Anderson, in collaboration with Eric Jackson (another Forbes blogger), she boiled his ten reasons why top talent leaves large corporations down into just two things.

These two things are kinda like Erika’s cliff notes of Eric’s ten reasons.

She says top talent leave an organization because they’re either:

1. badly managed or
2. the organization itself is confusing and uninspiring.

Erika points out that, “About half of Eric’s ten reasons are about poor people management – either systemically, as in poor performance feedback, or individually…And the other half are about organizational lameness: shifting priorities, no vision, close-mindedness.”

But here’s how Erika says you can keep your best people:

1. "Create an organization where those who manage others are hired for their ability to manage well, supported to get even better at managing, and held accountable and rewarded for doing so.
2. Then be clear about what you’re trying to accomplish as an organization – not only in terms of financial goals, but in a more three-dimensional way. What’s your purpose; what do you aspire to bring to the world? What kind of a culture do you want to create in order to do that? What will the organization look, feel and sound like if you’re embodying that mission and culture? How will you measure success? And then, once you’ve clarified your hoped-for future, consistently focus on keeping that vision top of mind and working together to achieve it."

Do you have any more ways to keep top talent? Or does hiring at your company seem like a revolving door too?

Little Brother Wants Your Facebook Password

Does privacy seem to be going away at your company?

A recent boston.com article pointed out one instance where a job seeker was asked by an interviewer for his private FB login information. So he refused and withdrew his application.

“It’s akin to requiring someone’s house keys,” said Orin Kerr, a George Washington University law professor.

Plus, there are other ways for companies to get to an applicant’s private FB profile without asking for your password.

1. Applicant may be asked to friend other company employees (like HR managers)
2. Or applicant may be required to login to a company computer during an interview

What about work experiences and references?
Are we entering an age when your Facebook profile is even more important than that?

How has your company approached your job applicant’s social media profiles?

Linked-In Founder’s 6 Job Hunting Tactics

In an AOL article, John Sumser points out his take-away from “The Start-up of You,” a book co-written by Reid Hoffman (Billionaire Founder of PayPal & Linked In).

Sumser writes: The days of stable employment, long-term company relationships and fixed professions are over. Your future involves taking a series of jobs that disappear while you have them. The best you can hope for is a temporary reprieve.

10 gazillion faceless people in countries you've never heard of are waiting to take your job as soon as you get good at it…Old school advice about getting ahead is simply outdated.

Here are Sumser’s big points from Hoffman’s book:

1. Anyone can be an entrepreneur: You must be entrepreneurial in your approach to business, and life, frankly. Because many, if not most, job seekers work in multiple places, not just one.
2. It’s always Day One: This is Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos’ mantra that employees need to stay fresh through constant reexamination and redefinition, because the trappings of success can produce failure.
3. A million people can do your job. What makes you so special? From a Silicon Valley billboard on Highway 101, this is about being aware of the value you’re providing the company, and whether or not it’s better than what the competition is doing.
4. Beware of success. It breeds ignorance. Arrogance precedes massive failure. Be paranoid about your history and always question what you’ve learned.
5. Take risks when others take refuge: If the economy isn’t performing well, don’t whine. Find the opportunities or the unleveraged assets.
6. Weak links are critical: These are people “you know,” but not too well. Because they know people and things you don’t, they become unleveraged assets for your future.

Top 10 Majors with Lowest Unemployment Rates

If you want to get a job and keep it, then here are your college majors and their unemployment rates.

Majors and their unemployment rate:

1. Actuarial Science—0 percent
2. Astronomy and Astrophysics—0 percent
3. Educational Administration and Supervision—0 percent
4. Geological and Geophysical Engineering—0 percent
5. Pharmacology—0 percent
6. School Student Counseling—0 percent
7. Agricultural Economics—1.3 percent
8. Medical Technologies Technicians—1.4 percent
9. Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology—1.6 percent
10. Environmental Engineering, Nursing, and Nuclear Industrial Radiology and Biological Technologies—2.2 percent

According to the Wall Street Journal tool that produced the above numbers, if you decide to major in graphic arts or theater, then you might twiddle your thumbs more than if you worked for a boss.

5 Skills Employers Look for in 2012 Resumes

A recent survey pointed to five skills that employers specifically like to see in resumes:

1. Working on a team: Can you show evidence of how well you collaborate with others to complete a project? Point out any team-oriented activities in which you’ve participated.
2. Leadership: What leadership roles have you assumed? What were your accomplishments? Make note in your resume.
3. Written communication: What corporate communications have you written, clearly and professionally? Point them out in your resume.
4. Problem-solving: Did you streamline a process? Save your company time and money? Show how you helped, even to the point of eliminating your position!
5. Work ethic: This will be easily seen in your list of experiences/accomplishments.

The above five skills will be identified by your employer-to-be through the experiences/activities seen in a candidate’s resume.

The results above are from a recent report by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), where 244 employers participated in their Job Outlook Survey 2012.