Dodging a bullet
Lots of organizations begin an aggressive or comprehensive background check program because of something that happens to them. A violent attack or a charge of sexual misconduct or theft against an employee provides a wake-up call and the organization starts or improves a program of background checks.
The case at the University of Colorado is different. They’re going to start checking the background on all employees because of something that didn’t happen.
An editorial in the Canon City Daily Record titled, “Universities need to look into background for all employees” tells the story. Here’s a summary.
Kenton Drew Astin was hired by the University of Colorado to work at the University Memorial Center. He was no longer employed by the university when he was accused of stabbing a university freshman.
University officials probably first heaved a sigh of relief when they realized that Astin used to work for them. Then reality set in and they also realized that it just makes good sense to do everything you can to prevent people who may be violent from working for you in the first place.
According to the Daily Record, a news release announced that the university will now check the background of everyone they hire. Not only that, they’ll “continue to do background checks on a number of existing employees.”
Don’t wait for an incident to happen. Take the time today to check out your policies about using background checks for new hires and for existing employees. Make any changes you think are prudent.
Foster-grandmas get background checks
A story titled “New rules expand background checks” on Kentucky.com picks up information off the Knight Ridder newswire about the increased use of background checks by AmeriCorps. Here’s a quote from the article.
Senior citizens and others participating in the help-your-neighbor AmeriCorps program will now submit to background checks before getting certain assignments, under new federal rules. Volunteers working with the young, the old and the disabled will all be investigated.
AmeriCorps is part of the Corporation for National and Community Service, which, in turn is an independent federal agency. It was created in 1993 to connect Americans of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities for volunteer service. More than 400,000 men and women have participated. Full time members who complete their service can earn money for college via a federal grant.
According to the news story, AmeriCorps will being doing background checks on volunteers who will be working with the young, the old and the disabled. That includes foster grandparents and senior companions. In all, some 75,000 volunteers will be checked out.
This isn’t entirely new. Some AmeriCorps affiliate programs have been conducting background checks on volunteers in sensitive positions as part of their routine screening process. The new rules make background checks mandatory and set minimum standards that all affiliate programs will need to meet.
For businesses, background checks can prevent hiring crooks or others who might embarrass the company down the road. The reason for the checks at AmeriCorps is much more human.
Mercedes Padilla, who works with the Foster Grandparents […]
Time for a Gen Y reality check
Two recent news stories highlighted for me just how interesting and strange the world of job hunting and background checks can be in this Digital Age. First there was story on MSNBC that underlined something that I think we all know: employers use online search engines like Google and social networking sites like MySpace to check up on prospective hires. Here’s a quote:
According to a March survey by Ponemon Institute, a privacy think tank, 35 percent of hiring managers use Google to do online background checks on job candidates, and 23 percent look people up on social networking sites. About one-third of those Web searches lead to rejections, according to the survey.
I don’t know about you, but I figured that, as tech-savvy as kids are, they’d be aware of what was going on. Then I read a piece in Inc. magazine.
Two-thirds of job applicants under 30 are not aware that employers conduct online searches of candidates, although they are the age group most likely to say their Web presence might need to be cleaned up, according to a new survey.
Job Hunting in the Digital Age, a poll of about 600 current employees conducted by Harris Interactive for Adecco USA, found that 66 percent of workers in Generation Y (ages 18 to 29) are oblivious to the online background checks employers do to research potential employees.
Maybe it’s the fact that when you’re young, you don’t realize how important reputation is. They haven’t stopped to think how some of […]
Check ‘em all, check ‘em all
The trend to do background checks for all employees is spreading in government. Recently two counties in different states joined the bandwagon.
Montgomery County, Texas, just north of Houston, and Lee County, Florida are two of the most recent converts to the “check ’em all” movement. There are two big reasons why more and more government agencies and private employers are following suit.
Companies and government agencies want to protect their people and their assets from employees who may abuse their position of trust. They also want to make sure that they’re doing everything they can as part of due diligence hiring, just in case they wind up getting sued.
Lee Country has gone farther than most government agencies. Here’s how the Sanford Herald puts it.
According to an ordinance unanimously approved by the Lee County Board of Commissioners Monday, all final applicants, volunteers, interns and any person working in any youth sport, program or activity in the county will be subjected to a background check to be administered by the Lee County Sheriff’s Department.
Before the ordinance was passed, the county only required background checks on potential employees in the county Department of Social Services, Sheriff’s Office, animal control officers and “key positions in governance.” Changing the rules means that the hiring procedures will have to change as well.
“It will pretty much change the whole way we make a hire,” said Lee County Human Resources Director Joyce McGehee. “But in today’s world, it is very important to know who we are hiring […]
More companies using outside services for background checks
A survey by a Connecticut-based strategic planning consulting firm found that more big companies are using outside services for criminal background checks and pre-employment credit checks than ever before. The firm surveyed companies in Connecticut and New York about their recruiting practices. Here’s what they found.
Of the 73 organizations in Fairfield County and the metropolitan New York area that participated, more than 65 percent use an outside source to conduct formal background checks.
My take is that this is part of a big and important trend. More and more businesses are realizing how important it is to hire people who can do the job, work well with others, fit in with the culture and not embarrass the company later.
It used to be that we could hire people from a pool where someone we knew also knew an applicant. We could ask a trusted source whether the prospective new hire had good character and a good work ethic.
Those days are gone. Now we hire from all over. Resumes and applications come in over the net from people we may never see until it’s time for the interview.
Checking references has changed, too. It used to be that we could call up a prior employer or college professor and ask about an applicant. In the old days, they’d tell us what they thought.
Those days are gone. Today most companies will verify the dates of employment and very little else. They’re afraid of lawsuits.
So, like those companies the consulting firm surveyed, more of us […]
Dallas schools cracking down
The Dallas Morning News reports on a Dallas Independent School District (DISD) operation to deal with employees with a criminal past. Here’s the lead paragraph.
The Dallas Independent School District has fired, or forced to resign, 24 employees since November for failing to notify the district of arrests or court judgments for serious crimes, including indecent exposure, theft and felony assault, according to information received from DISD. The employees include nine teachers and a teacher’s assistant. DISD also has reported at least 141 educators to the Texas Education Agency for having a criminal background or for running afoul of district rules.
The firings came about because a Dallas Morning News investigation last year. The paper found that the DISD was in violation of several laws and administrative procedures involving the hiring of employees and the reporting of criminal histories to the Texas Education Agency.
Like many stories we’ve seen lately, the problem wasn’t having a rule or a law in place. The problem was following the rules in a timely way. In Dallas, for example, criminal background checks are supposed to be part of the hiring process. Background checks are also supposed to be run annually.
Those checks are supposed to support another rule which “requires that employees who are arrested or convicted or who receive deferred adjudication for any felony or any offense involving moral turpitude report the crime in writing to the superintendent within three workdays.”
Some employees claimed that they didn’t follow the policy because they didn’t know about it. […]