Okay, so you have recruited just the right candidate.   According to his resume his credentials are impeccable.  He has all the required skill sets and vital experience in dealing with all the disciplines the job will require.   His references provide you with glowing reviews.   You have conducted background checks as part of your employment screening process, and your candidate emerges squeaky clean.  Nothing that is noteworthy.

Or maybe there is some kid stuff type offenses on…

Last week,  the New York Times ran an editorial regarding employment screening and how employment background checks are often inaccurate and cause otherwise innocent people their chances for employment.   The editorial requested that the supervising agencies get a tighter control around the CRA's or Consumer Reporting Agencies.    Upon reading the editorial, more than a few recruiters and employers, to say nothing of Consumer Reporting Agencies,  had their proverbial bowels in a…

Bullying seems to be the new buzzword.  Be it in the schoolyard or on the job, there are increased outcries about one person trying to dominate another through intimidation.  Most of the time the intimidation employed is psychological.  But often enough it is physical as well.    It is nothing to minimize, but then by the reaction of some, it would appear bullying only recently appeared on the scene.   With the plethora of articles, seminars, workshops,  and panel discussions, bullying or…

Once upon a time, a college degree was considered a ticket to success.  If you had a diploma, a sheepskin, if you will, you could easily find a job.  You would make more money.  You were almost guaranteed a promising start to a career.  Not so much anymore.

An article in the …

As some may have noticed, not everything I write about concerns employment screening,staffing, or the pitfalls of the job market in this current environment.  I have done a fair share of articles about all that, and my concerns are with the rudiments of staffing  and job acquisition and how they apply to employment screening.

But then there is the other side, that literary side the creeps in every now and then, causing me to abandoned all  he distractions in the wee hours of…

There are a number of employers who rely almost solely on criminal database searches as background checks for their employment screening services.  This is not a great idea.   There are definite advantages to database searches, as they can provide  employers with a quick review of their candidates.    In general, criminal database searches return instantly, which allows the employer to examine any potential criminal records and decide whether to move forward with additional background checks…

In some ways avoiding the kind of  abusive and criminal sex practices that have been plaguing Penn State University is a fairly easy task.  It is a matter of conducting background checks not only for pre-employment screening but periodically to determine if your staff has been convicted of any criminal and sexual offenses.  But then what about the first timers?  Or, rather, those who were never caught?

Determining whether sex abuses are taking place, particularly in the employment…

The Occupy Wall Street Movement has caused its fair share of consternation to a good many persons and organizations.  In certain areas where Occupy Whatever is taking place, small business owners are losing business due to the congregations outside their doors.  Often regular customers will not patronize businesses where large crowds are gathered outside or nearby.   People are intimidated.  It's that simple, really.

Then, of course, there has been vandalism where various businesses…

It goes without saying that the Marines are an excellent fighting force.  Be it the United States Marines or the  British Royal Marines, tens of thousands of dollars have gone into training so that these fighting units can be the most formidable in combat.

But then once the Marine is an ex-Marine, there is a question as to what to do with those skill sets.  Can't really use the harder core aspects in the typical office setting, lest one's fellow employees look askance at your crawling…

These are dire times.  The economy is sketchy, and employees can do foolish things in desperation.   Many people need money, and more often than not,  a fair portion of an employer's staff is probably in straits with overdue payments on everything from mortgages to the telephone bill.  So in some ways it should be no wonder that employment theft is on the rise.

Employment theft is on the rise and industrial espionage has actually increased significantly during the past few years.   In…

So what happens when your prime candidate lies to you?  I am not talking about some modest little fibs here  but some outright whoppers that when detected leave you twisting in the wind.   As a recruiter, this doesn't bode well for your relationships with different clients.   Most prefer to know the goods are genuine authentic, not some counterfeit designer

But in this difficult  economy with a highly competitive job market, some employment candidates might be selling you a bill of…

This is one of those stories where it can be seen either as a sad commentary on urban America or a hopeful spot in the American job market.  The Newark, New Jersey City Government approved a new law requiring small restaurants in the city to have an armed guard on the premises, during the evening hours.  This comes in the wake of a drive-by shooting at a Newark restaurant where an off-duty police officer was killed.

According to the article on Reuters, any restaurant serving fifteen…

San Francisco is the latest city to present legislation that would prohibit employers from asking job applicants if they had any prior convictions.  If the legislation is passed, San Francisco will join about twenty one other cities in banning the box, as it is known.   Banning the box refers to the check box on job applications, asking if an applicant has had prior criminal conviction.

Among the twenty one cities, Cincinnati, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia,  and Austin, Texas,  are…

A good article from Elaine Varelas of  the Job Doc in the Boston Globe or Boston.com as it is known.  A job applicant wrote her asking, basically, if an open container misdemeanor from 2008 would nullify his employment candidacy.   Not  necessarily the crime of the century, but an open container is a serious enough offense as it implies possible intoxication that can lead to serious traffic…

Illinois has decided to make Workers Compensation benefits more difficult for those  who may be inebriated on the job.  The state has passed the "Presumptive Denial Law."  Which means if you test positive for drugs or alcohol  you are denied your workers compensation benefits.  The State's Governor is expected to sign this legislation, which would take effect September 1st.

According to the new statute,  it must be demonstrated that intoxication is indeed the "proximate cause" of the…

While employers have long conducted education verification checks on their employment candidates, it appears that increasingly more staffing and recruiting groups are being made responsible for conducting this and other background checks as part of the employment screening process.

Education history, of course, outside of criminal records, is one of the more significant searches.   For many positions,  education is not just a prerequisite but also vital to employment candidate's…

As a background checking service we see our fair share of physical and sexual violence that can be related to the home  or domestic environment.  But domestic violence is not necessarily contained within the home.   Domestic violence may originate in the home, but it can affect the workplace.

Studies claim that one in four women are victims of domestic violence.   Homicide  is the second leading cause of death among women in the workforce.  While women constitute the majority of…