Employ the Background Check Experts Along With Your Holiday Employees

November 11, 2011 by

As the holidays approach businesses are hiring more employees to prepare for the increase in customers.  Whether temporary or permanent hires, it is important to make sure that these potential hires are a good fit for your businesses.  It is hard to know much about a person from an application or an interview, so pre employment screening can help answer some of those questions you do not learn from that first meeting.

A criminal background check protects your assets on the front side by helping you not hire someone with a questionable history.  Losses suffered by businesses are caused more by employee theft than by customer theft, so background checks can help weed out the potential employees that may have stolen from businesses in the past.  Employee background checks are proactive instead of reactive in regards to loss prevention.

A background check company can look into the history of your potential hire and let you know what that person may not have disclosed during their interview or on their application.  There is no reason to risk your business and its assets by setting yourself up for an internal theft issue.  The background check experts can give you a full report about a potential hire and help you make a decision about whether or not to employ that person.  These types of decisions are important so that your business remains profitable and competitive.

The holidays are supposed to bring extra profits from extra customers coming into your business.  Do not lose those profits by hiring someone whose intent is to steal from you.  A pre employment screening can help you feel comfortable with your decision when hiring.

For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

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Use a reliable Background Check Company from keeping the preverbal bad apple from spoiling your bunch!!

November 8, 2011 by

If you have spent any amount of time in a work environment then you know how much employees impact all aspects of your business.  Having the right employee brings you much productivity, makes your job easier and keeps employee moral high.  Conversely, having the wrong employee can undermine your whole operation.  While good interviews are great we have all seen a candidate who is much better on paper and in an interview than what we end up with punching the clock.

To this end I recommend using employee background checks and a pre employment screening to aid you in weeding out the bad candidates so you get the right person for your business.  There are many different background checks you can use depending on the Background Check Company you use and the position that you are hiring for.  One basic type is criminal background checks.  This looks for local, state and possibly federal criminal histories in an effort to ensure your candidate has not been convicted for or even arrested for a crime.  Another option I like my Background Check Company to run is past employment and educational background checks.  These are two of the most falsified items on an employee’s resume.  They can also be hard to track down yourself as many companies no longer give references to other perspective employers.

Finally, pre employment screening for things like sex offender status and financial history can be important.  Would you hire someone to handle your company’s funds who can’t manage their own?  Do you want a sex offender working in a capacity that would bring them into contact with client’s kids?  All of these things bring risk to your company and quality employee background checks can help eliminate these liable hazards.

For more information on employee background checks,  background check experts , background checks , criminal background checks , or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

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Employee Steals $41,000. Criminal Background Checks Would Have Prevented!

November 4, 2011 by

I recently conducted an investigation into a very expensive employee theft loss where adequate background checks were not conducted. As I was interviewing the employee it hit me that had this company been conducting criminal background checks none of this would have ever occurred. The employee would have never had the opportunity to steal $41,000 because she would have never been hired. She had been caught before, TWICE!

Background check experts know what to look for and how to obtain it. In many cases a background check company can locate records that are not easily obtainable. Many times when we conduct employee background checks we look “between the lines” of what the candidate told our client. We will find not only criminal records that they lied about or omitted but we will also find serious facts that would curl the hair of any potential employer. Pre employment screening has revealed that applicants have not just stolen from one but many previous employers. We have also found violent crimes including sexual assault and robbery just to name a few.

As a background check company we have also conducted background checks on people who have outright lied about their education. Pre employment screening of this type has revealed candidate who not only did not finish a degree but never even attended the school.

Besides criminal background checks and education employers should look at credit histories, driving records, SSN validations and sex offender records just to name a few. Many employers believe that they have staff that can conduct employee background checks and be their own in-house background check experts. That would be like trying to be your own doctor. It takes special skills and abilities to make this process cost effective and complete. Do not risk YOUR business!

For more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

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The Criminal Background Check and Hiring Decisions

January 28, 2011 by

The Criminal Background Check and Hiring Decisions

If your company is like most others, there is some type of criminal background check done on all applicants for employment or newly hired people.  What employers do once the arrest and/or conviction information is received on a candidate can be very different.

Some companies have very strict guidelines on hiring parameters, excluding candidates who have any criminal history at all, while others are willing to take a chance on hiring someone with a record based on a number of factors such as age at the time of the offense, seriousness of the crime, or time since the crime was committed.  Still other companies use the criminal background check only as part of a comprehensive pre employment screening program and consider many other variables, like education, employment record, or personal references as mitigating factors for someone with a criminal history.

To be fair across the board, a company should define requirements and qualifications for each position in the company.  These do not necessarily have to be the same for each position.  A company might reject an applicant for an accounting position who has a record for embezzlement, but hire a driver who has written bad checks.  Categories of the crime for which the candidate was convicted may be a factor as well.  Felons might be excluded while misdemeanor convictions are accepted, or an applicant might be disqualified for a conviction of a crime of violence, like assault or battery.

The important thing to remember is that the qualifications should be written down as policy, and applied fairly and consistently across the board.  A labor attorney or background check experts can help with this.

An employer has the right to conduct a criminal background check on employees and new hires within certain bounds, and can use this decision tool effectively.

For more information on the criminal background check, call 770-426-0547 or click here:  Background Check Experts

 

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Criminal Background Check – A Comparison

January 24, 2011 by

Criminal Background Check – A Comparison

When is a criminal background check not a criminal background check?  When it doesn’t deliver accurate results in a timely manner.  The search for criminal records always begins at the local courthouse level in the county where the applicant resides, or has lived, gone to school, or been employed.  The public records contained here follow a criminal action from arrest to conviction or acquittal, and all the steps in between.  Records that come from the county level are generally obtained from retrievers, individuals whose job it is to go to the local courthouse and look up and report records to interested parties, maybe a background check company or an attorney or insurance company.

A step broader that the county search is the statewide repository.  These are provided by state law enforcement entities that maintain them and are made available to the public from some, but not all states.  The states receive the information from law enforcement and court agencies in that state.  The problem with state repositories is that not all agencies consistently report activity to them.  Another is that they are frequently expensive, slow to obtain, and the information is more likely to be restricted than a criminal background check that comes from the county courthouse.  The advantage is that is covers a much broader area than a county search.  Your background company will advise you which states are dependable and economical and which ones aren’t.

A step above the statewide search is the National Crime Information Center, which maintains information gathered from jurisdictions all over the country.  Access to this information is severely restricted and unavailable to the public for employment purposes, and the reporting error and missing record rate is high.

Frequently represented as a National Criminal Background Check are records that are offered by a background check company that (there are several of them) maintains its own commercial database, containing millions of records.  These records are purchased from jurisdictions that make them available electronically in bulk.  They are periodically uploaded to the computer equipment of the background check company and resold to companies as National Background Checks.  These are not usually current and can’t be considered comprehensive in any way, as so many jurisdictions are not included.  An employer should never depend on a commercial database to make a hiring decision, as most background check experts do not consider them compliant with current federal laws regulating the background check industry.

Finally, there is the Federal Court System, which houses the records of those that have violated federal statutes, everything from littering a national park to the RICOH Act.  These records are generally obtained by a retriever.

Need help with your criminal background check?  Call background check experts at 770-426-0547 or click Background Checks.

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But I DO a Background Checks!

January 21, 2011 by

But I DO a Background Checks!

And my employee stole from me anyway!  What good are the background checks?

A recently burned employer might well ask this question.  Despite doing everything right, despite pre employment screening that included background checks, would an employee with no previous history of trouble with the law suddenly turn into workplace thief?

Just because a background check is conducted and comes back clean, does not absolutely mean that the applicant has never stolen. The check may not have been broad enough, not checking in every location where the applicant lived, worked, or attended school.  He may have a record that he acquired as a juvenile, which is sealed, or an adult record that has been expunged.

Or he may have been caught stealing and never prosecuted, meaning a public record of his misdeeds was never produced.

So a clean criminal background checks do not necessarily indicate the absence of criminal behavior, only that it wasn’t found or has never been documented.

Does this mean that background checks should not be done?  Absolutely not!  An employer should exercise his right to legally uncover any fact that has the potential to harm his business.  And positive results may exclude a potential thief from your business.

Does revealing a spotty history such as a criminal record mean an employer shouldn’t hire someone?  Not necessarily.  Various factors go into this decision, including age at the time of the offense, length of time since the offense, and applicability to the job to be performed.

But consider this:  Jails and prisons are full of offenders who have had multiple opportunities to “go straight.”  By the time a person is sentenced to serve time in a jail or prison, they have probably been on probation several times and continued their behavior until the court decided that incarceration was the only answer to protect the public.

As a business owner, remember that you have to keep protecting your livelihood by keeping your eyes open to the potential that some of your employees may steal from you, even if they have clear background checks.

Want to know more?  Call the background check expert at 770-426-0547 or click here.

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Identity Theft and the Criminal Background Check

January 19, 2011 by

Identity Theft and the Criminal Background Check

What would you do if you needed a job, but thought that a criminal background check might turn up negative information on you, like the credit cards you stole and used, or the four shoplifting arrests you’ve had?

An idea used by some people to get by this minor inconvenience is to assume someone else’s identity.  Then, unless your potential employer submitted your fingerprints to a background check expert, no record, at least for you, would show up in a criminal background check.

Admittedly, many companies go beyond the basic criminal background check as part of their pre employment screening process, but others don’t.  Using another’s identity is fairly commonplace among illegal immigrants who can’t legally work in the US without a valid social security number, but is also used by legal residents that have something to hide, or are fugitives from justice.  Those with a past to conceal often use the identification of a friend, relative, or acquaintance that they are able to get the identification from and use it until they either quit or are found out.

There is also the possibility that the person whose identification is being used has a criminal history, but that is a whole new problem, both for the employer and the applicant.

There are other steps to take to validate identity.  Be very careful when examining identification documents such as a driver’s license or social security card.  Both of these can be easily faked.  Compare suspected documents against those that you know are genuine and note any differences, be sure lamination is correctly sealed and hasn’t been tampered with, and that the physical description and photo matches the applicant.

A criminal background check on a person with phony identification is worse that no background check at all, because it has been paid for, and the results are worthless.  Extra effort to determine true identity is sometimes worth it.

Questions? Call 770-426-0547 or click here.

 

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Background Checks 101

January 4, 2011 by

Criminal Background Check 101

When an employer requests a criminal background check and the results include a positive criminal history, where does that information come from?

A good place to get the answer to this question (and more)  is to have a basic understanding of how criminal records are generated, stored, and made available to the public.

The origin of a criminal record occurs when an individual is arrested by a law enforcement agency because he is suspected of having committed a crime.  The person is then formally charged in a court, after an investigation is conducted.  All criminal records are under the supervision of the clerk of the respective court that has jurisdiction of the case.

Eventually, the case is heard and adjudicated and the charged individual is either released as a result of a non-conviction, or convicted and sentenced to a penalty that depends on the severity of the crime, previous convictions and other mitigating or aggravating issues.  All these records remain in the custody of the clerk of the court, but are considered public record, unless there is some special circumstance.

If anyone wants to see the record or if there is a record on someone, she generally must physically go to the courthouse, look up the case number in an index, give that to the clerk who will then go and pull the file containing the paperwork pertaining to the case and let the retriever view it there in the records room.  If copies are required, they are generally done by the clerk for a fee.

Some counties, however make this information available on the internet, where it may be viewed by the general public.  Caution is advised when using the internet to obtain a criminal background check, because while some sites are quite good and complete, others are difficult to use and often incomplete or inaccurate.

County courts as well as law enforcement agencies in most cases also report activity to a central state repository, which may be made available to the public.  The quality of the information contained in these repositories can range from accurate and adequate to less than useful because of omissions and inaccuracies.  Many states don’t make the information in their repositories available at all, and others make access so inconvenient that it is basically worthless.

Crimes are also reported to a national criminal database known as NCIC, but these records are not generally made available to the public.

Commercial databases purchase information from courts that allow it, but although the information from these sources is usually fast and cheap, it should never be used as an employer’s primary source for a criminal background check.

For more information on how to obtain a quality criminal background check call 770-426-0547 or click here.

Fine Print:  We are not attorneys, and the content in this blog should be considered as informational and not as legal advice.  If you need legal advice, contact an attorney.

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The Criminal Background Check and Expungement – Atlanta

December 29, 2010 by

The Criminal Background Check and Expungement

Because of the current national employment situation, more and more jobseekers are attempting to clear any derogatory information from their past so that previous arrests or convictions will not show up on a criminal background check.

The process of sealing, blocking, or erasing a criminal record is called expungement, and all states have a way to exclude minor crimes from being reported to anyone but law enforcement and some government agencies.  The conditions of expungement vary from state to state, but most have some sort of youthful offender program, or first offender program, or some other means of delaying judgment in a criminal case, and possibly avoiding the stigma of a criminal conviction.  Usually some terms must be met by the defendant, such as completing a probationary period, before the case “goes away.”  In many situations the defendant must file a petition with the court in order to change the disposition from “first offender” to “dismissed.”

A criminal case that originally received a conviction may be sealed or expunged by petition if it was minor in nature and a sufficient length of time has passed with no further instances evident.  Convictions for felony crimes, however, are usually there to stay.

There is a problem that happens when a person applying for a job is under the impression that a crime he for which he was convicted has been expunged, but the arrest still shows up on a criminal background check.

This can happen in several different ways.  The case may show as “dismissed”, but the arrest still shows on the record.  This will continue to be reported this way for seven years, unless it is truly expunged.

Commercial database searches marketed as a criminal background check may show an expunged record long after it should have been removed, because although the record automatically gets onto the database, it has to be manually removed, and only when it brought to the attention of the database operator.

Employers should treat the criminal background check as a part of the overall assessment of a candidate’s suitability for a particular job.

Questions about a criminal background check for your business?  Call 770-426-0547, or click here.

Disclaimer:  We are not attorneys and nothing in this blog should be considered legal advice.  If you need legal advice, consult an attorney.

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Quality Pre Employment Screening Means Quality Employees

December 27, 2010 by

Quality Pre Employment Screening Means Quality Employees

Every business wants the very best employees available to fill open positions, a result that is helped along by a quality pre employment screening program.  A quality program is designed both to reduce risk to the employer by eliminating unsuitable candidates as well as help in making decisions among two or more suitable applicants.

Each company has its own “system” of pre employment screening, whether it’s a written developed policy or the result of trial and error over time.

Typically, there are many more applicants than there are positions to fill, resulting in a broad range of applicants, from those who are under qualified and stretching their accomplishments and abilities to the over qualified who may be taking the position until something better comes along.

The pre employment screening policies used by hiring companies is designed to streamline the process of making the best decision.

The depth of the process should be job specific.  Positions with higher responsibility should face higher scrutiny, since a hiring mistake can typically be more costly.  The elements of the program can be done incrementally as well, depending on the job.  In hiring a driver, for instance the employer might opt to check the driving record of a candidate, then based on those results, either eliminate the candidate, or conduct a criminal background check on those that successfully pass the driving record hurdle.  Other searches like credit reports, references, employment checks, and education verification can be added if needed or omitted.  Although this method may reduce costs somewhat, it will also tend to drag out the time it takes to get a complete snapshot of the applicant.

The final result of pre employment screening, including interviewing, drug testing, and those items mentioned above all are directed at securing the most qualified quality candidate to help the company prosper.

To have your pre employment questions answered, call 770-426-0547 or click here.

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