HRM 630 Ashford University Week 2 Employment Application Questions

I am in need of a 100 word response to these discussion boards.

Discussion 1

The Employment Application had 15 inappropriate or illegal fields. These fields are Social security number, Date of birth, Height, Weight, Race, married, single, widowed, divorced, separated, the year attended school, date graduated, disabilities inquire, Military service inquires, and arrest/criminal inquire. These topics are all inappropriate or illegal to have on a job application.

Heathfield (2019, August 04) states that an employer asking for an applicant’s social security number is not illegal, since it is legal in most states, but it is a poor practice. Applicants do not like to provide their social security numbers unless they are going to be offered a job. As for the date of birth, height, weight, and race, these are illegal. These questions do not have anything to do with the job itself and could lead a business down the road of a lawsuit. The date of birth can fall under the age discrimination act and the race would fall under race discrimination. The height and weight could be looked at that a business is previewing the applicants for physical attractiveness and going down that road would again lead to a possible lawsuit (Johnson, 2019, September 13).

If an employer’s application is inquiring whether or not someone is married, single, widowed, divorced, or separated is something that may be ok once an applicant is hired since it has been addressed in the new hire paperwork with the W-4 form. But, on the job application could be viewed as illegal depending on the state. Some states have marital status in a protected class (Russell, 2018, February 9). In the states where you could ask this question, it could be looked at as a basis for discrimination on other protected classes (Russell, 2018, February 9). Also, a job application asking for the year attended school or the graduation date falls under age discrimination. It could be viewed that using this information would have employers removing anyone of a certain age (Wilkie, 2016, March 8).

If an employer’s application just asks if an applicant has a disability this could lead to discrimination with the ADA. If the applicant has a job offer then disability-related questions can be asked legally. If the employee needs accommodations to perform the job the employer can ask limited questions about reasonable accommodations only ( EEOC, n.d.). As for inquiring on a job application about military service/discharge is not illegal but not advised. SHRM (2018, May 2) states that by doing this could subject the employer to a possible disparate impact claims. Basing hiring decisions only on military status/discharge violates Title VII. This should only be inquired if it had to be directly related to the position.

Finally, an employer’s job application should not inquire about an applicant’s arrest/criminal record. This could be seen as an employer because it would look as if they are trying to excessively leave out certain racial groups. Also, a business needs to be careful when running background checks and using those for solely hiring purposes because it risks a lawsuit of adverse impact discrimination ( SHRM, 2018, May 2). Johnson (2019, September 13) claims the EEOC that unless the employer can show that the conviction is in some way related to the position being applied for it is inappropriate to inquire about.

REFERENCE

EEOC. (n.d.). Pre-Employment Inquiries and Disability. U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Retrieved from https://www.eeoc.gov/pre-employment-inquiries-and-…

Heathfield, S. M., (2019, August 4). You Want My Social Security Number on a Job Application? the balance careers. Retrieved from https://www.thebalancecareers.com/you-want-my-soci…

Discussion 2

When taking the interactive employment application assessment, I initially thought a few things were considered inappropriate and illegal. However, after attempting a second time, I was shocked to see that social security was unacceptable as well. During the ’90s, when I was 16 years old, I can recall seeing some of the inappropriate questions on employment applications, so I see how things have changed. The illegal and improper items on the application included social security number, date of birth, height, weight, race, married, single, widowed, divorced, separated, years’ attended, date graduated. Additionally, does the applicant have disabilities, asking whether they serve in the military, which rank, or have an applicant been arrested are all unacceptable. According to SHRM, asking such questions should be avoided, and the bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) does not permit an organization to enact discriminatory practices, and establishing a BFOQ does not apply to most employers.

Furthermore, Agan & Starr (2018) stated that Ban the Box (BTB) policies were in place to restrict employers from asking applicants about their criminal history because it disproportionately impacted many. There are over ten million Americans who have criminal records and face barriers to employment access; therefore, such a question must not be on the employment application (Agan & Starr, 2018). Although employers can ask where an applicant lives, I found something interesting that employers could consider. Golabek-Goldman (2017) found that the homeless are being discriminated against due to no address; therefore, they are proposing a Ban the Address movement. The purpose of the campaign is to discourage employers from inquiring about an applicant’s living condition or housing history until they extend a provisional offer of employment (Golabek-Goldman, 2017). Furthermore, the campaign would complement other initiatives that are meant to protect the homeless, and it will help them to regain self-sufficiency (Golabek-Goldman, 2017).

Nevertheless, Ameri et al. (2018) found the importance of asking applicants whether they have a disability or not. The employment rate for people with disabilities has a low employment rate, and the gap has not been closed since the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. Additionally, those with facts were noted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2016 (p. 330). Although laws and regulations are in place to reduce the likeliness of discrimination, it shows there is still room for improvement.

Reference:

Agan, A., & Starr, S. (2018). Ban the Box, Criminal Records, and Racial Discrimination: A Field Experiment. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(1), 191–235. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/https://academic.oup.com/qje/issue

Discussion 3

Finding a job can be hard and with everything going on in today’s society, finding a job can be impossible. As a person who is currently looking to get into a new career, I often find myself looking at job posting websites like Indeed.com and Monster.com but unfortunately these websites do not always have great results. After reading the article about the top 20 recruiting trends of 2019, I think I can use some to help me before I have to put on the recruiter hate.

Employee Referrals:

So many companies have employee referral programs so that the employee is getting credit for introducing new talent to the team and companies are hiring great matches. Actually this is how I have my job now. My ex neighbor has worked for my employer for 15 years. She found out a branch was hiring told me I put her name down on the application and bam I have a great job and she got a payout! Companies like these programs because they know the new hire is coming form a reliable source. However, if an employee is constantly referring friends and they are not good matches for the company then employee can lose credibility.

Hiring Events:

As a job seeker I love hiring events. These events allows the job seeker to familiarize themselves with the company and allows the hiring teams to get to know a person before looking at an application. It also takes the stress out of the call back because at hiring events the on the spot interview typically leaves the job seeker either knowing or not knowing they have the job.

Social Recruiting:

Social media is a huge market for everything including finding a job. Facebook and Instagram are the two biggest platforms of advertisements. If companies want to let people know they are hiring that is the way to go. By making a page or a post that employees can like and share allows companies to not only get free publicity but also let people know what the company is about and goals they want to accomplish.

Virtual Reality:

VR is something I know very little about but I am learning. My son has all kind of games that he wants to play and is always talking about VR. After reading the article and knowing the types of times we live in, I think as Human Resource professionals we are going to be seeing a lot more virtual interviews and zoom meeting.

References:

iCIMS (2019). 20 recruiting trends of 2019. https://www.textrecruit.com/recruiting/20- (Links to an external site.)recruiting-trends-of-2019/

Discussion 4

Recruitment & Selection Strategy for Amazon

The recruitment and selection process is a critical function in any organization. Selecting the right candidate with the right skill set that fits the company culture is critical to the success of any organization. A bad hire may lead to retention and or employee relations issues. HR is instrumental in partnering with recruitment to identify a recruitment strategy in alignment with the goals and objectives of the organization. A well thought out recruiting and staffing plan is important before the recruitment process is started.

Tools for Recruitment Process

Dependent on the position, the recruitment process of a position may differ based on the labor pool. The recruiter and hiring manager should partner on the job specifications, minimum requirements, and American Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements of the Delivery Representative position. A good example of the ADA requirements for the Delivery Representative is lifting to 25 pounds. HR involvement is necessary if the job specifications and or ADA requirements are being modified and or updated. Any modifications should be done before the recruitment process starts. According to Mullich (2004), “Once you start hiring for a specific job, you should never change the questions in the middle of the process” (p.73). Various tools will be used to recruit and select for the position, Delivery Representative. Word of mouth and networking have been proven to be successful in developing a talent pool. HR to create, develop, and implement an Employee Referral Program to support Amazon’s high-volume recruitment needs. According to Schlacter et al. (2019), “Employee referral hiring is assumed an intuitive phenomenon showing promising results” (p.1325). Any employee who refers a new hire for the position, Delivery Representative will receive a $500 bonus after the new hire completes 90 days of employment. While word of mouth is beneficial, social media should also be used to advertise the Delivery Representatives on Facebook to attract a talent pipeline. According to Johnson (2019), “Nearly 60 percent of job seekers rank the organization’s social media presence as the reason they accepted their job” (p. 4). Social media is a good place for Amazon to reference information about the company and why it is a great place to work. HR will also develop relationships with the local universities and colleges to inform them that Amazon is hiring for Delivery Representatives. This job would allow flexibility to college students looking to supplement their income. Furthermore, the recruiter will utilize web-recruitment to post the advertisement for Delivery Representatives on indeed.com. Identifying the labor pool and where to attract a talent pipeline is important before developing the selection process.

References

Johnson, M. (2019). Recruit this! What the millennial generation doesn’t like about your recruitment strategies and what you can do about it. Worksource Solutions Review, p. 4-6.

Mullich, J. (2004). A new definition could cast internet hiring processes in a new light. Workforce Management, p. 72-76.

Schlacter, S & Pieper, J. (2019). Employee referral hiring in organizations: An integrative conceptual review, model, and agenda for future research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104 (11), p. 1325-1346. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000412 (Links to an external site.)

iCIMS (2019). 20 recruiting trends of 2019. https://www.textrecruit.com/recruiting/20- (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)recruiting-trends-of-2019/