I had someone apply for a job through a recruiter at my company and passed the interview with flying colors. However, it has come across after the interview that they may not have the legal ability to work. The company I work for is audited regularly, so I can’t have hiring them swept under the rug.
How do I deal with this without jepordizing the applicant?
Not hire them if they’re actually unable to prove their right to work. Lol.
Yeah, but I’m trying to keep this interaction from being a red flag.
“We are unable to employ you because you failed to prove your right to work in the United States of America”. Could be a trump goon as well. Wouldn’t put it past him.
Your first instinct is that an assumed illegal immigrant is a trump goon?
I wouldn’t put it past the trump administration to employ people to refuse to show right documentation to see if a business is hiring illegal immigrants or not
They definitely wouldn’t, but even if they did……people that do not have the right to work in the country should not be working in the country.
Careful. You might get cancelled for saying that.
A red flag for who? The applicant? Your company?
I really hope you mean to say “hiring” instead of “hitting”
The simple answer is just don’t hire them, and don’t give any reason.
Yeah, I am hiring. I edited this.
My issue is trying to unwind this as humanely as possible for the applicant.
Unless there’s some method for you to help them become eligible to work in your country, you legally need to put the company’s safety first. If you give different reason to hide things you could be exposing your company to liability, so the safest option for both the company and for the applicant is for you to straight up ghost them.
The problem is that there is a recruiter as a middleman. This would be a lot easier if there wasn’t a third party fiscally interested in this.
It’s pretty simple, the candidate didn’t meet the requirements.
Not sure why you’re involved, this is an HR and legal issue. If HR said they don’t have docs showing eligibility, then that needs to be reported to the recruiter, otherwise they’re going to recommend this person to somewhere else, and run into the same issue. How would you feel if you were in their shoes?
Whether someone can legally work somewhere is not your problem to solve, unless you can actually do something, like help them submit appropriate paperwork (I’ve done this for employees who were temps, to help them get more permanent status).
the recruiter should have vetted them better. Part of the reason to go through a recruiter is to avoid these things.
The recruiter sent you an inelligible candidate. That’s just as much their problem as it is yours.
Yehn just tell the recruiter that they were impressive in interview but seemed not suitable in the role.
We already expressed going forward with the candidate.
You could tell the candidate your concern and they could say that negotiations have failed to the recruiter, as could you and then you both are pulling out.
If you are in the HR department call your legal department. If you are not in the HR department, call HR.
What if it’s also a trap set by trump goons. Wouldn’t put it past them.
Bro this is simple. Just say we can’t hire u as u have not proven your right to work in this country. U don’t need to pussyfoot around the issue or let them down slowly. Just drop the truth and move on. Ur over-thinking a simple thing.
Removed by mod
My post isn’t bait. We’ve gone through the process with HR and then found that the applicant may not have work authorization.
Large companies have an international team within HR that will sponsor the prospective employee for a work visa.
For smaller companies, the answer is always the same, get a lawyer
Isn’t there some document they don’t have that you need? In Canada you would be asking for their SIN number so payroll can complete the hiring process. No SIN? Oops sorry we can’t hire you because the paperwork is incompletable.
If you guys have no equivalent over there then I don’t see how it’s your problem.
Sponsor them, if possible.
“May not”?? What is that even supposed to mean? Were they Applying While Brown or something? Talking with an accent?
It sounds an awful lot like this isn’t something to stick your nose in and you should do your job, to me.
Edit: wait, are you the interviewer in this situation?
We were going to hire them, but they can’t show proof of working in the country.
And since I recommended that they get hired and they can’t show the right paperwork, it is becoming my job on how I should proceed.
Edit: Yeah, I was the one interviewing.
Well, they have to show proof of ability to work in the country. If they can’t, they don’t get the job.
Consult your HR department. Likely they will give a reasonable timeline for the appropriate documents to be provided and if they can’t furnish proof of work eligibility, they don’t get the job.
I’ve been consulting with HR. They’ve come to the conclusion that the applicant probably isn’t able to work. I’m just trying to wind this down.
This is all HR’s problem, not anyone else’s. It’s what HR is for.
Not sure why they’re punting it back to you.
I understand that your concerned for the person, but simply telling them that they need to produce proof before you can go any further seems fine.
Well then give the candidate a deadline and move on when/if they can’t.
If you are in the US and they aren’t able to work in the US legally, I’m sure they are worried that admitting they are not legal would possibly mean getting deported that much faster, so they are looking for a way to sneak out without admitting their status.
I’m looking to try to unwind this with as little blowback to the applicant as possible.
Then don’t report them to ICE? Repost the want ad and move on. Treat it like they stopped responding, because they did.
I’m not going to report them to ICE, but I’m trying to address all the issues of going non-responsive.
They have to file paperwork with the necessary supporting documents. If they can’t, you have no idea why. Maybe it’s because they’re ineligible and in violation of immigration and visa restrictions. Maybe it’s because the documents were lost in a move. Maybe they had their identity stolen and are awaiting new documents. Maybe they just don’t actually give a shit about the job and aren’t bothering to do the paperwork to start working.
All you can say is that you’ve asked them to fill out the paperwork and they haven’t done so.
What country are you in? If USA, you must be able to fill out an I-9. It’s pretty cut and dry. If there is a recruiter involved, they are required to have the potential employee complete one before they refer them.
US. We’ve tried to get the applicant to fill out an I-9, which failed.
“we would love to hire you, but can’t until you fill out this document, I can wait until X date, but after that we will have to hire another applicant. Please get back with us as soon as possible, we would hate to miss out on the opportunity to work with such a highly qualified candidate”
Your prospective job offer was contingent upon the successful completion of the I9. Merely stste that due to a failure to complete the I9, you have to take a different route.
Ok, sorry, I read it differently when I first commented. Asking for proof of eligibility to work in the US with a reasonable timeline to furnish documents definitely seems like it makes sense like others said, but I’ll admit this isn’t my area of expertise by a long shot in terms of hiring protocols and my initial comment was from entirely the wrong perspective to address your dilemma.
