With more than 1,500 annual background checks that span all 50 states and cover candidatesin 14 U.S. office locations, Hospice Compassus needed a quality provider that understood thecomplicated needs of a company that cares for people in their last stages of life.

Guest Article by Kevin W. Grossman

Okay, it’s not dead yet, but I want it to die.

I understand that there’s still a huge part of the career management industry keeping it alive, making it better and making it work for you, the job seeker. To all my friends in this industry, please forgive me, as I also understand it’s probably not going anywhere for years to come.

But I still want the painfully ubiquitous resume to die a horrible death.

Why? Because it’s a self-serving piece of inconsistently formatted and fudged professional drivel that really doesn’t help me hire true quality of fit. Just ask any background screening firm that does employment and education verifications. For example, EmployeeScreenIQ’s research yields a 52% discrepancy rate between what an applicant claims about their education and work experience and what they find when they verify such information.

Fifty-two percent. Sure, the resume helps me sift and sort to the short list, but a short list that’s almost half fabrication on the average. And if you as the job seeker take that risk and blatantly lie or embellish on your resume, and my background screening firm uncovers it, you are out of luck at a time of high unemployment where you really need a little luck.

Yes, embellishing the truth is fabrication. It doesn’t make it any better than an outright lie, especially if you’re telling me you’ve been programming native iPhone apps for the past six months and you really only took an online course six months ago and made one farting app, one that isn’t very good anyway because it sounds like a Yorkshire Terrier barking.

So what then do we put instead of this black magic resume full of lies and deceit?

Your professional online profile, of course. Like the one you better have completely up to date on LinkedIn, where thousands of recruiting professionals are scouring and sourcing every day. (And I’m not even talking about the majority of recruiting pros who search for online information about you across the internet and other social networks.) And by the way, much of the same advice you may get about building your resume applies to the online profile as well.

However, I get the fact that anybody can fudge an online profile just as well as they can a resume. But, there’s a peer pressure element of keeping one another honest in an online community where your professional history is available to everyone you’re connected with, many of whom you‘ve worked with or for at one time, if not currently, as well as the portion that’s available for public consumption if you so choose.

And there’s another critical element that can give you more credibility than the standard 3-5 references you offer “on request” for your resume. Those are the LinkedIn recommendations you ask your current and previous employers, colleagues, collaborators, clients, customers, mentors, teachers and/or friends to give you, which you in turn should always reciprocate.

Repeat – get as many recommendations as you can and reciprocate.

Remember, your professional connections you “know” could also be the back doors into the employers you’re interested in, as well as getting introduced to those folks you don’t know.

Repeat – get as many recommendations as you can and reciprocate.

There are also other similar professional networks on Facebook like BranchOut and BeKnown, which allow you to give and receive “endorsements” like the LinkedIn recommendations. Do the same thing here and be consistent across all the professional networks you belong to where you have profiles.

Granted, talent acquisition technologies including applicant tracking systems (ATS) have been slow to adapt to the online profile – there’s still the “click here” to upload your resume. That’s changing for the better as the candidate experience improves allowing for easy integration of the online profile to the employer of choice, not to mention the benefits of a search optimized professional profile, which is a blog post for another time.

So let’s review:

• Build those online profiles consistently across your professional networks of choice (LinkedIn for sure).
• Keep your profiles honest and real and up to date, whether you’re looking for a job or not.
• Get those recommendations and endorsements and reciprocate.

There’s a lot more to cover here than I could get to, so look for more soon. Good luck!

About the Author:

Kevin W. Grossman is the Chief Marketplace Evangelist at Fisher Vista, LLC and HRmarketer.com where he leads the strategic HR B2B marketing and business development initiatives. Kevin is also founder of Marcom HRsay, an HR B2B blog for the real world focusing on what helps the people thrive and businesses grow. Kevin has more than two decades of business experience including more than 10 years of HR marketplace experience. Kevin is a Top 25 Online Influencer in Human Resources according to HR Examiner as well as a prolific “HR business” blogger since 2004 primarily on Marketing to HR and Marcom HRsay. He has authored multiple articles on HR, leadership, HR technology, talent acquisition, talent management, workplace culture and much more. He’s also a partner and collaborator of the TalentCulture community with as well as a co-founder of the online Twitter chat #TChat and #TChat Radio.



No Shortcuts.  Smarter Screening.  Intelligent Hiring.

Over the years we have developed a best in class screening process which focuses on delivering the most comprehensive, accurate and compliant background checks in the industry.  And it’s no secret as to how we’ve gotten here.  In fact, we can sum it up in two words: No Shortcuts.

No Shortcuts is more than just a tagline or fancy marketing campaign.  It is the foundation for how we operate our business. This mantra is employed at every level of our organization so that you have everything you need to make an informed hiring decision.

Finding the Records You Need to Protect Your Organization

Did you know that EmployeeScreenIQ finds that 23% of all candidates we screen have some type of criminal record; more than double what is publicly reported by our competitors?  How we arrive there is no accident.  It starts with thoroughly vetting our court researchers and blindly testing them throughout the year.  We determine the most comprehensive resource for identifying records in each county throughout the country (most often directly at the county courthouse).  And instead of just performing research at the Upper Court which usually just houses felony records, we take the added step of checking the Lower Court as well for misdemeanors and infractions.  If we find a record, we’ll report it, regardless of age unless precluded from doing so by the law.  We also encourage our clients to couple this in-depth county research with a National Criminal Record Database search as a means to identify convictions that might have occurred in counties where the person may not have resided.  Those who take advantage of this service find 20% more records than those who do not. Let’s face it, the vast majority of the folks you screen won’t have anything to hide.  Your screening program is designed to highlight any piece of information that might give you pause.  You might as well make sure you get everything you could be expected to get.

Providing Accurate and Up to Date Information the First Time

One of the worst things you can do in your background screening process is to make a hiring decision based on inaccurate data.  Rather than just reporting information to you “as is”, EmployeeScreenIQ takes the necessary steps to ensure you can rely on the results we provide.  Prior to reporting criminal records to you, our Public Records department confirms that the information we’ve found actually belongs to your applicant.  They also consult our 50 state compliance guide to ensure that the record is legally reportable.  The same applies to our methods for verifying other pieces of adverse information such as those found when conducting employment and education verifications.  Our research team will review for depth of detail and to ensure there isn’t any misleading or inconclusive information.  We’re all for streamlining the process and reducing turnaround time, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of a quality product.  What proof that our methods work?  Only .017% of all reports produced are disputed.

Good Verification Work Demands Patience

When it comes to employment and education verifications and reference interviews, it is not our goal to make three phone calls and bail when we don’t get a response.  In fact, we only close 4% of all verifications due to a lack of cooperation.  That means we are able to complete them 96% of the time!  Our philosophy is to exhaust all reasonable efforts to successfully complete the work.  Why else would you hire us to perform this service?  First, we ensure that we are contacting the right person or department.  Once we have done so, we will reach out to them via phone, email and, or fax.  If they tell us they will get to it, we continue to follow up until completion.  If we don’t hear from them we will make every reasonable attempt to gain their cooperation; varying from the time of day we call to zeroing out and asking the phone attendant if there is anyone else that can help.

The Candidate Experience Is Paramount

You spend a lot of time, money and effort identifying the perfect candidate(s) for each position to be filled.  Your background screening provider shouldn’t jeopardize your hard work by alienating your candidates.  How does this apply to No Shortcuts?  We’ve already mentioned our efforts to ensure that the information we report is accurate and up to date and that our reports are disputed just .017% of the time.  What we haven’t talked about is the time and resource we dedicate to treating your candidates with in the same manner you do.  In the event that a candidate does dispute a record, we will work with them to determine the nature of the dispute, investigate and ensure a timely resolution . By law, background screening providers have 30 days to complete the process.  EmployeeScreenIQ resolves 50% of all disputes within a matter of days.  Disputes not resolved in this time period are typically delayed due to the source of information , not because we know we have 30 days to do so.  These are real people, looking for real jobs.  We owe it to our clients and their candidates to leave no stone unturned.  In this case ironically, our accelerated timeline is anything but a shortcut.

No Off-Shoring, No Home Based Workers

In any business, the best way to improve profitability is to cut costs.  Many in our industry have done so by outsourcing and offshoring key components of the process such as data processing, customer service, research, etc. and by employing the use of home-based workers.  This often leads to a lackluster or inconsistent product and diminished client experience; not to mention the loss of control of your candidate’s personal information.  At EmployeeScreenIQ, we control the process.  Our team members are trained at the onset with our best practice methods and that training is reinforced throughout the year.  We maintain strict control of your candidate’s data.  Our dedicated team of Client Relations Managers and Associates is employed at our headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio.  And we treat our staff the same way we treat our clients.  We all know that most customer service positions are an endless cycle of new people which can lead to inconsistent and unknowledgeable service.  Not here.  The average tenure of our associates is just over five years and our managers over nine years.   Our client-first philosophy has led to us being named a 2010 World Class Customer Service organization.

Bottomline

As you can see, No Shortcuts defines who we are as an organization and in turn, helps to protect you and your employment brand.  Let the folks who have defined smarter screening and intelligent hiring demonstrate why our services offer you the ROI and peace of mind you need to make the most informed hiring decision.

Click here for more information on No Shortcuts

It’s common knowledge that a good onboarding program can improve a new employee’s engagement and productivity while also contributing to organizational performance. Yet employers are only beginning to grasp the importance of the candidate experience. Inside that world lies the critical stage of background screening.

By Kevin Bachman

There are hundreds of companies selling employment screening products across the country, all with varying levels of accuracy, service and quality. I’d hate to be an HR Director tasked with sorting out which background screening company is best. Slogans like “Free!” “Instant!” “Nationwide!” Promises like “Seamless!” “Comprehensive!” “Automated!”

Pounded with marketing materials and website demonstrations that all look the same, it’s reasonable to think organizations can’t always predict which choice is the best one. And unfortunately, shortcomings aren’t evident until they happen in real time, with real candidates, causing real harm to your organization.

That’s why EmployeeScreenIQ recommends choosing wisely. Of the 700+ employment screening firms, partner with 1 of the 9 that are NAPBS Accredited.

What Accreditation Means to You

As an EmployeeScreenIQ client, you have chosen an Accredited partner whose quality, accuracy and service standards are shared by only 1% of all employment screening companies. That’s something to be proud of. It validates your choice and provides maximum possible protection for your organization.

It ensures our company processes and procedures are compliant with industry best practices and we take proper precautions to protect confidential applicant data from misuse.  It demonstrates accountability and clear communication of our products and services. Finally, accreditation is an affirmation of our industry knowledge and expertise within the company.

As an HR professional who is a faithful reader of EmployeeScreen University (but not a client), ask your provider; “are you accredited?” If they are not, ask a few more questions. Do they plan to? Did they apply and fall short? What is holding them back? Earning Accreditation is not as simple as asking for it. It’s a process that requires total commitment, focused intensity, and above all else, an extended period of time. Below is the story of our journey.

EmployeeScreenIQ: Path to Accreditation

The National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) launched the Accreditation program in the spring of 2010. So it might come as a shock to hear that EmployeeScreenIQ began pursuing it more than 5 years ago.

It emerged from a long held belief within the industry that self-regulation and oversight was necessary for a variety of reasons. To separate companies from the fly by night operators whose processes caused legal harm to their clients. To distinguish and honor those whose commitment stands out as industry experts. To demonstrate to regulatory agencies the background check industry cares enough to establish and promote best practices. And a commitment to educate clients on ways to appropriately use background checks in their hiring process.

But beyond that, we were interested in pursuing this from the start because of what it represented. Quality. Accuracy. Service. Compliance. To EmployeeScreenIQ, it was simply the right thing to do.

How It Began

When the National Association of Professional Background Screeners was founded, creating and adopting some sort of standards was in the minds of many of the Association’s founding members, among them EmployeeScreenIQ.

As the industry evolved, working groups began creating and circulating drafts of what an Accreditation program would look like. Companies provided feedback, shared best practices, and the final form began to take shape.

We began reviewing these drafts of the proposed Accreditation standards, the highest standards the industry had ever set forth. We quickly noticed that it’s one thing to apply for Accreditation and another thing entirely to demonstrate you abide by its values and principles well in advance of an audit. We did not want to be an accredited company beginning the day of the audit. We wanted to do it as soon as we could. So we did, molding our operations to the highest standards possible. For all intents and purposes, EmployeeScreenIQ acted in a manner consistent with an accredited company several years before the program was officially launched.

How We Did It

A NAPBS accredited background check company must demonstrate full compliance with unique standards in multiple areas. Legal compliance, consumer protection, information security, organizational integrity and ethics, client knowledge and awareness, and our quality, accuracy and service level commitments.

But in order to determine our strengths and weaknesses during the self-evaluation process, we needed to review each step within our organization. There were areas where EmployeeScreenIQ created processes to enhance the client experience, strengthen compliance steps, and more strongly protect consumer data. Our auditing programs became stronger. The selection of public record researchers and internal standards were reviewed. We approached each process with an open mind. Willing to modify anything that would result in stronger processes. Flexible enough to consider new tactics to helping clients get accurate information faster. Anything that gets in the way of providing clients with the information they need is identified and rooted out of the system as a normal course of business. We were happy to find that we did not see major structural problems that forced us to rethink the way we conduct background checks or build new systems from scratch.

When we were finished with our organizational self-review, we felt pretty good. Truth be told, the operational foundation of EmployeeScreenIQ was pretty strong to begin with.

The Application Process

This was the easy part. And by easy, we mean 6 months of preparation proving compliance through processes already in place. This is an important distinction. Because EmployeeScreenIQ operated in accordance with most of these principles, the process was primarily documenting and assembling the several binders worth of information for the independent auditor. Hundreds of pages of supporting documents demonstrating we abide by each clause and each subsection. We did not spend this time “becoming” an accredited screening company. That work was already done.

Fast forward to a desk audit and an onsite audit, and it was smooth sailing. Compared to the challenges of the previous 6 months assembling documents and the past several years building the foundation, the audits were routine. A nice opportunity to sit back and reflect on what was created and who we’ve become. The day of the onsite audit was a very proud day for our team.

Looking Forward

In today’s economic climate, state and federal agencies continue to evaluate how information is used to make hiring decisions. Now more than ever, companies need to rely on partners they can trust to provide accurate, compliant information. Accreditation is the measuring stick employers can rely on to sort through the noise among competing background screening companies all touting the same unparalleled excellence, service, and accuracy. Few employment screening companies have had these claims affirmed by an independent auditor. EmployeeScreenIQ is proud to be one of them.

Kevin Bachman is Vice President of Quality Service for Cleveland-based EmployeeScreenIQ, a best practices provider of pre-employment screening services throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Kevin can be reached at (800) 235-3954 ext. 450 or by email at kbachman@employeescreen.com.

By Molly DiBianca, Labor and Employment Attorney at Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor, LLP

The popularity of social-networking sites, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, has exploded in the last several years. Facebook boasts more than 600 million users. Facebook has become a treasure trove of information for anyone looking to discover the “truth” about an individual’s private life. Divorce attorneys report that Facebook is the single best online source for information to be used in divorce or custody proceeding. Law –enforcement agencies across the country turn to Facebook to locate suspects and gather evidence. And insurance investigator have put their telephoto lenses away—today they can find out all about a beneficiary’s activities from anywhere with an Internet connection.

So it only makes sense that employers, too, would want to put Facebook to work. More and more employers report that they’ve eliminated a candidate from consideration after viewing something negative in the candidate’s Facebook profile. But this practice does have legal risks. The good news, though, is that those risks can be avoided by following the steps discussed below.

What Not to Do

As an initial matter, employers should be aware of what they should not do when surfing the Web. First, do not ask anyone—including current employees and job applicants—for his Facebook password or other log-in credentials. The town of Bozeman, Montana instituted a policy that required applicants to turn over their passwords. Bloggers, tweeters, and Facebookers across the globe united in online protests and Bozeman quickly cancelled its policy. In February 2011, the Maryland Department of Corrections suspended a similar policy when the ACLU campaigned against it on its blog and on YouTube.

Second, do not try to gain access to a candidate’s profile indirectly. For example, don’t ask another employee, who is Facebook friends with the candidate, to show you the candidate’s profile. Last year, the New Jersey Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict against an employer for similar conduct, finding that such tactics constituted a breach of the employee’s privacy.

Third, do not send a Facebook friend request to the candidate without disclosing the real reason for the request. Similarly, do not instruct or permit anyone else to do the same on your behalf. If a candidate’s privacy settings prevent you from accessing his profile, the better idea is to tell the candidate in advance that you want him to accept your friend request but only for 24 or 48 hours. And be clear about what it is that you’ll be looking for once access is granted, as discussed in the following sections.

Start Talking

Before you start surfing the Web, first gather the key decision makers to discuss whether the organization should adopt this practice at all. Exchange ideas about the potential benefits and concerns associated with searching for information on Facebook or Google. Consider including as many stakeholders as practicable, including members of senior management, Human Resources personnel, and hiring managers.

Some organizations feel that a Facebook search does not comport with their culture or core values and, as a result, have decided not to use such searches as part of the hiring process. This question does not have a “right” answer but should be given significant consideration before implementing an official policy or practice.

Assuming the discussion results in the decision to incorporate Internet searches into the background-check process, you should next discuss, in detail, exactly what it is that you’ll be looking for in your search. Aim to identify up to 10 specific things that would give you cause for alarm if seen on a candidate’s online profile.

Common red flags for many employers include the candidate’s use of or promotion of the use of illegal drugs, any type of language or imagery that promotes hate, threats of physical violence or other hostile or aggressive comments. There may also be legitimate concerns about a candidate who posts negative comments about his former employer or co-workers or who discloses inappropriate information belonging to a former employer or customers.

You also can identify some positive online activities, as well, such as if the candidate maintains a blog, which is well written or, even better, related to his professional interests. Once you’ve finalized your checklist, put it in writing. Create a form that lists the various items (good and bad) that you’ll be looking for. Leave a space for the name of the company representative who will be performing the search, the date the search was conducted, and the name of the candidate.

Start Searching

Once your list is created, the rest is easy—but equally important. Designate an individual  who will perform the actual search (i.e., the “Searcher”). Here is the key: the Searcher must not be involved in the hiring decision. Human Resources can perform the search, for example. In smaller organizations without a dedicated HR staff, the manager of one department may be the Searcher when a different department is hiring, and vice versa.

Once the appropriate person is designated, the search may begin. If any of the items on the list are found, the Searcher documents them on the form and, preferably, prints or makes a copy (i.e., with the print screen feature) of the offending material. That information and only that information may then be turned over to the hiring manager for consideration.

The reason this step is so critical is that it effectively prevents the hiring manager from learning information that cannot be used in the hiring process—such as religion, sexual orientation, or other protected characteristic. This separation of knowledge can be a key component to defending against a failure-to-hire lawsuit.

Start Talking (Again)

In the event that a hiring manager is inclined not to hire a candidate as a result of what turned up during the online search, there are a few additional steps that should be taken. First, the hiring manager should present the candidate with the information. Identify the basis for concern and provide the candidate with a meaningful opportunity to explain. There is, after all, more than one John Smith registered with Facebook . And, since the Searcher has no interaction with the candidate, mistaken identity is not out of the realm of possibility.

Finally, make sure that everyone in the organization with any connection to the hiring process is aware of and understands the new practice. Make it clear to supervisors that they are not to search the Internet for information about a candidate prior to the decision to hire. Have supervisors acknowledge the policy in writing and review it periodically to ensure compliance.