Pre Employment Screening Articles

Those of you that already have webzines or those that have started one and not continued, know first hand that while it sounds great to publish a webzine it takes a lot of time to do it on an on-going basis particularly keeping up with constantly finding content. Fortunately, there is more than one way to skin a cat (it is just an old saying, animal rights activist please don’t start a campaign against me.)

Here are two alternative approaches to helping you achieve your goal of establishing credibility, staying in touch with your prospects, and capturing your Web site visitors.

The “Pre-Packaged” Newsletter

If you don’t foresee yourself being able to write fresh new content every week or month that you publish or know you simply will not have time to dedicate to this then there is another way – the Pre-Packaged newsletter.

While this method will not fit all newsletter styles, particularly those that need to be time sensitive it can be a godsend for many of you. Simply put, this approach means that all your content and articles are written ahead of time. This allows you to set aside a designated time period to collect articles and stockpile them. Once you have a sufficient number of them collected you set up your messages on an autoresponder and set it for when you want your information to go out. (For example, if you want the frequency to be monthly then it would be day 1/month 1, day 1/month 2, etc. — each subscriber would get a message every month.) Note the way this works is that each new subscriber starts with your first ezine. For example, if your frequency of publication is monthly, they would start with - day1/month 1 - and then will get their editions each month.

You have probably signed up for one of these ‘pre-packaged’ newsletter and didn’t realize how it works because all you knew is that each week or month the information shows up. Well now you have the inside secret so you can make it work for your business as well.

The Email Mini- Series

Have you ever signed up to receive a series of ‘tips’ or ‘articles’ online. Chances, are that you signed up for an ‘Email Mini-Serie.’ It is a great marketing tool and really easy to set up. Here is how do it.

First, you either write or source content that you will be able to spread out over a specified amount of time. For example, you could write an article on ‘The Top Ten Reasons Why It is Important for Businesses to do Background Checks’ or you could write ten one paragraph or one page articles on each one of the ten reasons. Either way you end up with ten segments. You then set up each ‘reason’ on your autoresponder to go out at a specified time period, e.g., weekly and bingo your subscribers will get reason #1 starting week 1, reason #2 week 2, etc.

For both of the above approaches keep in mind that the quality of your content is crucial to the success of the marketing campaign. If you provide high quality information that is of value to your audience they will look forward to receiving the next installment of information. This allows you to reinforce your marketing message and start building a relationship with them which ultimately is the reason you created the campaign. Don’t waste your valuable time and money by providing poor or outdated information. It will defeat the whole purpose and lose you potential clients.

The final step is to write a sales message that you will add on to your series as the 11th message. This is when you ask for the order or tell them what it is you want them to do. Since you have now engaged them ten times with valuable content they are familiar with your firm, have started recognizing your expertise and are much more open to considering your product or service offerings.

We recommend at this point you reel them in with a free offering, e.g., one free background check to experience our ‘Knock Your Socks Off Customer Service’ or offer an exclusive discount for having subscribed to the series. You would be amazed how effective offering ‘exclusivity’ works. It makes people feel special.

Put your messages into an autoresponder series, set the timing to what you want (e.g. every week or every month) and you are ready to reap the benefits.

Just in case you are not familiar with autoresponders they are actually called e-mail autoresponders. You could think of it as a fax-on-demand system that sends out e-mails automatically when others request them. You preset the autoresponders with the timing of a series ahead of time and then like clockwork they go out to your subscribers.

If you are interested in creating either a ‘pre-packaged’ webzine or a mini email series we can help you with the content and set it up for you. Call me, Barry Nixon 949-770-5264 or email me at wbnixon@aol.com for more information.

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

Employers Now Required by Law to Verify That Each Employee Able to Work in the US

With the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 requiring that employers must check the employment eligibility status of all newly hired employees, employers are now being targeted to increase their responsible hiring practices to avoid hiring illegal workers. Failing to do so can result in employers being fined anywhere from $100 to $10,000, or a six month prison sentence.

With employers wishing to keep costs down, and make the checking of their new hire’s legal status as easy as possible, the Department of Homeland Security among other groups has developed the I-9 Employment Verification System. This system allows employers to check their applicants work eligibility status instantly, without spending an excessive amount of time and money in the process.

The I-9 Employment Verification System is able to verify the accuracy of Social Security numbers, I-94 numbers, and Immigration “A” numbers, and gives each employer a designated DHS issued verification number that they can keep on file as proof that they have shown compliance with the immigration law. This gives the employer piece of mind that they are hiring people who are legally able to work in the US, as well as ensuring the safety of the future of their business.

Info Cubic is proud to be at the forefront of the employment screening industry by being one of the first companies to offer I9 Verification services to its clients. Info Cubic has been a leading provider of employment screening services and has made being a one stop shop for employment screening needs the cornerstone of its business philosophy.

If you wish to learn more about the I-9 system in general, contact Geoffrey Jensen or Justin Den at 877-360-4636 or click here for details.

A Valley family says they paid to get their carpet cleaned, but when they found out who was doing the cleaning they were shocked.

A lot of folks feel more comfortable if they do business with a big-name company.

In this particular case, the big name I’m talking about is Sears. I mean who hasn’t heard of Sears?

And that’s exactly why Eric Hepner hired Sears to clean his carpet.

“It makes me very angry, all we wanted were our carpets clean,” Hepner said.

Hepner says his family got a lot more than they bargained for when they hired Sears carpet cleaning to come and service his home.

“We went with Sears because of the name and it’s a good product,” he said.

But what started out to be a routine cleaning and upholstery treatment for around $600 turned into much more when one of the technicians allegedly stole some checks from Hepner’s house.

“It was a technician who was here scheduled that day, Christopher Smallwood,” Hepner said. “He made the checks out to himself.”

Surveillance pictures obtained by 3 On Your Side show Smallwood at the bank, cashing those stolen checks he reportedly made out to himself.

According to a Gilbert police report, Smallwood admitted to his boss that he stole the checks.

But there’s more. It turns out that Smallwood has a past.

He was actually in prison where he served 15 years for second-degree murder and burglary and was just recently released.

Hepner is angry and wants to know why a company as big as Sears is hiring convicted felons like Smallwood and letting them into people’s homes.

“You’d think that Sears would have some protocol procedure in place to prevent this maybe from happening or maybe second thoughts hiring an individual like this,” Hepner said.

- On Your Side has learned that Sears sells its carpet-cleaning business as a franchise and franchises are responsible for running background checks on their employees.

- On Your Side asked the Sears franchise that Hepner hired if they knew about Smallwood’s past, but they wanted nothing to do with us.

- On Your Side pressed for answers, but all we got from an employee was a telephone number to Sears’ corporate headquarters.

We contacted Sears corporate and in turn, they wrote 3 On Your Side a statement saying, “Safety is a priority for Sears and we are currently investigating the incident.”

Additionally, they say, “Under our franchise agreements, the franchise is required to conduct a background check for each employee.”

If that’s true, then how was Smallwood hired.

For Hepner and his family, their bank reimbursed them for the forged checks, but he is still upset that Sears put his family in this situataion.

“Just step up,” Hepner said. “Have some accountability here and say, ‘Yeah we messed up.’”

Police don’t know where Smallwood is, but they’d like to talk to him.

And as for Sears corporate, they reiterated to 3 On Your Side that they are very troubled by what happened.

By Bart Treece / 3 On Your Side Producer

Written by Editor Choice

A California background check is carried out by an employer for a number of reasons, though the major reason is probably the increase in the number of negligent hiring lawsuits being brought before the courts. However, employee screening in California has specific restrictions that all employers should be aware of.

If an employee harms anybody in some way as result of their employment, and it can be shown that the employer could reasonably have been expected to have foreseen the problem, then the employer can be held legally responsible for the act that caused the harm.

Examples of such harm are assault in the workplace by someone with a history of violent conduct, injury through negligence or poor training by somebody that falsified their resumes to lead an employer to believe that they were suitably qualified for a job, and even injury to shareholders of a company brought to its knees due to the unacceptable decisions or actions of an improperly qualified accountant.

The employment of an accountant with a previous conviction for embezzlement and a poor employment history, that was not picked up through employee screening, could amount to negligent hiring should the company subsequently fail due to embezzlement of company funds and poor accountancy standards.

The increased exposure of terrorism and child abductions and abuse has also prompted employers to carry out suitable background screening of potential employees. It has also been shown that up to 40% of all job applications, resumes and CVs are falsified or contain some element of false information, or downright lies. It is to the employers benefit to carry out background checks on all job applicants that have reached the short list.

It would not be economical to screen all job applicants, but it is certainly justifiable to do so with those from whom the final selection will be made. Moreover, California state law requires a background check to be carried out before employing somebody or work involving the disabled, children, or the elderly.

There are a number of records that may be searched by employers in California. Among these are criminal and court records, education records, certain medical records and workers’ compensation claims. Credit records can be checked, as can residential records and even neighbor interviews can be carried out. This is by no means a comprehensive list, and there are many other personal records that employers can have access to, with and without your permission.

California applicants do have some privacy, however, and there are some records that cannot be included in your screening. California’s Investigative Consumer Reporting Agencies Act and the California Credit Reporting Agency Act place specific controls on employers and their agents in making personal checks.

After seven years, civil judgments, lawsuits and convictions, accounts placed for collection and any other negative personal information can not be reported to employers. In California, arrest records cannot be accessed at all unless these resulted in a conviction, or the applicant is awaiting trial. Rap sheets created by law enforcement agencies are not accessible unless the applicant has applied for a job in child care, or n law enforcement, security or public utilities departments.

Also in California, an employer can ask questions about job-related convictions, but not on convictions in general. Potential employers in California should be aware of the requirements of the state Acts which, though they cannot counteract the federal requirements, can add to them and restrict the records that a potential employer is allowed to collect about job applicants. Much of this starts with the job application itself.

In general terms, a Californian job application cannot ask for your date of birth, sex or race, nor about your maiden name and any other personal record that is not relevant to the job being offered. It can however ask questions to determine if you are legally able to work, and can only carry out health screening of the disabled to ensure that they are able to carry out the job on offer.

A California background check must be carried out by an investigator who is well aware of California’s state legislation regarding what can and what cannot be investigated. California law offers more protection to the job applicant than straight federal law, and employee screening in California is a specialized job.

Advanced Research arsbackgrounds.com is made up of a team of experts in HR, Risk Management and Legal Investigations. We provide a free consultation to assist you in mitigating your potential hiring risks.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

LAKELAND - YMCA’s across the state are taking a much closer look at who they hire after what happened in Polk County last month.

A former camp counselor at the Central Florida YMCA in Lakeland was charged with killing a 15-year-old neighborhood girl at his house.

Now, YMCA’s are doing more extensive criminal background checks. But, experts say it’s impossible to check out a potential employee completely because mental health issues are confidential.

Detectives say Mark Kuzara gave invited Stacy Glowe and another teen over to his house, gave them alcohol, and then stabbed Glowe.

Kuzara had served time in prison, but the Y didn’t know that. It used the same procedures as many other organizations.

It ordered three criminal background checks, one local, one state, and one federal. After the local one came back clean, the Y hired him. His criminal background would have shown up on the other checks.

Since then, the Y waits for all backgrounds checks to come back before they hire anyone.

But there’s still a gap. An employer cannot check someone’s mental health background.

“A provider of mental health services can not tell anyone if an individual has been, or has not been served. They can not disclose anything that is super confidentiality,” said Margaret Parry of the Peace River Center.

The Peace River Center, based in Bartow, provides comprehensive mental health services.

Parry says the incidence of violence with in the mentally ill population is lower than in the population at large.

Hiring anyone involves some risk. Even with the most extensive investigation, employers have to be aware of red flags.

“You ought to use your common sense,” said Jerry Hill, State Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit.

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

Hamilton County will soon conduct daily criminal background checks on anyone certified to run a home day care in the county.
The checks will also be done on anyone who lives in the home.

If someone is arrested, the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family services will decide whether to yank the provider’s certification.

©2007 The E.W. Scripps Co. All rights reserved.

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

Stabbing suspect employed after 2001 arrest

By Laura Snider

University of Colorado officials said they will begin doing background checks on all new employees after a former campus cashier — who was hired despite a criminally violent history — was accused of cutting a freshman’s neck Monday.

The university did not do a background check on Kenton Drew Astin, who was sent to a state mental hospital after he was accused of attempting to stab a 21-year-old Longmont man in 2001.

STORY TOOLS
E-mail story
Comments
iPod friendly
Printer friendly
More CU News
Father of stabbed CU student: ‘You think the worst and pray for the best’
Extensive employee checks pondered at CU
Stabbing intensifies CU parents’ worries
Share and Enjoy [?]

Share your video, photos and news tips.

That policy will be changed immediately so that background checks are required for all new employees, CU Chancellor G.P. “Bud” Peterson said Monday. University officials have not decided whether to conduct checks on the more than 7,000 employees already working at CU.

Astin worked as a cashier at the Alferd Packer Grill in the University Memorial Center from Oct. 10 until April 10, and his term of employment was “uneventful,” according to Peterson.

Astin’s six-month temporary employment in the food court was arranged through a partnership between the university and the Chinook Clubhouse, a social and vocational rehabilitation service for mentally ill adults run by the Boulder County Mental Health Center.

“Work is like medicine to these people,” JoAnn Dorio, the clubhouse’s vocational director, told the Camera last summer. “It makes them feel valued by playing an important role in society.”

Seven current CU employees who were also referred by the Chinook Clubhouse have been temporarily suspended with pay pending background checks, Peterson said. CU has worked with the program for 17 years without incident.

Court records show that Astin, now 39, was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault and felony possession of narcotics, all stemming from the 2001 incident.

According to Camera archives, Astin, who was a 33-year-old transient at the time, told police that he took a knife out of his bag and tried to stab a man in a Salvation Army store because he didn’t like the way the man looked. The man, 21-year-old Dylan Trembley, was barefoot, had both of his ears pierced and had a tattoo on his right leg. The two men had never met before.

Trembley escaped with cuts on his right hand and the back of one of his ankles.

Astin, who had previously been treated for schizophrenia, was sent to the Colorado Mental Health Institute in Pueblo for rehabilitation. The average length of stay for patients in the hospital’s Institute for Forensic Psychiatry — the program that treats patients ordered to the hospital by the criminal justice system — is five to seven years, according to Eunice Wolther, public information officer for the mental health institute.

Patients must work their way through four stages of therapy before they can be released, and even then, they begin with a conditional release in which their case is followed by a therapist.

“It all depends on the individual person,” Wolther said. “How sick they were when they came in, how the therapies are working and how the drug intervention is working.”

Astin was released from the hospital 2 1/2 years ago into the care of Boulder County Mental Health Center. The Chinook Clubhouse worked with Astin for two years before recommending him for hire at the university, according to Chancellor Peterson.

Most recently, Astin was employed at a courier service in Denver, but the service told 7NEWS that Astin quit his job Friday, saying he was going on to “bigger and better things.”

Astin’s criminal history in Colorado includes three previous arrests for trespassing, larceny and failure to appear in court, according to the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. The bureau also reports that he has several aliases, including “Dylan Klebold” — the name of one of two gunmen who killed 12 fellow students and a teacher at Columbine High School in 1999.

Astin lived in a house on 19th Street near Baseline Road in Boulder that is owned by the Mental Health Center of Boulder County.

Astin’s roommate Peter Boger, 59, told 7NEWS that Astin was a good roommate and always paid his bills on time.

“He’s never made any threats to me and never threatened anybody that I know of,” he said. “As far as I know, he was getting plenty of treatment.”

Still, 7NEWS reported that Boger said Astin had burned an upside-down cross on the wall using lit cigarettes and that the words “GAS: 666″ and “RODENTS” were scribbled across music sheets in Astin’s room.

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

Boeing adapts its streamlined production ideas to its formerly complicated hiring process.

By Michelle Dunlop
Herald Writer

SEATTLE - It’s easier than ever to get a job at the Boeing Co.

Boeing has simplified its formerly cumbersome application and screening process that potential employees had to endure to get a job building Boeing jets in Everett or Renton. The streamlined process benefits both Boeing and would-be workers.

Borrowing some of the “lean” principles the company uses on the assembly floor, Boeing began boiling down its hiring practices more than a year ago as plane production started to ramp up.

“What we really wanted to do was apply the lean manufacturing principles to this process,” said Rich Hartnett, who oversees hiring for Boeing.

As a result, Boeing has shaved off as much as a few weeks from the pre-employment process. More importantly for the company, Boeing has developed a steady flow of new employees onto the production floor, ensuring the company will meet its commitments to customers.

Last year, Boeing exhausted its pool of people whom the company had previously laid off. To keep Boeing’s production floor filled, the company needed to ramp up its hiring. However, unlike previous Boeing booms, the company sought to level out its erratic practices in hopes of avoiding mass layoffs when the current commercial jet order cycle cools.

In the 1990s, Boeing tried to speed up production with disastrous results. This time around, executives stress they won’t approve increases unless the production ramp-up can be done prudently.

That means Boeing needs to have the right amount of new production people on the floor each week to provide adequate on-the-job training. So Hartnett and his team have approached the hiring process much like Boeing approaches its plane production.

Each week, the staffing group gets an update of how many new employees they need to have hired in 60 days — the average amount of time it takes a potential employee to complete the screening and training required to work on Boeing’s commercial jets. They’ve consolidated into one building much of the staff involved in hiring assembly electricians, assembly mechanics and manufacturing technicians.

In the past, people looking to fill those positions were shuffled from building to building and from site to site, costing both Boeing and the candidate time. Boeing now operates a one-stop shop for job-seekers out of its employment center near Boeing Field in Seattle. The company also works with the state out of the Employment Resource Center in Everett, where 787 Dreamliner employees are hired.

Inside the hiring center in Seattle, job candidates take a three-hour assessment. Successful job-seekers work with Hartnett’s staff to complete an online application and are given a date to start training before they leave the building. Previously, candidates filled out the paperwork at home, leading to training delays.

“It was unpredictable,” Hartnett said.

Boeing also finishes its drug and background checks on hourly employees before they begin their two- to four-week training. In the past, a person could get through this unpaid training only to find out he or she failed the background check.

The changes in Boeing’s hiring process also reflect an awareness by the company of the work force in the Puget Sound region, said Cindy Wall, spokeswoman with Boeing.

“Boeing’s no longer the only game in town,” she said. “We have to compete.”

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company

By Scott Cannon

Business Journals around the country are running an article titled “Avoiding litigation that will keep you awake at night.” You can read the whole article here in the South Florida Business Journal if you have a business journal subscription. In case you don’t here are some key points:

If there’s a bully working for you, you can’t sit by and let him or her run roughshod over others. You need to confront the employee, point out the bad behavior and the consequences if it continues. Then deliver the consequences if behavior doesn’t change.
The article covers several issues like abuses of leave, where the lesson is essentially the same. When you’re confronted with bad behavior, you have to deal with it. It’s your job as the boss.

What about preventing bad behavior? The article offers two clear pieces of advice. Here’s one: “Conducting a thorough background check on new hires can save a lot of hassle in the long run.” If you’ve got an applicant who is likely to create problems for you, an effective hiring process, including a background check, can help you avoid a hiring mistake.
The other bit of advice is to make your expectations clear. The people who work for you need to know what your policies are. They need to know what you expect and what you forbid.
Tell new people when they’re hired. Review key policies with everyone regularly.
Take away these three rules to help you avoid lawsuits.
Hire carefully and well, using reference and background checks.
Tell people who work for you what to expect and what the consequences are for bad behavior.
Confront problems early. Define what will happen if bad behavior continues.

Kirstin Cole
Reporting

(CBS) NEW YORK Your child’s soccer coach, your landscaper, the handyman? Do you know who these people are?

“There are essentially unhealthy people out there, predators that come into our lives looking like and acting like they’re just good natured people,” said security expert, Robert Siciliano. So to be sure you know who you’re dealing with, take your own precautions.

“People are realizing their personal security and they’re becoming much more responsible by getting background checks done,” said Siciliano.

For years, major companies have used background checks to look into prospective employees. But these days, business from the general public is booming at services like my-background-check-dot-com where you need only a few bits of information to research somebody without their knowledge.

“Five years ago, we would maybe do ten or twenty background checks a month. Now, we easily do hundreds of thousands of personal background checks a year,” said Robert Mather with www.mybackgroundcheck.com. Ted Stone used a service when looking for a nanny for his infant son.

“For the amount of time it’s going to take you, it’s well worth the feeling you’re going to have afterwards,” explained Stone.

The peace of mind cost Ted about $20 and reports can run up to about a $100. It all depends on the scope of information you’re looking for.

“You might want to verify if they graduated from college; you definitely want to do a court record check. If they’re going to be driving your children, you want to check their motor vehicle record,” said Jason Morris with the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. You can also ask for a sex offender search or confirm a social security number.

But if you check into someone who will be working for you, you must, by law, get written permission first. “I expect it. How can they really trust someone that’s walking into their house without seeing their complete background?” questioned Amber Moreau, Ted Stone’s nanny. And you also might want to screen the screener.

“A big analogy that people use is, ‘who’s guarding the guards?’ so, you want to make sure that the background screening company you’re using is a good screening company and that they give you good information,” said Morris.

Because some companies strictly rely on database searches, which may not always be 100 percent accurate, ask for the details to be confirmed. “When they talk about criminal records research, you want to make sure that they’re going to the courthouse, they’re going to the source of information to find out if the person does or does not have a record,” said Morris.

And as you send you kids back to school next week, know that under state law, it is your right, to check out a teacher’s, even a coach’s background, including disciplinary actions, salaries, education, and attendance records. This does not apply to private schools.

In N.Y. you must contact the Records Access Officer in your school district for a copy of your teacher/coach’s record. To inspect the record, there is no charge. For a copy, up to 25 cents per page may be required but an e-mail copy is free.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Powered by Info Cubic - a pre employment screening company