Tuesday, March 14, 2006
InfoLink Screening Services Joins Kroll's Background Screening Division
Kroll Inc., the global risk consulting company, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of InfoLink Screening Services, Inc., a leading, privately-held background screening company headquartered in Chatsworth, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb. InfoLink will operate as the West Coast hub office for Kroll’s Background Screening division, which is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. Read more
Seeking out criminal pasts - A report last month in the Detroit News showed the result of conducting criminal background checks on 200,000 current school employees in Michigan, as mandated by a school safety law that went into effect Jan. 1. More than 4,600 of the employees had committed criminal offenses, of which 2,200 were felonies. More than 100 of the crimes were sex offenses. Among current employees, 23 were convicted of homicide, 21 of armed robbery, 11 of child abuse, 10 of escaping jail or prison and 355 of drug felonies. Read more
Oh, what a tangled résumé - People who write résumés are trying to market themselves. So like businesses advertising products, perhaps it's not surprising that they sometimes polish the truth. Companies that perform background checks on job seekers say perhaps 20 percent either make a false claim on their applications, or neglect to mention problems. Read more
Prep-school loss: Trusted friend and $1 million - Rex Stephen "Mr. Steve" Clark was like a son to William and Pouneh Alcott, someone they thought they could always count on. The relationship started when Clark enrolled his two children in the private school they founded, Lake Mary Prep. Soon, Clark was doing volunteer work. The Alcotts liked him so much, they added him to the payroll. Then they put him in charge. That's when things went terribly wrong. Authorities say he began stealing from the school, siphoning cash in small and large amounts during a 2 1/2-year period. He eventually took more than $1 million, police say. Read more
Ice cream peddlers could face checks - Mr. Softee, beware. To sell your frozen treats, you and the Good Humor Man would have to undergo a background check under a measure that passed the House on Friday. Also under the dessert bill, sex offenders and certain convicted criminals would not be allowed to peddle treats if the bill becomes law. Read more
Charter school principal is fired - The new principal of Buffalo United Charter School, who was arrested twice in four months in 2003 for allegedly threatening his estranged wife, was fired Friday. Charter school officials apparently had been unaware of Michael P. Carr's criminal background until it was brought to their attention by a Buffalo News reporter earlier in the day. Read more
Rejection raises doubt about credit - The law requires companies to disclose the source of adverse actions against employees or potential employees, but only if the information came from an outside consumer-reporting agency. Read more
40 known felons employed by the University of Wisconsin System Read more
The Rules Have Changed for Corporate Criminals - Have You Ever Been Convicted of a Felony? Read more
Monday, March 13, 2006
Monday, March 13, 2006
Peter Krouse, Plain Dealer Reporter
Who's more likely to fail an employment-related drug test: People applying for jobs as construction workers or as teachers?
According to a report by InfoLink Screening Services Inc., those seeking education jobs are far more likely to test positive.
Infolink co-founder Barry Nadell is not sure why, though he said that being around more young people could expose people in education to more drugs.
But before you canonize the building trades, know that construction industry applicants are more likely to have a criminal background or a motor vehicle violation than those in education, not to mention the 14 other job categories included in the report.
Nadell can't fully explain the percentages contained in his company's findings. But he believes they are valuable because clients can see how their industry compares with others and whether they are doing pre-employment checks for the right things.
For example, if the available data show that an industry has a high percentage of "hits" in a certain problem area, companies in the industry that don't already screen for that problem might want to start. InfoLink used the results of its own client screenings in 2005, mostly pre-employment, to produce the data.
The idea of checking someone's background has been around as long as private detection, said Nadell, who quit his job in the insurance industry to help his wife, a former human resources specialist for the American Cancer Society, start InfoLink in 1994. InfoLink, based in Chatsworth, Calif., was recently acquired by Kroll Inc.
Digging into someone's past can save a company the time, money and embarrassment of hiring a bad employee or one who is being less than honest. In February, David Edmondson stepped down as chief executive of RadioShack Corp. after it was revealed that he had misrepresented his academic history.
In some cases, people with past problems go through staffing agencies to get jobs, thinking they are less likely to be checked out, Nadell said.
But an increasing number of companies are requiring staffing agencies to perform background checks, too.
With all that checking going on, the issue becomes how much background information to seek and what to do with it. Just because you can check somebody's credit history or workers' compensation history doesn't mean you should spend the dollars doing so, say those familiar with the legal and practical aspects of background checks.
Certain kinds of testing and checking are perfectly acceptable, said Scott Cohen, national practice leader of talent management at human resources consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide.
It may be logical to check the credit history of somebody who will be handling money, he said. But should, say, a movie theater do the same for a kid hired simply to take tickets?
Companies should consider relevancy when ordering checks and also be aware that drug tests can sometimes show a false positive, Cohen said.
At the United Way of Greater Cleveland, all job applicants go through criminal record checks, a drug test and past-employment verification, said United Way spokeswoman Jenna Snyder. The organization also might verify an applicant's education, depending on job requirements and other factors.
The InfoLink survey suggests that nonprofit applicants in general have a high incidence of discrepancies when it comes to verifying their employment and education, although Snyder said the United Way of Greater Cleveland's experience differs.
Among InfoLink’s nonprofit clients, discrepancies popped up more than 46 percent of the time when it came to verifying prior jobs and nearly 22 percent of the time when it came to checking out education.
But at United Way of Greater Cleveland, issues of any kind related to background checks arose only twice in the past two years, Snyder said, and that's out of 100 applicants. The hits were for criminal offenses.
Nadell could offer no explanation for the nonprofit percentages. Nor could Paul Gerhart, professor of labor and human resources at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University. He also struggled to explain the high incidence of positive drug tests in his own profession.
"Maybe people in education think they can get away with it for some reason," he said.
Gerhart did say, however, that the increase in background checking over the past 20 years has been a positive step.
But how a company handles that information can have legal implications. Employers need to be concerned about "negligent hiring," said Meredith Watts, an associate at the Duvin Cahn & Hutton law firm. A day-care provider obviously does not want the liability of hiring a child molester, she said, but other situations are not that obvious. It might be OK, for example, for a company to hire somebody with a five-year-old drug conviction to deliver interoffice mail.
Similar issues apply when a background check turns up a problem with a current employee. A company can be liable for "negligent retention," she said.
At Mr. Gasket, a Brooklyn manufacturer of performance auto parts, the company policy is not to hire anybody with a felony conviction in the previous five years, said Alice Bissett, director of human resources.
Bissett said background screening has turned up only three or four such problems among 162 applicants in the past 3½ years. Mr. Gasket uses InfoLink Screening for its background checks, Bissett said, but not for drug testing.
The company checks only those areas it believes are pertinent to the job, she said. While everyone gets a drug test and a criminal background check, only those going into finance will have their credit histories checked. That's because someone who has a lot of debt could be tempted to embezzle if they are around company coffers.
In the same way, only those who will be driving company vehicles will have their driving records scrutinized. "It's all got to be job-related," Bissett said.
Sometimes it doesn't pay to collect too much data, she said, because employers are required to share all derogatory information with an employee. Something that had no bearing on a company's decision not to hire someone may be interpreted by that person as the reason for being passed over.
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal (KRTBN)By By Emily Le Coz, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss. Sunday, March 12, 2006 12:00 AM GMT
Mar. 12--Disgraced former RadioShack CEO David Edmondson isn't the only one to lie about college degrees on his resume; it seems that 14 percent of Americans have twisted the truth about educational attainment.
They've also lied about criminal history, former jobs, credit reports and just about anything else to make themselves appear more qualified than they are, according to InfoLink Screening Services, a national employment background checking firm.
The firm found that, of all its applicants last year,
-- 8.5 percent lied about criminal records
-- 41 percent lied about driving records
-- 4.8 about social security numbers
-- 3.3 about doing drugs
-- 41.2 about credit history
-- 36.5 about past employment
-- 14.1 about educational attainment
-- 7 percent about workers' compensation.
In an informal survey by the Daily Journal this month, one out of 10 people interviewed admitted to having lied on a resume.
Many fabricators get sniffed out before landing a job, thanks to rigorous background checks performed by most big companies. Others, like Edmondson, slip through the cracks until much later.
Sooner or later, though, most of them get caught, said Michelle Daniels, staffing director at The CPI Group, a staffing and human resources firm based in Columbus.
"Don't exaggerate" on a resume, Daniels said, "because it will catch up with you."
In Edmondson's case, his past caught up with him in February after a Texas newspaper discovered false information on his resume. The former RadioShack executive claimed to have two degrees from Pacific Coast Baptist College, which later changed its name to Heartland Baptist College. The school had no records of Edmondson, who before resigning later admitted the information was wrong.
Most people don't make as flagrant an exaggeration as Edmondson, said Daniels, who more frequently catches minor fibs -- like stretching the dates of previous employment positions or stating proficiency in languages or computer programs when knowledge of them is only marginal.
"We're encouraged to look our best on resumes," she said, "and a lot of times it looks good on paper, but it serves you much better in the long term to be honest."
While the bulk of the lies appear harmless in nature, a few big ones have hit the radar at The PACE Group, a Tupelo-based executive search firm that specializes in health care and economic development businesses.
"We have only had a few instances where something did not check out the way the person presented it to us," said John Lovorn, the firm's president and CEO. "Most of the issues have been in credit card debt. We had one person who had over $200,000 on his credit card bill. We have had one person who said he graduated from the University of Oklahoma, and we found out he never enrolled at the university."
A more recent case involved a woman who failed to mention a prior drug conviction. Lovorn discovered it during a background check and dropped the candidate from consideration.
Still, Lovorn is convinced that most people tell the truth. He estimated that only about 2 percent of his job applicants have lied -- far below the national average.
Who checks what?
But that doesn't stop him from doing background checks on everybody. How far and to what extent he searches, however, depends on the company for which his firm is hiring. Some want everything -- criminal, financial, educational, motor vehicle, professional. Others pick and choose from the list according to what meets their needs.
At BancorpSouth, screeners tailor their investigations depending on the position for which they are hiring. Upper-level management applicants get a thorough examination, while tellers and secretaries face less scrutiny, said W.O. Jones, human resources director.
But the financial giant doesn't do its own checks. It uses the WIN Job Center to screen non-management positions and has an executive search firm select candidates for the higher ranks.
WIN does not do any investigative searches, said office manager Bill Mims. That, he said, is up to the company to do once they accept a candidate screened by the job center.
BancorpSouth gives all new hires -- regardless of their position -- criminal and financial background checks.
"They want to make sure you don't have personal financial problems before you get around a lot of money or help people with their money," Jones said. "You can tell a lot about people by criminal and credit checks."
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
InfoLink Screening Services Joins Kroll's Background Screening Division
NEW YORK, March 6, 2006 -- Kroll Inc. (www.kroll.com), the global risk consulting company, announced today that it has completed the acquisition of InfoLink Screening Services, Inc. (www.infolinkscreening.com), a leading, privately-held background screening company headquartered in Chatsworth, Calif., a Los Angeles suburb. InfoLink will operate as the West Coast hub office for Kroll’s Background Screening division, which is headquartered in Nashville, Tenn. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
"Today, demand for employee background screening services continues to rise due to new legislation and concerns about workplace security," said Simon Freakley, chief executive officer of Kroll Inc. "The acquisition of InfoLink reflects Kroll’s strategy of acquiring successful, best-of-breed companies that provide a competitive advantage and secure Kroll’s leadership in key markets."
InfoLink, which employs a staff of 114 at its Chatsworth facility, was founded in 1994 by Barry and Leslie Nadell. Its president, Barry Nadell, is a recognized leader in the employee screening industry. One of the top background screening companies in California, InfoLink provides employee background checks and related services such as drug testing, Form I-9 employment eligibility verifications, and pre-employment physical examinations. Its clients consist of a diverse mix of West Coast-based companies, including those in the hospitality, retail, health care, and employment sectors.
"The addition of InfoLink greatly enhances our West Coast client base and sales channels. It is an outstanding company with expert management and first-rate staff who share Kroll’s commitment to quality customer service," said A. Michael Rosen, president of Kroll’s Background Screening division. "We are delighted that the members of the management team will continue in their current roles and lead InfoLink’s integration with Kroll."
"This union with Kroll is an exciting opportunity for our customers and employees alike," said InfoLink’s Barry Nadell. "Clients will be able to benefit from Kroll’s broad range of complementary risk mitigation services, while continuing to receive the same competitive pricing and level of customer support that has distinguished our business. InfoLink employees can look forward to the many benefits and opportunities presented by being part of a much larger, global organization."
About Kroll:
Kroll Inc., the world's leading risk consulting company, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC), the global professional services firm. Headquartered in New York, Kroll provides a wide range of investigative, intelligence, financial, security and technology services through offices in more than 65 cities in over 25 countries. Kroll’s Background Screening division is comprised of Kroll Background America, Inc., based in Nashville, Tenn., and other Kroll subsidiaries in Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, India and South Africa. In the United States, the Background Screening division provides employee and vendor background investigations and identity theft services. It serves a wide range of corporate, government and non-profit clientele, most notably those in financial services and highly regulated industries such as health care and transportation. For more information, visit www.kroll.com.
About InfoLink Screening Services:
InfoLink Screening Services is a leading provider of employment background checks, drug testing, physical exams and Form I-9 eSolutions. Thousands of companies nationwide rely on InfoLink before they finalize their hiring decisions. InfoLink's exceptional service, fast turnaround, legal compliance and accuracy enable companies to Hire with Confidence®. For more information, visit http://www.infolinkscreening.com/ or call 800-990-HIRE (4473).
