The computer professional exemption.

It’s a common misconception that all jobs involving computers are exempt. But in fact, the FLSA’s computer employee exemption is very narrow, covering only employees who earn more than $27.63 per hour or $455 per week and:

• apply “systems analysis techniques and procedures,” such as consulting with users to determine hardware or software needs
• design, develop, create, test or modify computer programs based on user design specifications
• design, develop, create, test or modify programs related to operating systems, or
• perform a combination of those duties that requires the same level of skill.

Some examples of employees who don’t qualify for the exemption: employees who repair hardware and help desk professionals whose only job is to fix users’ problems.

Note: IT employees who don’t meet the requirements for the computer professional exemption may still be exempt, based on the FLSA’s administrative, executive or professional exemptions.

One problem IT staffers can have is dealing with people. But let’s face it, for a lot of positions, that’s part of the job. Interview questions should keep that in mind. For example, a good interview question might be: “Tell me about a difficult person you’ve dealt with recently, and how you handled the situation.”

You can keep probing on that question to find out ways the candidate deals with end users, peers, managers, etc. Also, you might ask other general questions about times they’ve run into workplace conflict.

Business skills are becoming more important in IT, too. If that’s something the open position will require, a good question might be: “What would you do if you made financial estimates for a project, and the person approving the funding thought they were inaccurate?”

You might also want to ask what candidates know about your industry. They don’t need to be experts, but they should at least have something to say. That’ll let you know they’re willing to learn more about the general business.

As HR knows, plenty of candidates aren’t completely honest on their resumes. But which employees are most likely to bend the truth? Near the top of the list are applicants for IT jobs — an area in which dishonesty can cause serious problems for companies.

Almost half (49%) of all employers have discovered lies on candidates’ resumes or applications, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. The lies are more common in some job categories than others — for example, a full 57% of companies said they’d uncovered fibs when filling IT jobs.

That makes IT third on the list, behind hospitality workers (60%) and transportation employees (59%).

Why is a lying IT applicant such a big concern? Dangers range from hiring employees without the knowledge and experience required for critical functions to having a dishonest tech worker wreak serious havoc on the company’s computer systems.

Take the example of Terry Childs, a former network administrator for the City of San Francisco. Childs was recently arrested after he blocked access to several parts of the city’s network and refused to hand over the passwords — creating an expensive dilemma that kept a lot of work from being done.

It turned out that Childs had several criminal convictions on his record, including burglary and theft charges. However, he withheld that info on his application, and the city failed to perform an adequate background check.

Common lies

What does HR need to look for when investigating a candidate’s background? Here are the most common applicant lies uncovered, according to CareerBuilder:

• embellished responsibilities of past jobs (38%)
• exaggerated skill sets (18%)
• altered employment dates to cover gaps between jobs (12%)
• phony academic degrees (10%)
• jobs listed at companies the candidate never worked for (7%), and
• inflated job titles (5%).

Many might give a surprising answer to that question.

More than half (57%) would take the telecommuting option, according to a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Wholesale-Distributors. Others said telecommuting wasn’t an option in their lines of work, and only 18% said flat out that they’d take the raise.

Also, 37% of IT employees would actually take a 10% pay cut in exchange for the chance to work from home, according to another survey by Dice Holdings, Inc.

Those answers may be surprising, but they make sense once you do the math, says Dice Holdings. The firm estimates telecommuting could save the average employee $8,400 a year, which, for many, would compensate for the pay cut or lost raise.