To hire or not to hire
KathyHR
97 Posts
..that is the question. Actually it's:
Are we legally "safe" to consider an applicant not "qualified" for the job because they really want more hours (I've determined this through the phone interview) and will take this job until something else comes up?
Here's some background: we have a part-time position that is only 10 hours a week, 2 hours per day. We get employment applications where they have checked the full-time & part-time box and they write in that they're available 20+ hours. Then they call in asking about openings & when I tell them about our pt opening, they say they have an app. in & they're interested. They say, oh that position is fine I'll take those hours, we interview & hire & they stick around for 3 months or so. We have found that generally when someone says they're available for 20+ hours that's what they want and they soon leave us (yep, this position is where 95% of our turnover is). No, we can't make it more hours because the error rate dramatically goes up after 2 hours of shelving library books.
Thanks for your input.
Kathy
Are we legally "safe" to consider an applicant not "qualified" for the job because they really want more hours (I've determined this through the phone interview) and will take this job until something else comes up?
Here's some background: we have a part-time position that is only 10 hours a week, 2 hours per day. We get employment applications where they have checked the full-time & part-time box and they write in that they're available 20+ hours. Then they call in asking about openings & when I tell them about our pt opening, they say they have an app. in & they're interested. They say, oh that position is fine I'll take those hours, we interview & hire & they stick around for 3 months or so. We have found that generally when someone says they're available for 20+ hours that's what they want and they soon leave us (yep, this position is where 95% of our turnover is). No, we can't make it more hours because the error rate dramatically goes up after 2 hours of shelving library books.
Thanks for your input.
Kathy
Comments
The same principle would apply to other issues as well.... such as pay, responsiblilty levels, etc. Over the last couple of years with all of the layoffs in mfg we have seen alot of people applying for positions that were substantially below what they had been used to in the past. Most these people were great employees, but as soon as anything better came along they were gone. Not exactly the same situation, but similar, and in my opinion the same principles apply.
Sure, you can turn them down, but I think you're making the position too difficult to fill. Most people won't drive to work for two hours of pay per day. Can you blame them?
For this position I only look at the applicants who want 2-3 hours per day. Our applications have an area that lets them fill in the total hours they are available for the week and a week grid so part-timers can specify what days & hours they are available. We have a lot of students, retirees, & moms who only want to work a few hours during the day to give them something to do or while the kids are at school, so they're willing to drive the short distance.
It's just been recently (possibly due to the economy) that we've been having this problem when people call in to check on their app.
James Sokolowski
HRhero.com
x:D