EMPLOyER'S PRACTICAL LEGAL GUIDE Plain Language About ...

1.10 Employer’s Practical Legal GuideNew Trend: Video RésumésJob applicants have discovered a trendy new way to catchan employer’s eye: slick, professional-looking video résuméson which they tout their accomplishments, education andexperience.Advocates claim video résumés allow applicants to demonstratetheir communication skills and presence. The problem lies inwhat the videos reveal beyond the applicant’s qualifications.Employers can easily discern from a video résumé the answers toquestions they could never legally ask on a job application or inan interview. If that information, rather than the applicant’s qualifications,becomes the basis for hiring decisions, the employermay very well move from video résumés into a courtroom.Employers must ensure the fairness of their hiring practices. Youshould analyze video résumés the same way as you do paper orelectronic ones.Best approach: Rely on paper applications, not on applicants’video résumés, particularly early in the hiring process.comes with a corporate credit card. Before doing a credit check,make sure you have a legitimate business reason.Fair Credit Reporting ActThe FCRA requires employers to notify and receive written consentfrom applicants or employees before obtaining credit reportsor other background information on them from a consumer reportingagency (CRA). The law, as interpreted by the Federal TradeCommission, applies only to third-party background checks, notto an employer’s own investigation of, say, an applicant’s references,educational degree or driving records.If you are requesting an “investigative consumer report”—amore in-depth investigation than just a credit report—you must