What if you hired Wendy Adcock?
You probably don't know who Wendy Adcock is, but right now she's the focus of a lot of attention in Columbus, Ohio. That's the home of the Ohio State University (OSU) who hired Adcock in 2005 as an accounts clerk at the university libraries. The OSU student paper, the Lantern, describes the situation in a story headlined "Adcock's case reveals flaws in OSU employee background checks." It might reveal some flaws in your system as well. When she was accused of stealing $13,500 from the university libraries, it turned out that she had been convicted of stealing $11,000 from a [...]
Who’s driving your kids?
The Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune recently carried a story that made me sit up and take notice. I forwarded it to my children, who have their own children, and to all my friends who are parents of young children. The story wasn't about toxic paint on toys or any of that other stuff that's been in the news lately. It was about van drivers. The subject was the lack of mandatory background checks on van drivers. Here's an excerpt. More than 2,000 minivans and passenger vehicles carry special education and other students in Minnesota every year, and the only requirement [...]
Should you do pre-employment credit checks?
A recent Associated Press piece discussed the use of credit checks by employers as part of pre-employment screening and background checks. The writer cited an interesting statistic. "In its most recent report on reference and background checking, in 2004, the Society for Human Resource Management found that 19 percent of organizations conducted credit checks." This is one case where I think you should join the minority and use pre-employment credit checks. Here's why. If you're hiring for a position where an employee has access to money, financial records or sensitive information, and credit check should be part of your screening. [...]
You’re responsible for preventing workplace violence
In October, news media carried the story of an off-duty police officer who shot seven people in Crandon, Wisconsin, killing six of them. Normally that would not concern us here because we talk about issues related to the use of background checks by employers and landlords. Earlier this month, though, organizational development consultant Daniel Schroeder wrote a piece in the Milwaukee Small Business Times answering a question sparked by the Crandon shootings: "What is a reasonable approach for a company that wants to make sure that it does what it can to minimize the chances of a violent act occurring?" [...]
Sometimes all you can do is chuckle
The headline for this one pretty much says it all: Background check KO's police applicant. Oliver Shea Wright decided he wanted to become a police officer. So he submitted his application to the Newport News, VA police department. The police department conducted the background check that's a routine part of their hiring process. It turned out that Wright was wanted for a crime he allegedly committed last summer. The police arrested Wright instead of hiring him. I'm sharing this with you for its humor value. You would think that the last place someone who's wanted for a crime would try [...]