Test Your Background Check Knowledge
Take our quick quiz to test your background check industry knowledge.
Loading
Applicant Tracking and 7 Time-Saving Processes
We all live and work in a fast-paced world. As time passes, the expectations to accomplish more and more in the same amount of time grows.
Time-management only goes so far, and when you’re in a position that is under a lot of scrutiny you often look externally for assistance.
So, what does that mean for HR professionals?
Well, the first step is usually to outsource any tasks that take you away from the core duties of your position and one of the first tasks to go is employment verifications. These get outsourced to companies that house your employment data and charge a fee for other companies to access it.
But, that’s just one small part of the massive job that is HR. If you’re still conducting background checks in-house, then the next step is to hire a background check company (like SELECTiON.COM®) to do that for you.
Background check companies have the resources to complete a thorough background check more efficiently and effectively, since they have their own researchers and verification specialists to gather the information you need. But, again, that’s only a small part.
What’s the next step if you still find yourself buried in work?
Applicant tracking is the answer.
It provides a significant time-saving difference to the on-boarding process, and it’s liberating! Applicant tracking systems typically allow you to manage applicants from the time they apply, through the interviews, through the background checks, and on in as a hired employee.
If you haven’t tried applicant tracking, why not?
You may think Applicant Tracking isn’t worth the amount of time it will save and in some cases, it may not be. In fact, it probably isn’t for everyone, especially if you’re a small business on a slower growth curve.
However, if you’re a client of SELECTiON.COM®, we can easily add an applicant tracking solution to your hiring process, which we conveniently call Applicant Entry. What’s the catch, you ask?
There’s none. In fact, there is NO COST to this service! We understand the pressures you’re under and through Applicant Entry it is our goal to make your job easier AND less costly.
What does Applicant Entry do for you?
Easy Entry– You no longer have to enter a person’s personal information into the system. The only required fields are name and email address, and you just choose the report package you’d like to run.
Applicant Responsibility– It’s then up to the applicant to fill out their Social Security Number, Date of Birth, and any past employment or education information, depending on which reports you’ve chosen to run. They’ll receive a secure one-time-use link in an email for them to enter the information into our system.
Control– Since such a large part of today’s search mechanism is based upon full name as entered, the applicant cannot modify the spelling from the version that you entered.
Compliance– Applicant Entry provides electronic FCRA compliance with Disclosure and Consent forms part of the process, taking the manual form out of the application process and given you a record of consent that will reside permanently within the candidate’s electronic file.
Additional Option– At this point you can also choose to have the background check start as soon as the applicant enters their info OR have it placed on hold. This is particularly useful if you’re dealing with a large applicant pool and only want to run checks on the final candidates.
Additional Payment Module– You can also choose to have your applicant pay for their background check upfront. This is popular among clients that hire contractors or use volunteers.
Notifications– You’ll be notified once the background check is complete so you can make that final hiring decision.
If you’re a current client and haven’t tried Applicant Entry, call, email or reach out via our LIVE Chat platform today to have it added. You won’t regret it.
In addition to our in-house Applicant Entry piece, SELECTiON.COM® is integrated with some of the top Applicant Tracking systems in the market. And, with our in-house IT staff, we are well equipped to integrate with whatever Applicant Tracking system you’d like to use.
If you’re not a client, why not call today and see how SELECTiON.COM® can make a difference in your on-boarding process? Contact us today on our web form or our toll free number, 1-800-325-3609.
How to Avoid Costly Hires During the Holiday Season
With fall here and winter just around the corner, business often slows down this time of year. With it, hiring typically slows down as well. But what a lot of companies fail to realize, is that this is the perfect time to start looking for your holiday hires.
Stay ahead of the curve and take the time now to have your ideal employees fully background checked, hired, trained and ready to go as business ramps around the holiday season. Waiting until the last minute can lead to filling positions with less than stellar employees and can lead to lost customers and employee theft, in worst case scenarios.
Running a quality background check should always be a part of the hiring process, but it’s more important during the holiday season.
According to the Jack L. Hayes International 29th Annual Retail Theft Survey, more than 438,032 shoplifters and dishonest employees were apprehended in 2016 by 23 major retailers.
Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and with it, Black Friday. With those kind of statistics, in order to maximize your holiday profits, you need to make sure your employees are both honest and can handle the influx of customers with a smile.
This all starts with performing your own due diligence. The more you know, the more you can minimize those surprise nightmare employees.
The background check should begin with county criminal history reports, as they contain the most up-to-date and accurate information.
I know, I know. You are running a national criminal database so your applicants are run through every single county and source in the United States, right? Wrong. This is one of the most common misconceptions when running a background check.
A national criminal database search doesn’t really contain all counties in the United States and should be used as a supplemental tool after county criminal history has been searched.
Combine the county criminal search with a social security trace report to identify areas where your applicant has lived, and you have a great start to getting the full picture of your applicant’s history.
How else can you avoid the horrible holiday hires?
Use reports that tell you more personal things about the applicant. Character references or employment verifications are a great addition. You can personalize these questions to get answers you would like in the hiring process.
Use questions like: Was he on time? How would you describe her work habits? Is he eligible for rehire?
A well-made resume and good interview can often make one overlook the in-depth details that are so crucial to double check when trying to find a hire that will be a great seasonal or long term employee. These details can make the difference between an outstanding employee and a nightmare.
Contact us today to find out how SELECTiON.COM® can help.
Employee Spotlight: Diana Nelson
Employee Spotlight: Diana K. Nelson, CPA, MS, Chief Financial Officer
What is your favorite part of working at SELECTiON.COM®?
I enjoy the staff I work with. I feel blessed every day when I come into work.
How long have you been at SELECTiON.COM®?
Six Years
Favorite Hobby? 
Taxpayer Advocate – Writing proposals to the IRS to implement change.
Favorite Quote?
“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” – Colin Powell
Favorite Food?
Soup
Favorite Sports Team?
Green Bay Packers
Fun Fact?
I do not watch TV.
You Are What You Do, Not What You Say You’ll Do
Out of nowhere last week I started humming a familiar John Lennon tune and I immediately reached back into my music archive and pulled up “Nobody Told Me”, a song initially left incomplete due to Lennon’s death, but ultimately finished and released by Yoko Ono in 1984.
“There’s always something cooking and nothing in the pot,” goes one of the refrains and in addition to providing me with the stimulation for this week’s blog post, it also presented the perfect microcosm for the topic at hand – wasted effort and the need to always act with passion.
About the same time as my musical interlude began, I stumbled across an online “factoid” claiming that the number of failed blogs totaled something like 175-million. That’s a lot of good intention, but even more bad execution.
My guess is that there exists a similarly surprising number of failed podcasts, just like the scores of half-written books before and for that matter shuttered business startups throughout history. Good intention. Bad execution.
Fortunately, we live in a world filled with big dreamers, and that’s a very good thing. 
I love to read about the likes of Walt Disney (he of the “if you can dream it, you can do it” mindset) and Nikola Tesla (the inventor who came a full century before the Elon Musk automobile) and Abraham Lincoln (who for the internet generation is almost as famous for the meme/myth about “all of his failures” leading ultimately to great success as he is about his leadership during the Civil War), individuals who dared to dream big, oftentimes failed, but then continued the struggle despite the setbacks and challenges.
Failure is a part of progress, but it is passion that plays an even larger role in ultimate success.
Believe me, it’s not easy to always act with passion. That’s especially true if you’re not sold on the concept, or the message, or the mission.
A salesperson will not be successful selling a product unless they are first sold on it themselves. I call it the “I Am Sold Myself” solution and it appears on every week’s sales meeting agenda here in our office.
It’s the same way with just about every business.
Oftentimes, it takes courage and vision to take that first step, but without conviction and passion you’ll never push across the finish line.
In today’s world, there exists a strong penchant for talking big before the first sale is made, the doors to a new business have opened, or a campaign has started to take shape.
Again, dreaming big isn’t a bad thing, it’s even a large part of developing confidence, unless the passion for success and follow-through are lacking. Then it’s just hollow words.
For years when someone would ask me about what I was working on, what the next step in my career held, or how I planned to reach a certain goal I would recall Steve Martin’s line from the 1991 movie “Grand Canyon”.
“I think if you talk about stuff, maybe that takes the place of doing it.”
Even though I’m not always able to live by that credo, those words ring clear in my head as strongly today as they first did more than 25 years ago.
Focus on the outcome. Concentrate on the execution. Deliver the passion. The results will usually take care of themselves.
Yes, that formula may be contrary for today’s “instant gratification” generation, but there is one constant about business that still holds true.
Results matter.
