The Mirage of Actual Job Losses Has Been Exposed…and the Truth is Not Pretty

In a report by CNNMoney today, the public has learned that the job losses that have been reported by government agencies is not quite accurate; to the tune of nearly a million lost jobs. During the past few years as the “Great Recession” has made its way into our workplaces and bank accounts, the number of people who were reportedly unemployed during this time hovered at about 7 million. As if that number wasn’t staggering enough, it has been discovered that the US Labor Department’s numbers were underestimating job losses by about 1 million jobs.

With the economic downturn having officially begun in December of 2007, the number of losses is astronomical for such a short period of time. One expert that was interviewed during the CNNMoney story said, “"It confirms that things were actually worse on the ground than what the reports suggested." This new information has been uncovered as a result of a revision being done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as they review annual payrolls for U.S. workers.

Some of the major contributing factors to the huge job losses between April 2008 and March 2009 included Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy protection, the complete halt of the stock markets and financial sector, and the economy sinking into the depths of a near Depression. The scariest part of their findings thus far is that nearly 5 million jobs were lost during that single, twelve-month period of time. This loss is staggering and is almost double the jobs that were lost since the records have been kept (dating back to 1939).

The good news is that many companies are starting to hire again. Economists are predicting a total gain of about 13,000 jobs for January (according to Briefing.com), after a loss of 85,000 jobs during December 2009. This means that more companies will be ready for employment background screening and criminal background check services again. For many hiring managers, it may feel like it’s been ages since they have been given the green light to hire new employees.

The temptation may be to choose people who say they have worked in a particular field and are qualified to the hilt. However, resume lies are everywhere and because of this tough economy, hiring managers are actually finding that more candidates are lying on their resumes than ever before. This phenomenon is most likely due to several factors including the amount of time the applicant has been unemployed, the specific field they work in, and what shape their personal finances are in.

Remembering to hire an employment background screening company like AccuScreen can make all the difference in hiring the best employees. From a criminal background check to salary history and job title verification, they do it all. One easy-to-read report, guaranteed accurate, and ready within 1-3 days! What more can you ask for when getting ready to hire new employees? As an employer, you can’t afford not to use AccuScreen’s services!

When Your Worst Nightmare Becomes Reality with a New Hire

After poring over resume after resume, weeding out the unqualified folks, you find out that the 3 candidates you’ve selected all have fluffed their self-proclaimed skill set and experience with resume lies and resume falsification. What’s worse is when you miss that step altogether and hire them. At best, you may have hired an unqualified person who will make mistakes and end up being fired. At worst, you may have inadvertently hired a dangerous criminal whose malicious intentions are aimed for your company, your customers, and your employees.

The trend that companies are seeing right now, especially small businesses is one of great financial and legal loss due to poor hiring practices. This economy has placed constraints on everyone’s resources, employers and job seekers alike. For the employer, sometimes a job position suddenly opens up and needs to be filled in short order. The temptation can be to fill the position too quickly because one candidate stands out above the rest. If a resume looks good on paper, the applicant must be qualified…right? Not necessarily so.

Resume falsification is one of the trickiest things to catch if you don’t who to turn to for deciphering. Sure, you can sometimes tell when someone is lying because their story doesn’t match or they are unable to provide consistent information during an interview. But, what are you supposed to look for…really? Enter an employment background screening service like AccuScreen.

This type of employment screening goes much further than the everyday reference check and verifying places of employment. This service looks deep into the applicant’s past and uncovers facts that they may not have been truthful about. Truths that can be hidden from view include the school they attended, whether they earned a degree, their salary history, criminal record, job titles held, and much more. Drug testing results, business ownership, driving records, tax liens, and lawsuits can also be included in the background search.

In a survey that was conducted by a major payroll company last year, it was found that businesses had suffered about $10,000 in losses for each employee that was hired and underperformed or made gross errors. These dollars lost, in this economy, can add up to huge losses as company size increases. Major contributors to these losses include high turnover, wasted time in recruitment and training, as well as underperformance and lost business caused by these types of employees.

For small businesses, one single loss of $10,000 can have a huge impact on their bottom line. When companies are struggling just to survive in these economic times, it’s nearly deadly to their company to hire the wrong person. The right way to proceed for any company, whether they are large or small, is to prescreen employees through employment background screening. Catch the resume lies before you hire so you don’t lose out on more than you bargained for!

In a Nursing Home this Should Have Never Happened

In the town of Merrillville a nightmare took place for one paralyzed patient who was under the care and supervision of Golden Living Centers. Not only did the victim of this nightmare have to endure sexual abuse by one of his “caretakers”, there was nothing he could do to stop him; he was paralyzed due to a stroke. What’s worse is that the alleged perpetrator had been accused of the same sexual misconduct by another patient in 2009.

These atrocities happen more than nursing homes, medical centers, and hospitals would like to admit. However, with the proper employment screening and criminal background searches in place, these unthinkable crimes can be avoided. Though the Merrillville nursing home stated that they conducted a comprehensive background check on their employee before he was hired, the fact remains that two of their patients have been allegedly victimized.

The suspected abuser was investigated last year by the nursing home staff when the first allegation was brought to their attention. The caretaker denied the allegations and stated that his patient was uncomfortable with him being homosexual and made up the charges to avoid contact with him. Unfortunately, another victim has now surfaced and the question remains: Did the caretaker abuse the first victim after all?

In the healthcare industry, and especially in the care of the elderly, abuse and negligence have been the center of many lawsuits by victims and their families. It is unusual for sexual abuse allegations to be a part of a lawsuit for these types of patients. It is more common, however, to find that caretakers who have been convicted of a crime had been accused of some sort of abuse by patients at some point during their career.

This is the main reason why criminal background searches and employment screening are vital in the healthcare field. No matter what the crime on record, it is up to the staff to find the information through an employment screening service. Once the criminal record has been uncovered, the staff can make a decision about whether or not to hire the individual. Violent crimes, sexual offenses, and assault charges are just some of the many crimes that medical staff should be looking for as major red flags.

With any employment screening service, such as AccuScreen, thoroughness and accuracy are taken to ensure that every bit of information is exposed. From minor offenses allowable by law to felony charges and drunken driving or drug charges, nothing gets past the watchful eyes of AccuScreen’s technologies and databases.  Further, they can provide clients with necessary drug testing results, DMV and driving records, salary history, verification of a degree or certification, criminal background searches, and much more.

When you need help with finding out who your applicants really are, ask the experts at AccuScreen. Not only will your candidates’ truths be exposed, you’ll avoid hiring the “Employee from Hell”.

Shocking and Gruesome Crime Solemnly Remembered as Trial Begins for Two Suspects

The beautiful and quaint area of Cheshire Connecticut shows no obvious signs of the trauma the community went through only two short years ago. At 300 Sorghum Mill Drive, a horrific home invasion, four assaults, and three murders took place that led to one man losing his home and his entire family. A heart-shaped garden now lies in the spot where the family home once stood.

Dr William Petit was a well-known and loved physician in the small community about 20 miles North of New Haven. All seemed well on that fateful night of July 23, 2007 as the family was asleep in their home. At about 3:00 in the morning, however, they were awakened by the sound of two robbers, and soon-to-be murderers, who would savagely beat Dr. Petit and lock him in his own basement as they continued their seven-hour attack on the rest of the family.

Though a criminal background check and criminal background searches would have revealed that both of the suspects, Hayes and Komisarjevsky, had been convicted prior on burglary charges, they both had been paroled at the time of the invasion. This crime has led to a number of reforms in Connecticut’s judicial system, including the throwing out of “administrative reviews” made by three Board Members without the suspects being present or interviewed. This was, in fact, the main reason why the two suspects were out on parole at the time.

Some other changes that have been made into law included the composition of the Board of Pardons and Paroles to add a staff psychologist to the Board so they can do a more through criminal background check and criminal background searches by opening access to the computerized juvenile court’s records which had previously been kept from the review board. The Board Members argued that when they were reviewing the cases of both suspects, they did not have the full disclosure of that information at the time.

Regardless of how grossly the system failed the community of Cheshire, the fact remains that Dr. Petit is now without his two daughters and his wife. He tearfully spoke to the media and said, “Because men murdered Michaela, she cannot make homemade sauce, play with her friends, or kiss me goodnight. Because men murdered Hayley, she cannot experience her college years at Dartmouth, row on the Connecticut River, or sit and chat with me. Because men murdered Jennifer, she can no longer comfort a student at Cheshire Academy, talk with her parents and sister, or sit with me on our porch.”

Those statements were made as Dr. Petit spoke to the media during a hearing that was held to determine if the death penalty should be repealed. It was first repealed and ultimately vetoed by the Governor. Both suspects could face the death penalty if they are found guilty for the crimes they are being charged with: felony murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and arson. The Petit’s home had been set ablaze by the suspects after Petit’s wife had been strangled and his two daughters tied up and sexually assaulted. They died of smoke inhalation.

This case emphasizes the damage that a criminal can make to someone’s precious life and to their family. In the business world, criminal employees can also do irreparable damage once hired. Avoid these damages in the first place by hiring AccuScreen to perform a pre-employment criminal background check on each of your candidates!

Have You Been Phished Upon Lately? The Latest Twitter Security Breach.

Online security should never be taken lightly. From personal information to financial banking entry, phishers are out there, lurking in the darkness…just waiting to get a hold of your most important passwords and logins so they can gain access to your accounts. The most recent security breach seems to have taken place on Twitter today. CNN reported that phishers were sending emails to Twitter members so they would click on links to read a direct message from a fake person, thus requiring them to log in first to read their message. Unfortunately, the site that the email takes members to is not Twitter.

Who do these criminals think they are? Masquerading as a site you trust in order to gain your confidence and steal from you. This is why criminal background searches and employment screening were invented! In the world of data transfer, identity theft, and online fraud, the security of our personal and financial information has never been more sacred…or so easily compromised. Though Twitter is not the first, or last, site to experience being the target of a malicious phisher, there are things that people should be looking out for in order to help them avoid becoming the next phishing scam victim.

1.       According to the CNN story that broke today, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone stated that users should not only look at the site design but the Web address to where they have landed. Hackers are exquisite craftsmen, designing their phishing site to look exactly like the real thing. Be it your online banking site, credit card company, or social networking site, they are able to easily transform a blank Web page into what looks like the real thing.

2.       Look at the Web site address before proceeding to enter in your login information! The real site will have their company name right before the “.com” in the URL. The fake one will have it somewhere in the URL, but not in the right place (because it’s taking you to another site entirely).

3.       Change your password regularly! Twitter users should change their password today to eliminate access that they may have already inadvertently given the phishers from today’s incident. On a regular basis, Internet users should change their passwords every 30 days to best protect themselves…and don’t use the same password on every site. This is one of the best ways to change it up and keep your online accounts safe from hackers.

4.       When criminal background searches and employment screening are a regular part of your hiring process, be sure to also let your existing employees know about these dangers online. Since most companies allow the Internet to be accessed from workers’ computers, it’s important to set some guidelines to protect the company’s valuable information. In addition to having firewalls, anti-virus software, and other measures on the network, employees may need to be told what sites are or are not acceptable to visit (or employers can simply block them). If an employer doesn’t wish to restrict their employees, make sure they are warned about the signs of phishing scams so that the business’ infrastructure is not compromised.

Though employment screening and criminal background searches are the very best ways to protect your company from the threat of hiring an “employee from hell”, these online measures should also be taken to protect yourself and your employees from phishers, scammers, and fraudsters in the cyber world.

New Secure Communities Program Allows Police to Cross Reference FBI Fingerprint Database

The Department of Homeland Security has developed a new fingerprinting program to help track illegal immigrants in this country who may have previously gotten away with everything from petty larceny to murder. Now, with the ability to compare their fingerprints locally with the national FBI criminal database, more criminals are being sent back to their countries thanks to this new criminal background check.

Though deportation of these criminals has received huge support from law makers, law enforcement, the FBI, and the Border Patrol, some critics have bad things to say about the way that these criminal background searches work. Immigrants’ rights activists claim that the program is unfairly targeting the Latino community. Jerry Gonzalez of the Georgia Association of Elected Officials was quoted in the news as stating that the program was “…open season for Latinos in Georgia.”

He contends that the program removes local law enforcement’s ability to make decisions about which people’s fingerprints to run. What this criminal background check program does is report everyone’s fingerprints to the federal government agencies who handle this program. The end result is that people with minor offenses and infractions, including minor traffic violations, are subject to deportation. Gonzalez closed his press conference statement by saying that the effect of this program is “outside the scope of what [Homeland Security Secretary Janet] Napolitano wants to accomplish.”

However, supporters of these new criminal background searches argue that the program was designed to capture and remove dangerous and violent criminals from society. The Department of Homeland Security believes that just as our own citizens have an ethical and moral code to follow, so should anyone who lives in our country; even immigrants. Should they choose to break the laws of this country, their punishment should be deportation to their home country so our taxpayers don’t have to foot the bill for jail costs.

One example given in a CNN news report dated January 8, 2010 is of a criminal who has already “racked up a lengthy rap sheet during the three years he has lived illegally in the United States.” His convictions include battery on a police officer and cruelty to children. In all, six charges are on his rap sheet, all of them violent and serious in nature. As a result of the launch of the Secure Communities criminal background check program, the convict will be deported to his native country, the Bahamas.

The program was able to catch the criminal and stop him in his tracks thanks to the way the program works. Law enforcement, locally, can now receive feedback from the FBI and the DHS so that local law enforcement is able to see their full list of offenses and not let them back into society. What was once missed due to criminals moving from town to town or even out of state has now become a non-issue; criminals will be caught no matter where they live.

Though this criminal background check program has been launched only in Georgia as a test of how well it will work, the government hopes the program will be a success and can be launched nationwide. This program also offers the hope that eventually fingerprints of US criminals can be entered into the criminal background searches database to help catch criminals on the run within our borders and put them in jail before they are released from local law enforcement’s hand and back on the streets.

Take the Time to Hire Right Every Time, Even with a Saturated Job Market

Though everyone’s talking about how great it is that fewer jobs are being lost as compared to this time last year, the truth is that the unemployment rate remains at a record-high level. More people than ever before are in the market for a job and are trying to send their resumes to any type of job they feel they can perform. This is both good and bad for employers; they have a larger pool to choose from, but the downside is that many of the folks who are applying for jobs are simply overqualified.

Being overqualified presents its own challenges to the employer and the candidate. First, the employee is likely to not stay in that position for long enough to bring a real value to the company (imagine what their employment background screening results look like). They are more likely to seek employment elsewhere once “greener pastures” come along. Employees who are overqualified are likely to keep their “feelers out” for better opportunities, both through staffing agencies and through their personal contacts.

Some of the challenges that present themselves for employers who hire overqualified workers include wasting time and money on recruitment and training. This is because the position will need to be filled and re-filled as workers leave for positions that more closely fit their skill-levels. Another cost incurred by employers is the continual need for employment background screening and criminal background searches as each new hire is considered.

However, it’s not all bad news. The good news is that employers have many more candidates to choose from. Aside from the overqualified applicants, many unemployed are perfectly suited for the job. The greater the pool of applicants, the greater your chances of finding the right person in less time than it would have taken otherwise. This means that it takes record time to select the pool of candidates and run employment background screening and criminal background searches.

BusinessWeek ran a story this week on small businesses and how the economy is affected their hiring processes. It was interesting to discover that for small businesses, the opportunities for growth are greater than for larger corporations. It makes perfect sense; small businesses run much leaner than corporations in times of economic hardship, so every person they hire increases their chances of raising profitability even more.

Another benefit that the BusinessWeek story covered was the possibility of a small business being able to reshape their staff’s talent. When the economy causes the job market to be flooded, take advantage of the surplus and use it to replace workers who are doing a less-than-outstanding job. If the best possible decisions were not initially made, or if it wasn’t possible to find the “perfect” person at the time you hired, now is the time to shine. Hire someone who is experienced, passionate, and who just so happens to be unemployed and ready to fill your needs.

Take the time to assess your hiring needs for the coming year. If you find open positions that need to be filled or need to find more qualified individuals, then 2010 is the perfect time to start hiring right.

Hire right every time with Accu-Screen!

10 Ways to Motivate Your Employees in 2010

The economy has taken its toll on employment screening firms, companies, families, and individuals alike; no one seems to be immune to its ravages. This coming year, though the economy is not predicted to completely turn around, there are some actions you can take now, starting on January 1, that will motivate your employees and raise morale.

1. Create sub-goals for each employee with clear rewards for accomplishing them. For example, if your employment screening staff is able to turn around 10 lost client accounts in one month, take them out for pizza for lunch one day.
2. Provide monetary rewards wherever possible. Though the economy has tanked, your budgets don’t have to be completely drained of employee incentives. Offer a $5 Starbucks coffee card to the salesperson who makes the most calls in one hour. Another enticing reward is a $5 iTunes credit for achieving the highest number of sales within the hour.
3. Encourage employees to make the rules. This may sound crazy, but when employees are handed the reins and asked to look over company policies and offer suggestions for improvement, morale goes way up. Though there is no promise that upper management will approve the suggested changes to policy, giving the “power to the people” goes a long way towards improving the way they feel about the company.
4. Bring breakfast in once a week. For example, if your employment screening company doesn’t offer an expense reimbursement for things like this, ask management to create a monthly budget for it. Especially on Monday mornings, breakfast helps set a mood of community and renews people’s commitments to get even more criminal background searches completed and to do a good job for the week.
5. Ask your boss to budget in lunch for your team once a month or bi-weekly. For example, offer to make it a working lunch with a formal agenda where everyone is brought up to date on current events in the company. If you have an employment screening firm, you could even provide them with some new industry-related learning opportunities.
6. Ask employees to participate in a monthly potluck to bring everyone together. People love to share their family recipes and it is a great time for everyone to connect on an entirely different level than can be achieved with a “working lunch” where everyone is eating and having a business meeting.
7. Offer to start a monthly birthday celebration. Though that sitcom “The Office” portrays this type of celebration as something annoying for both the party organizer and the employees, it is something that people truly appreciate. Ask for a small budget from management, say $20, and then have everyone pitch in an additional $2 or $3 to cover the cost of the cake, drinks, plastic forks, and paper plates.
8. Put together a yearly “Mission Statement” that is department specific. For example, if you had an employment screening firm, you’d gather each department, based on their specific goals and interests, and have them plan out what is most important to them as a group. Take suggestions from each employee and add it to the Mission Statement so that each person is a part of the activity. Then, have it printed on paper in fancy lettering so that one is posted in each workspace.
9. Allow the staff in each department to interview prospective new hires and have a say in who gets hired. Though they can’t help with the criminal background searches portion of the hiring process, their opinions will be invaluable.
10. Develop a system whereby employees can submit anonymous suggestions for improvements to the company policies, etc. Follow-through with upper management and do your best to make those suggestions a reality!

4 Ways to Improve Your Hiring Processes in 2010

With the New Year, several questions come to mind about how we hire: “How can we hire better employees, keep our existing employees longer, and become a well-oiled machine?” It’s not an easy question to answer, but is one worth analysis and consideration. Taking these four steps toward improving the hiring and retention process will not only help your bottom line but will ensure a better workplace; one that is more stable and more efficient.

1. Review your staffing needs. As the economy has taken a nosedive, so have our number of employees due to layoffs and hiring freezes. Once there are gaps in our staff, the question needs to be asked: “Does that spot really need to be filled right now?” With many companies able to produce the same output with fewer employees, it is wise to review staffing needs and run as lean as possible. Once the economy begins to turn in an upward direction, relieving staff of some of the extra responsibilities they have been tasked with can then be considered.
2. Discover the joy of using a staffing service. With so many employees missing in our workplaces due to cut backs, layoffs, and hiring freezes, it is simply smart to find a good staffing company that can help you do the recruitment. Though many do not provide checking for resume falsification and usually do not perform employment screening, companies with years of experience generally have established recruitment processes and plans. They can help you evaluate your needs and come up with a customized recruitment plan. Whether for executive positions, clerical and admin jobs, engineering, or technical folks, staffing companies exist to help you recruit for precisely the right person.
3. When it comes time to checking someone’s background for resume falsification through the employment screening process, choose a company that has a proven track record. Nothing is more important than knowing that the people you plan to hire are qualified, so don’t take chances in this area. Employment screening firms like Accu-Screen provide services such as drug test results, criminal background checks, driving record information, degree verification and much more. Getting your report to you within 24-72 hours and guaranteeing accuracy is what makes them a cut above the rest.
4. Have a current training manual and process in place. It’s no help when the last time the training information was last updated 2 or 3 years ago (or even 12 months ago) so be sure it’s current. If it is outdated, you will be missing information, have outdated instructions, and the result will be an employee who will make errors out of ignorance. Ask the lead of each department to go over the training material for that department and update it as needed. Then, get every department within your organization all caught up and current. January is the perfect time to start the year off right.

Along with these 4 ways to improve your hiring processes, keep in mind that reputation is everything when it comes to finding good staffing agencies and employment screening firms. Respectively, from recruitment plans to checking for resume falsification, these two types of companies each offer their own unique and necessary services to help you hire right the very first time!

Nigerian Terror Suspect a Good Example of the Importance of Security in this Country

Though 23-year old Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab’s terrorist plot was foiled by brave airline passengers, the fact that he nearly carried out his deadly plan is the most distressing part of this story. Just when our government, our airlines and airports begin to think that they have a good anti-terrorism plan in place, something like this happens. From warning signs to red flags, officials from our government thought they would have been able to stop something like this before Umar ever boarded that plane on Christmas Day. Further, the fact that this type of terrorism can rear its ugly head at any moment is reason enough for every employer to perform criminal background searches on its employees.

The President spoke on the matter and commented in a CNN-reported story that the system that is supposed to work has blatantly failed us. He further stated that the bits and pieces of information were never shared that would have led to the suspect not being allowed to board the plane. He ordered an immediate investigation of the sequence of events that led to this gross breakdown in our country’s security. The main question that he will demand answers to is: “Why wasn’t the suspect’s visa revoked?”

Though a criminal background searches could not have prevented this foiled attack on one of our airlines, the question about homeland security closer to home is definitely worth looking into. For companies who hire employees in the aerospace sector, those that require handling of money and sensitive information, as well as government jobs, criminal background searches is essential.

Catching more than past work history, an employment background screening provides employers the data they need to make an accurate and informed hiring decision. That’s why companies like Accu-Screen are here. From providing drug screening test results, salary history and job title information to degree verification, checking DMV driving records and criminal past; Accu-Screen is a necessary part of the hiring process.

One of the main reasons for this latest terrorist attack being so difficult to accept is that our American citizens are traveling our airlines, employed by the airlines and staffed at the airports; we believe we are safe when we travel and come to work each day. We depend upon our government to do their jobs to see that terrorist risks are minimized and prevented. Though this particular attack exposed our government’s gaps in communication and procedures, it has definitely opened the eyes of our President and the American people. What once was a safe and secure feeling has now shaken us to our very core.

It will be interesting to see what the investigative team comes up with as far as places where they failed and what can be done to prevent this same sequence of failed events from happening again. Like our government’s security departments that will fully investigate this terrorist attempt, so does Accu-Screen fully investigate prospective employees for its clients. It’s their job to make your workplace safer, more efficient, and seeing to it that every employee is fully qualified…and they are simply the best at what they do!