Hiring

The Minneapolis Fire Department isn’t adequately staffed and can’t cover the costs of “increasing sick-time usage, injury rates and overtime,” according to a report by a public safety consulting firm the city hired to analyze persistent staffing woes.

When a St. Paul construction company hired members of the Crookston High School hockey team in 2010 to install drain pipes under the ice rinks at the Crookston Sports Center, it probably seemed like a great community project. In fact, Arena Systems committed the employment law equivalent of three coincidental major penalties.

Q. We’re interested in taking advantage of the new incentive for Illinois employers to hire veterans. What are the details?

Legendary business journalist Marshall Loeb spent decades interviewing the greatest leaders of American business. Along the way, he defined these steps to effective leadership ...

If applicants ask why they didn’t get the job, conventional wisdom says to simply state that another individual more closely met the company’s needs, period. Short, sweet, to the point, and unlikely to result in a discrimination claim. Or is it? You may want to reconsider how much feedback to provide re­­jected applicants.

With U.S. unemployment still running high, that means two things: You’re receiving more résumés per job, and applicants are ramping up the creativity to grab your attention. That creativity leads to a lot of home runs ... and some dramatic strikeouts.

Questioning the capabilities of a person in a wheelchair is almost a guaranteed lawsuit. Case in point:

Q. I have received several résumés that do not include a home address. Is this a red flag?

As a recruiting tool, more employers have begun including a sentence or two about the typical career path of the job at the end of each job listing.

Q. I understand there are lots of questions we can’t ask during interviews. But what if the applicant brings up the subject? For example, if she mentions that she just had a baby, can I ask if she’s made child care arrangements? If a person is coming from out of town, I may ask why. If they say “boyfriend/girlfriend,” can I ask if it’s a permanent move?