Devjani Mishra Quoted in SHRM Online
“Managerial Training Needed as Hiring Resumes”

Devjani Mishra was quoted in the January 14, 2010 SHRM Online article, “Managerial Training Needed as Hiring Resumes.” The article discussed why it is important for Human Resource professionals to train hiring managers properly. In the article, Devjani noted that not all hiring managers clearly understand the legal requirements that apply to the hiring process. She explained that hiring companies are becoming choosier and more companies have asked her about drug testing and credit checks than before the recession.

Devjani, who regularly counsels her clients on social networking issues in the hiring context, noted that employers can discover a lot by searching applicants online and often unearth information that they could not discover during an interview, including information about someone’s sexual orientation, political status and even some credit information. She recommended that employers “be really careful how [they] use and collect” that information. Regarding performing background checks on candidates, Devjani stressed her concern about the “ease with which managers can go rogue to the extent they want to do Internet searches.” She explained, if a company decides it wants to do Internet searches on applicants, it should designate who does the search, and check every applicant in the same way, so that there is the “same measure of verification.” She further explained that part of the reason for having only one person search applicants online is so that managers don’t have the discretion to search, for example, only young, old, female, male or minority candidates. Devjani noted a problem with getting background information about candidates online is that there’s no quality control.

Devjani concluded that she’s been surprised by the number of times companies overlook the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when they perform background checks online. “You can’t do an end run around FCRA with online service providers.”