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That person defaulted, and they should have a good explanation as to why. Judge this explanation on merits of individual situation, not argument that a certain class of people may be disadvantaged. If they borrow, they should pay it back; if they can’t, there’s usually a good (or bad) reason why.
As far as driving histories go, even if person will not be driving a company vehicle, you till need to know manner in which they drive and manner in which they resolve issues that may arise while they are driving. These are nuts and bolts responsibility attitude indicators here – nothing fancy, but good common sense, and very important if you want to make a good hiring decision.
You must know full extend of subject’s criminal history. This can only be done jurisdictionally, and you must see all levels, not just felonies. The courts today are downgrading many felonies in order to stop logjam occurring everywhere in higher courts, so if you don’t research at lower levels you may miss some eye-openers.
Don’t forget that people commit federal crimes, which do not appear in local or state court indices. They have to be researched at U.S. District Court level. Most screening companies don’t do this, and if they do, it’s usually through databases of microfilm. Beware! You need a company that checks all levels, or search is no good.
Many times our company has been hired after an “$8.25 criminal check” failed and someone was subsequently murdered, raped, maimed or defrauded. In these instances, we sometimes not only perform employment screening from then on, but also testify as an expert witness against firm who did faulty job of screening. Beware of companies that offer a newspaper or police blotter clipping service in form of “nationwide” criminal checks. These firms do not cover all areas of U.S., just major metropolitan areas. Most important is fact that root company is many times resold through distributors who might not fully convey that search, while touted as “nationwide,” is actually limited to these more populated areas.
Database Services
Let’s also take a moment to further address growing industry called “database.” It is very important to understand some basic things about database services that they will never tell you. Databases, no matter how good, are only as good as search logic used to retrieve data that’s put in. That’s rub. What you are really buying when you buy a database service is how much database company invested into its search logic.
And this is usually an area where these companies are tempted to scrimp, because good search logic is very expensive. You simply can’t use off-the-shelf software to retrieve this type of publicly compiled repository information. It simply comes in too many forms, and search logic must be able to delineate between different languages that are bridged into database company’s archival system, because all jurisdictions maintain different hardware, software and archival philosophy. It’s a wonder sometimes anything comes back, given diversity of data that goes in front end.
Any computer expert will tell you that no matter how much money you put into best of best, you can never expect 100% storage of information. These are things called “data drops” where bytes mysteriously disappear into thin air. There are also viruses, different from kind you may be aware of which can reside undetected in mainframes for years and which eat data to survive. All in all, computers are still not fool-proof enough to be relied upon, especially where such an important decision is concerned. At this point, you’re probably wondering how to handle getting employment screening into mainstream of hiring process without exposing company to possible litigation for privacy and discrimination issues, not to mention how to use what you have been taught that you need to get to evaluate a candidate’s worthiness.
You’ve probably also wondered how to maintain records, as well as how to qualify firm you are considering to do your screening. Read Factual Employment Screening – Part Two, An Employment Screening Outline, a roadmap that will help you handle both of these critical issues.
Thomas C. Lawson, CFE, CII is President and Founder of APSCREEN International, the world’s leading full service Consumer Reporting Agency since 1980. Lawson is called “one of the real pros” as he has helped to reshape laws including those for employment screening, permissible credit reporting, asset discovery and fraud examination. Tom is a Life Member of: ACFE, ASIS, SHRM, PIHRA, PNRRA, PRRN, CII, WAD, WIN, FCAOC and OCEMA.