HireRight, Inc. recently announced that it has successfully integrated its background check and drug screening capabilities with Taleo Business Edition Recruit. This will allow users of Taleo's program the ability to manage their background check and drug screening programs through a single, integrated interface and sign-on.
"As the provider of the original and most utilized pre-integrated screening solution for Taleo, we are excited about bringing the screening functionality and user experience that has been so popular with large employers to the small and medium-sized businesses taking advantage of Taleo Business Edition Recruit," said Rob Pickell, who is the president of marketing and product management at HireRight.
HireRight's addition to Taleo's prodcut includes an ordering feature that enables users to order a quality background check or drug test from their computer. The results are then made available on the program as soon as the test and check have been completed. By doing this, HireRight eliminated the necessity of entering data more than once, which significantly reduces the possibility of errors.
"Our small and midsize customers are accustomed to a high level of efficiency, intuitiveness and ease-of-use," said Jason Blessing, who is the group vice president and general manager of Taleo Business Edition's full line of products. "The HireRight pre-integrated solution supports our users' expectations for ease of use and gives them robust capabilities for managing an efficient and effective employment screening program from a single user interface."
This edition of Taleoss HR software is used predominately by small and mid-sized employers. HireRight's easily used interface helps to save time during the process of background checks. Many of these businesses do not employ an individual who handles only investigations into applicants past, so it is important that they be able to maximize the time spent on this responsibility.
Background checks(Click here) can save employers in all industries from many problems, but they are particularly important in certain lines of work. Employees that will be responsible for the well being of others have a larger chance of effecting the lives and health of others and, therefore, should always be subject to a pre-employment background check.
Because of similar reasoning, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California recently passed a bill that requires the state's 70,000 emergency medical technicians to be the subjects of mandatory criminal background checks. Last year he vetoed similar legislation after saying that he disapproved over changes that were made to the bill that made it possible to keep secret certain details about the misbehavior of these professionals.
The Assembly bill that Schwarzenegger has agreed to stands to bring the licensing and certification system in California up to date. In 2007 a variety of problems were discovered with the system during the Bee investigation.
"EMTs provide vital services that help Californians in their time of need, and because of the critical role they play, it is important to that we have a universal statewide standard that will prevent those who are unqualified or have a past criminal history of becoming EMTs," said Schwarzenegger in a statement put out by his office.
"By signing these bills into law, we are increasing safety and accountability within the emergency medical services field and ensuring that Californians have the best EMTs available at any given moment," he said.
The legislation, Assembly Bill 2917, which made the mandatory background checks possible, was originally introduced by Assemblyman Alberto Torrico. In addition to the background checks, the bill also makes it where EMTs have to be certified in the county that they will be working in and will create a statewide EMT registry.
This is expected to help to stop EMTs who have criminal records or negative employment histories from trying to obtain certification in different counties in hopes of finding a weak spot. The Bee investigation found that this problem had been occurring for some time.
The registry will make it possible to track EMTs throughout California. In order to pay for this, EMT fees will be raised. According to Torrico, the statewide system will make it possible to create a standards for certification, disciplinary orders and conditions of probation for EMTs that have gotten themselves into trouble.
In addition to this, EMT employers will now be able to check to see if an applicant has been subject to a background check already and if they have had past actions against either their certification or license.
With the economy being somewhat unstable, many businesses are suffering. As a result, employers are looking for a way to cut corners. Some seem the believe that, for the time being, they can get away without conducting background checks on new applicants. This can have horrible results!
Employers that do not conduct background checks stand to lose a lot of money in the event of a negligent hiring suit or a variety of other hiring mistakes. For example, according to the American Certified Fraud Examiners, the average amount that an organization with fewer than 100 employees loses per case of fraud is $190,000.
On top of this, law firm Reish & Luftman says that employers lose 60 percent of all negligent hiring/supervision jury trials. Businesses can avoid these legal costs by properly investigating their potential new hires.
Without conducting a background check an employer does not know if they can trust a new hire and rightfully so. According to Insurance & Technology, 30 percent of workers who launch an attack on the company have criminal records. By simply investigating an applicant, an employer can lower the level of risk to their organization.
Since workplace violence accounts for 18 percent of all violent crime, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, employers should consider protecting their office place from such. A good portion of individuals who commit such crimes have a history of violence, which would show up during a background check and give the employer advance notice before making a drastic hiring mistake.
Employers who think that dropping background checks is great way to save money should also realize that, according to a Right Management Survey, businesses that have to replace a bad hire usually spend as much as 3 times the salary of the job in question to correct their mistake.
Budgets may have to be adjusted to make background checks possible, but companies should never cut corners when it comes to safety and making good hiring decisions. Remember, a business is only worth as much as the individuals working for it.
Background checks(Click here) are not only to protect employers from making bad hiring decisions. In many cases such investigations help to keep safe all that come in contact with an employee, which is why they are particularly important in educational setting. If school administrators neglect to or are unable to conduct a thorough background check, students are potentially at risk.
According to Newark City Schools Personnel Director Cara Riddel, state law is now requiring that many certificated employees submit their fingerprints to both the BCI&I and the FBI by Friday.
She went on to say that approximately 80 percent of teachers and administrators already did so in March. This year there is a greater number of teachers and administrators having to submit to background checks due the fact the addition of investigations on educators with permanent or eight-year licenses has been added to the normal five-year license checks.
Despite the backlog, Jennifer Brindisi, a spokesperson for the BCI&I, says that the agency should be able to process the remainder without to much more of a delay.
Brindisi says that the BCI&I is all but caught up. "We're working as efficiently as we can," she said.
The bureau is able to process around 20,000 background checks a day, however this figure is subject to the complexity of the investigation in question and the offenses discovered. The increase in the number of checks required has caused the bureau to take as long as 30 days to process some of the fingerprints submitted.
"It's not as quick as what people hoped," said Brindisi.
For the most part, the delay is not expected to effect the school districts to any large degree. If an investigation does yield proof that one of the individuals who submitted their fingerprints is not suited to be around students due to a criminal past, things could get complicated.
Many individuals with something to hide often work at smaller businesses. The reason for this is simple; due to limited budgets, smaller employers are often more lenient in conducting pre-employment background checks.
These individuals often cost their employers a good deal of money through theft, drug related accidents and harassment or negligent hiring suits. Because of this, employers may think they are saving money by not investigating applicants, but in reality they stand to lose more than most firms charge to conduct an investigation.
Instead of neglecting background checks altogether, smaller employers should consider either conducting the investigation themselves or scaling down the process to fit their budget. Several options exist to make sure that the business is protected without having to pay huge fees.
Websites now exist that enable an employer to conduct a background check themselves. Depending on the site, the manner of payment may be different but options exist that offer monthly flat rates or pay as you go prices. The second of these two choices give employers that do limiting hiring the ability to only access the site, an therefore pay for its use, when absolutely necessary.
Another thing that small businesses should never forget to do is alert applicants that they may be the subject of a background check. Even employers who do not have room in their budget for such an investigation should have job seekers sign a consent form.
In many cases, those who are hiding particularly dark pasts will be discourage from seeking employment from the company due to fear of a background check. These forms can also be written to give an employer the write to conduct the investigation at a later date after funding is no longer an issue.
Background Checks Save Money and Make Work Safer for Everyone
Chances are if you've applied for several jobs in the last few years, you've had to sign a consent form in order to give your potential employer the right to conduct a background check on you. Maybe you've wondered why businesses are doing this more often than not now. Well, it's not that HR managers are just nosey. There are many reasons why investigating would-be employees is becoming popular. CheckPoint HR recently released the top reasons their clients are conducting more background checks now then ever before.
The most popular reason is that verifying the accuracy of the information and candidate provides increases the quality of new hires. The reasoning behind this is the fact that over 40 percent of applicants are dishonest on there resumes. According to CheckPoint's recent press release, common fallacies can be anything from accidental inaccuracies such as putting down the wrong dates to applicants lying about skills they don't have or fabricating their education and work experience.
Another reason employers are becoming reliant on background checks to make the final hiring decision is to cut down on theft and violence in the workplace. By finding out a potential employee's criminal history, employers have found that they can often avoid hiring those who have a history of hurting others or stealing from work. This can save money and avoid lawsuits.
Staying out of court also made the list. Many times, offices that neglect to do background checks find themselves accidentally hiring an unsavory character with a violent or negligent past. When these individuals cause harm to another, whether accidentally or on purpose, the company is often held liable. By investigating potential employees, companies have found that they can save themselves a lot of money on legal fees.
Looking into an applicants work history has also been found to reduce turnover and disciplinary problems. Employers often investigate this element of a candidate's resume to avoid hiring individuals who are known to quit soon after getting their first pay check. Since offices lose money every time a new hire resigns within the first six months, retention is a big concern for HR managers.
All of these reasons add up to two underlying reasons, employers who conduct background checks save money in the long run and create a safer office place for other workers.
"By hiring a new employee, you are entrusting them with your company and your clients. Therefore it's your corporate responsibility to ensure a safe work environment and protect your company’s assets," said Michelle Moylan, who is CheckPoint HR's HR specialist.
Most potential employers today require background check reviews. This was a practice prior to 9/11, but it has become even more widely accepted since then. As the need for conducting background checks has increased, there have been many agencies established for the sole purpose of conducting these background investigations.
Companies which specialize in employment background checks are governed by the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act. This organization defines what can be investigated and what cannot be investigated in an individual’s background. Some companies choose to use private investigators for background checks.
However, technology changes the way we do business every day and it is changing the way some businesses conduct background checks. Companies have more information available to them via the Internet today than ever before. They are able to collect information without going through agencies or private investigators. Employers can actually access public records and commercial databases to gather information. The concern with accessing an online service is that it may not be carefully regulated by the federal laws.
Regardless of the method used for employment background checks, it is your responsibility to make sure that your background information is accurate. You can actually conduct your own self-evaluation on your background annually to determine if there is any erroneous information. If there is, make sure to take steps to correct it as expeditiously as possible.
Remember, when it comes to conducting background checks, no system is flawless. Computers don’t make mistakes, but people who enter data do! Make sure your information is accurate.
Recently a bill was introduced by Rep. Sam Johnson to make it possible for employers to conduct employment verification to check the legal status of their workers using a new electronic system using expanded state databases. The proposed New Employee Verification Act seeks to replace the Homeland Security Department's current E-Verify system, which began 10 years ago as a voluntary pilot program.
With the E-Verify system employers check potential new employees against the databases of the Social Security Administration and Homeland Security. According to critics, this system has serious errors that could potentially result in discrimination against millions of people if the system was made mandatory instead of voluntary. Because of this, Illinois adopted a law last year that prohibited use of the E-Verify system.
The new Electronic Employment Verification System, which is supported by the Human Resource Initiative for a Legal Workforce coalition, would be created based on databases operated in each state. The data received from individual state's would be matched with data in the Social Security database, for citizens, and in the Homeland Security databases, for non-citizens. This bill would allow biometrics to be added voluntarily.
In a recent news release Johnson said, "a voluntary system would be created using the latest technology to authenticate and protect a worker's identity." He went on to say that "private-sector companies, certified by the federal government, would first verify work authorization in the Electronic Employment Verification System, but would also authenticate the identity of employees by utilizing existing background check and document screening tools. The identity would then be secured through a biometric identifier, such as a fingerprint or eye scan."
In order to avoid many workplace problem a large portion of employers are now conduction background checks applicants. Although this may lower the likelihood of negligent hiring suits and other such issues, many would-be employees are made nervous by the idea of undergoing a background check. One of the biggest concerns is that information that is inaccurate will be placed in the hands of an employer and influence recruiting decisions.
In order to avoid missing a job opportunity due to such an accident, many sources consider it a good idea to perform a background check on one's self. Doing so will give one ample time to correct any errors before a potential employer has a chance see them. Although it is possible to hire professionals to handle this process, anyone can access most of their own information, therefore making it unnecessary unless the applicant in question has a specific concern.
For starters, one can obtain a copy of their criminal record, often from the local court house or office of public records. The cost of a copy of this is relatively cheap and much less expensive than having a hiring manager decide against extending a job offer. Viewing a copy of one's criminal record is extremely important for anyone who has ever had a run in with the law, no matter how small. In most cases, an employer is unable to see charges that are older than seven years.
Since many employers now include credit reports in their pre-employment background checks, it is important to get a copy of these documents. As long as one has not done this previously in the year, getting a copy of one's credit report is free. Remember to get a statement from the three credit reporting agencies in the country; Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. In some circumstances the information will differ due to the fact that some organizations only give their information to one of these. Therefore, one’s credit score could be solid with Equifax but not so with Trans Union. Since there is no telling which will be used in a pre-employment background check, it's better to be aware of all the information out there.
For those who are applying for jobs that will involve driving a company vehicle, getting a copy of their driving records from the DMV is necessary. This can also be used to verify one's official address.
Although conducting one's own background check may take some time and a little driving around town, it's worth it. With employer's becoming more cautious in their hiring decisions and identity theft causing credit problems for many unsuspecting individuals, the old cliche has never been more true: Better safe than sorry - and jobless.
The essence of human resources and those professionals working towards the success of any business in an organizational setting is based in sound hiring practices, and the hiring of legal, and qualified candidates that will further the overall goal of a company’s success. This is something everyone agrees. Yet, because most are working with tired and worn out means of tracking the mound of paperwork on new and potential hires, many fail to do the all important pre-employment background screening which is essential to ensuring that the new hire is problem free once on the job.
First things first, due to new demands on employers, a solid applicant tracking system is necessary to success. Second, proper screening is essential to maintain legal status of all working in your organization. With the United States federal government now intent on not hiring those unfit (legally) to hold a position of employment, seem to be constantly slipping thru the organizational cracks and obtaining jobs despite everyone’s best effort.
This situation has now become a matter of federal law and can cause a company or organizational millions of dollars defending themselves in a court of law for failure to prevent illegal immigrant employment in their respective company. Therefore, it is highly advisable your organization adopt some solid policies in respect to background checks. Not only must you be FCRA compliant, drug-free, and in a perfect world criminal-element free, it is a matter of safety that no one psychologically unfit for working with others gets hired.
There are more reasons than just these listed to institute such policies and they can be seen in newspapers around the globe. Our world has grown increasingly dangerous and many people rely on their employers to ensure their safety on the job. This safety begins with background checks and screening so that those unfit can be weeded out before they are hired. After all, it is much easier to rid your company of an unsavory or unfit character before they are hired. Once hired, other situations and requirements by law make it difficult to fire them for any practical reason.
You will be required to show cause and perhaps even defend such cause in a court of law if the former employee challenges the firing. Of course as a human resource professional, you know the situation rather well and are suggesting such policies be instituted as a matter of professional policy for everyone. There are a number of good companies online with accurate and up-to-date databases for you to acquire the information you need to make a sound hiring decision. Be sure to use the pre-employment background screening and employment background checks, initially or you may suffer the consequences afterwards for failing to conduct this all-important screening.
More businesses are now running background checks on potential employees than ever before. This in part has to do with the numerous companies that make it easier for the information to be obtained. Some states, such as Tennessee, actually sell this information to the public through their Bureau of Investigations.
Despite the fact that most individuals will have to submit to some sort of background check in their lifetime, many people do not know what can legally be included and what may not be reported to potential employers.
A background checkduring the process of a job search may be as simple as verifying the social security or tax payer identification number given. Many more include some form of criminal records search or a questioning of personal references. Still almost anything that can be found in public records could show up on a background check.
Legally any of the following information may be included; driving records, vehicle registrations, credit records, criminal records, one's social security number, records pertaining to one's education, court records, workers' compensation, records of bankruptcy, character references, medical records, property records, military records, state licensing records, drug test records, a record of past employers, personal references, records of incarceration, and whether or not an individual is a registered sex offender. In some cases, one's neighbors may even be interviewed.
The list of what can effect one's ability to secure employment may seem daunting, but there are laws regarding how a company may use such information to protect those who are applying for a job. These rules differ from state to state, so it is important for any concerned party to find out how their area handles such matters.
In some states, such as California, it is illegal for employers to try to obtain arrest records unless the arrest resulted in a conviction. In regards to workers' compensation, most states have made it legal for an employer to use this information only if the injury in question will interfere with one's ability to complete their required duties. Also, although employers maybe able to see that a potential employee has filed for bankruptcy, it is illegal for a company to discriminate against an individual who has.
As mentioned before, many states have variations on privacy laws and what may be reported in a background check. Still it is important to know how the information that may show up can effect one's ability to find employment.
The Purpose & Process of Employment Background Checks
Background checks are almost always performed during serious consideration of a prospective employee, prior to an official offer of employment. There are numerous purposes for a background check. They are done to protect the company and minimize risk. In order to be legally compliant on both sides, background checks ensure a company's protection from lawsuits due to negligent hiring.
The human resource management is concerned with evaluating the potential of increasing or decreasing the company's productivity and profitability. The results of the specific background check chosen to perform (personal, business, academic, criminal, drug, etc.) can give them the general idea of a potential employee's history, although background checks only reveal information when an individual has been caught.
Provided personal or business references may be contacted through telephone or mail to inquire about a potential employee's character and/or reliability. The questions might be along the lines of, 'how long have you known this person, from where, and in what capacity'? They might ask references to tell them about a candidate's specific skills for job competency.
Drug screens are essential because of liability and job performance. They are paid for by the company and usually done through urine. An academic background check is performed specifically to reveal any falsified educational credentials.
A social security number is one of the biggest keys for unlocking information in a background check. Sometimes they may even go as far as to look into the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) compliance checks, sexual offenders registry, global watch alert, or motor vehicle records. As the saying goes, "It is better to be safe than sorry."
Online Background Checks: Coming Clean About Candidates
Of the online recruitment vendors with a national or international focus, no one does online background checks more extensively than InfoLink Screening Services Inc. It may well be that for most of your open positions the full array of InfoLink background services won’t be needed, but it’s assuring that the firm can provide all that you need in the way of candidate verification.
Its basic search - probably all that most employers would need for non-management positions - include three online background check services. They are a report of criminal history, a motor vehicle report, and a verification of social security information.
As part of the criminal history report, InfoLink searches area court records, both Municipal and Superior. Any additional locales in which the applicant resided could be searched as well as the present county of residence. A U.S. or Canadian employer could be provided a national search as well. Conviction of felonies and misdemeanors would be included in InfoLink’s report to the recruiting manager. While many aspects of the InfoLink background check are online, the vendor does not rely solely on the Web, as some online information can be 90 days out of date.
InfoLink excels in thorough online background checks thanks to its stringent policies on motor vehicle and driving record searches. While some firms only check DMV when job tasks require the employee to drive the company car, InfoLink believes driving records reveal important information no matter what the job might entail. Driving records, for instance, tell about suspended licenses, arrest warrants and failure to appear in court. DUI convictions unearth drug or alcohol abuse, as well.
An absolutely crucial part of the InfoLink online background check service is a verification of social security number and information. Its First Alert product lets the hiring manager know immediately that the social security number is valid, or suggests that it might not be so. The InfoLink social security trace package provides a more extensive glance into the social security information provided by the job candidate.
Once the social security number is determined valid, the state in which it was issued, and the year, will be displayed. The employer will also be able to see if the number has been used in a death claim already filed, or if there has been any fraudulent activity associated with the number. If the owner of the social security number has any AKA’s (“also known as,” as in aliases) they will be noted. The hiring manager will also see up to three addresses prior to the candidate’s current one. Not only will this aid the recruiter in verifying dates and places of employment, particularly via Internet recruiting – as well as gaps in work history – but it will also provide the geographic areas to be included in the local criminal history search.
Additional online background check services by InfoLink include employment verification, search of state sexual offender registries, state and national incarceration records, credit history, a report on judgments and liens, verification of military service and professional certifications, and a history of workers’ compensation claims.
Online background checks by InfoLink leave nothing to chance in the recruiting and hiring process.
