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Even in a digital world, resumes are still relied upon heavily in the hiring process. Especially in a world of “first impressions”, information provided on the resume is often the difference between an applicant being hired or rejected.
But, how do you know the information is truthful?
In a recent CareerBuilder survey of more than 2,500 hiring managers, 56% have caught job candidates lying on their resumes.
You don’t have to be a math scholar to know that MORE THAN HALF of all job applicants have misrepresented themselves on their application!
If you would have seen this glaring statistic before your most recent hire, would you still have accepted the resume without question, or would you have done more due diligence before making the offer?
Studies show that every time a business replaces a salaried employee, it costs 6 to 9 months’ salary on average.
Even on the conservative end of the pay scale, such as a new hire earning $400 per week for six months, that can cost your company nearly $10,000! 
You can greatly reduce that risk through proper verification and background check services BEFORE making an offer of employment, and best of all it will cost a great deal less than a HALF DAY worth of salary!
At SELECTiON.COM®, we usually recommend three different types of pre-employment verification reports: prior employment, education and character reference. These three reports will help you verify the accuracy of the information listed on a resume.
Most, if not all resumes list an applicant’s education history. For upper-level and management positions, education can be an important factor in the hiring decision. Some advanced positions, such has nursing or teaching, may require specific education requirements.
A SELECTiON.COM® education verification documents an applicant’s educational start dates, end dates, major, fields of study and degrees earned. Other stated credentials may also be validated through the institution when contacted.
Job experience is also a very important factor to finding the perfect candidate.
However, also per CareerBuilder “A quarter [of hiring managers] have seen people who claim to be employed by companies they never really worked for.”
Employment verifications are available so that you can not only ensure that an applicant has the experience necessary for the position, but the integrity and truthfulness to only represent accurate information on their resume.
In most cases, SELECTiON.COM® will work directly with previous employers to verify an applicant’s positions held, length of employment, salary and other relevant information about the applicant.
Lastly, a character reference will provide information about an applicant that the individual more than likely would never include on their resume.
Character references gather personal information concerning the reputation, conduct, and integrity of the applicant.
When you pair these three checks and verify the information on the resume, you greatly reduce the possibility of hiring an applicant with false information.
It’s your job to find the most qualified candidate to fill an opening. It is ours to verify your selection.
That’s why at SELECTiON.COM® our motto is “Your SELECTiON™, Verified!”
SOURCE: CareerBuilder Survey: http://time.com/money/3995981/how-many-people-lie-resumes/
Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) https://online.alvernia.edu/cost-employee-turnover/
Blog
Parents of young children face numerous and important decisions.
Whether it’s health, schedule, nutrition, education and more, questions abound.
One of the biggest decisions comes when deciding what to do with a pre-K child should both parents need to work.
And that brings us to daycares.
By design, daycares are supposed to be fun, providing a child with the proper environment for nurturing, physical growth and learning.
They are also supposed to be safe! 
But with criminal activity seemingly on the rise throughout this country, increased fraudulent applicant reporting and the lack of adequate screening and verification prior to hiring, that’s not always the case.
As a leading provider of background checks for schools, daycares and churches, SELECTiON.COM® is committed to child safety. In fact, we like to say that we have been providing safe environments for all our clients since 1991.
In partnership with Catholic Dioceses throughout the United States, as well as through our participation in national Child and Youth Protection Leadership Conferences, we have developed a specific proficiency for keeping children safe.
Our base recommendation starts with a SSN Trace to determine residency history, and then county criminal searches based on that history. Finally, a thorough search of a proper nationwide criminal database is an absolute necessity.
At SELECTiON.COM® we developed Search America®, the largest criminal database in the United States with more than 1500 sources, including state-by-state sex offender registries, government watch lists, local, state and federal criminal records.
Search America® puts the comprehensive in criminal background reporting.
No parent can ever be with their child 24/7 through adulthood, but YOU CAN get involved by making certain your child’s school or daycare has an established and thorough applicant screening process in place.
SELECTION.COM® is here to help by providing solutions for our clients that ultimately will make the most important decisions for parents everywhere just a little easier.
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Cincinnati-based company supports Pressley Ridge through Pennies for Pressley
In partnership with Pressley Ridge, SELECTiON.COM® is helping make camp dreams come true for local children all Summer long.
Campers fishing at the 2017 Camp Pressley
A faith-based organization, SELECTiON.COM® regularly looks for opportunities to give back to our local community.
This past Christmas season SELECTiON.COM® raised money for the Pressley Ridge of Southwest Ohio. In addition to participating in their Giving Tree, SELECTiON.COM® employees collected loose change and donations for the Pennies for Pressley Drive.
Through Pennies for Pressley, SELECTiON.COM® and other companies throughout the area were able to help over 60 Pressley Ridge Youth and 13 teen leaders attend the Summer 2017 Camp Pressley.
Pressley Ridge is a national non-profit that provides educational opportunities, foster care connections, residential options, and community-based support for children and their families. Pressley Ridge hosts a yearly summer camp aimed at helping children without appropriate funds and social skills to attend traditional summer camp.
Money raised through Pennies for Pressley was used for a Kona Ice Truck
“Camp Pressley allows kids ages 6-12 to have a fun and therapeutic camp experience, while also giving at-risk teens the opportunity to be employed as counselor”
For more information about the Pressley Ridge Camp Pressley visit: http://www.pressleyridge.org/.
ABOUT PRESSLEY RIDGE
Pressley Ridge provides services in Education, Treatment Foster Care, Residential, and Community-based programs to over 5,400 children and families annually, in six states as well as internationally in Portugal and Hungary. For almost two centuries Pressley Ridge has served society by caring for its most vulnerable members with a basic philosophy that aspires “to change the world one child at a time”. www.pressleyridge.org
ABOUT SELECTiON.COM®
SELECTiON.COM® is a nationwide provider of criminal and pre-employment background screenings, also referred to as a Consumer Reporting Agency. Headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, SELECTiON.COM® is a veteran-owned company that has been in business since 1991 and offers more than 21 background and data collection services. www.selection.com
Thank You Cards from Campers
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As part of your hiring process, do you currently run ONLY a national criminal database search on your applicants?
If so, you’re making a mistake.
A criminal database search, while certainly very helpful, should only be used as a supplement to further research, which typically includes county criminal, federal, state, etc.
The most common misconception surrounding national database searches is that the results are from all 50 states and the territories, thus comprising every possible criminal record in the nation on that applicant.
This is simply not true.
All such databases are just compiled records from specific sources that allow their data to be accessed and aggregated.
In large part that is because many repositories haven’t made the transition to digital technologies and still use paper filing systems, or even microfiche.
For that reason alone, no aggregated national criminal database can draw from every source in the United States.
The best criminal background check to use starts with a Social Security Number Trace to establish a residency history and from there a county criminal history report is compiled from data acquired directly from the county, or counties, of record. 
All jurisdiction starts at the county level. This means it provides the most up to date and accurate information possible.
Our researchers are sent to county courthouses in every county in the United States to pull actual files and records relating to the applicant. It is the basis for building a solid criminal history.
From there, a national criminal database search is the perfect complement, providing a “snapshot” and helping to fill in the gaps on a national scale.
Results returned may even show the need to add a county criminal search based upon a returned record from a part of the country that did not show in their permanent residency history to begin with.
We certainly are not advocating against the use of a national criminal database, but rather we caution against relying on one as a standalone “silver bullet” solution.
At SELECTiON.COM®, we are continuously adding sources, which currently number more than 1800, to our national Search America® criminal database.
Additionally, we work with our clients to seek out a specific database that may help in their screening process and, where accessible, we will add that into their customized report.
SELECTiON.COM® has more than 25 pre-employment and background check reports on our à la carte menu, from which we can build a combined report that’s just right for your hiring needs!
Blog
In the background check business, just like protecting against the Summer sun, there’s no sunscreen with a high enough SPF to completely protect against the potential perils of hiring teenagers.
And with Summer hiring season beginning to heat up, more businesses are asking about the process, and even the validity, of conducting a background check or drug screening on a minor.
Unfortunately, the answers to such questions can be a bit complicated.
As is usually the case, it is always a good idea to start with the basics in an effort to develop a best practice for your company. At SELECTiON.COM® we ALWAYS recommend that you consult legal counsel before creating any policy. That is especially true when said policy relates to age, gender, race, etc.
By definition, as of 1995 most states classify a minor as someone under the age of 18. Although legally, as it relates to alcohol or gambling, people under the age of 21 may also be referred to as minors.
However, in terms of criminal responsibility, not all minors are considered juveniles and as you might imagine those laws vary widely by state.
Typically, someone considered a juvenile is usually tried in juvenile court. For some crimes, especially those of a more violent variety, the age at which a minor may be tried as an adult is relatively undefined when the accused is below the age of 18. For example, in Kentucky, the lowest age a juvenile may be tried as an adult, no matter how egregious the crime, is 14.
What does all of that mean to you when you’re just trying to hire a couple teenagers for Summer employment? 
Well to put it into perspective, an estimated 250,000 youth are tried, sentenced, or incarcerated as adults every year across the United States. That’s well less than 1% of the total population.
When you consider that most offenses committed by minors, tried and charged in juvenile court, are not going to be reported by a criminal court in the first place you realize that running a criminal background check on a teenage applicant is probably not going to return much. For example, the majority of criminal records for minors are sealed, making them unattainable. Unless, of course, they are in that .078% of the population tried and convicted as an adult.
It is important to remember that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mandates that the process for all applicants must be consistent and two applicants applying for the same job should have the same searches and investigations run on them. If you routinely hire staff above the age of 18 for a specific job (and title) with certain background checks being required, the EEOC requires the same process to be followed when the applicant is under the age of 18.
Always make sure you keep your process uniform to avoid charges of discrimination.
Questions also arise when asking an underage applicant to sign the background check consent form.
Third-party background checks for minors fall under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), just as they would for any other applicant or employee, making it very important that all employers fully understand consent specifically as it relates to a minor.
Legally, minors lack the capacity to make a contract. Yes, a minor can legally enter into a contract, but they also legally have the right to either honor the deal or void it altogether. Unfortunately, the employer doesn’t have the same latitude.
The Society for Human Resource Management suggests that employers wishing to run pre-employment screenings on minors, and be protected during the process, should require parental or legal guardian consent. In cases when the minor is unable to provide parental consent, employers should consult with their attorney for a recommended practice.
Even when parental consent is obtained, however, not all records an employer usually requests will be available on minors. Criminal records, as mentioned above, and credit – given that most individuals under the age of 18 have limited access to establishing credit – are least likely to be obtainable. Past employment and educational records should be available. In most instances, personal references can also be obtained.
Therefore, when using pre-employment screening information in the hiring of minors, your company may need to adjust its policies and practices in terms of what information is available to use.
As always, SELECTiON.COM® strongly recommends that our clients seek legal counsel to draft a screening policy that best protects the employer when hiring any applicant, not just minors.
SOURCES:
Gaines, Larry K and Roger Leroy Miller. “Criminal Justice in Action” 4th ed., Thompson Wadsworth Publishing, 2007. Pg 495
Campaign for Youth Justice, Key Facts: Youth in the Justice System. Washington, D.C.: Campaign for Youth Justice, 2007. Web. May 2011. Citing Woolard, J. “Juveniles within Adult Correctional Settings: Legal Pathways and Developmental Considerations.” International Journal of Forensic Mental Health 4.1 (2005)
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. http://www.eeoc.gov/.
The Society for Human Resource Management. http://www.shrm.org/.
