Blog
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.
Blog
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.
Blog
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
Blog
SELECTiON.COM® is proud to be a Certified Veteran-Owned Small Business. We always look for ways to incorporate what we know into our business. Being veteran-owned is at the heart of everything we do here at SELECTiON.COM®.
Attention to Detail
SELECTiON.COM® was founded by veterans. We are proud of our military background, the service we provided to our country, and the service we give our clients. SELECTiON.COM® pays great attention to detail- just as we were trained to do in the military. Attention to detail is what makes SELECTiON.COM® efficient and effective. There is a direct correlation between our past experiences and current careers. Attention to detail makes the difference between missing some criminal records or mistaking an applicant for a criminal.
Disciplined Procedures
As SELECTiON.COM® has grown, we have created disciplined procedures allowing us to maintain accuracy without compromising speed. Our processes are thoroughly documented, and our staff is trained to execute with military precision. 
Protecting what we Value
At the heart of a soldier is protecting what is important. Our Chief Visionary Officer and Chief Executive Officer served our country in order to protect what is most cherished- our liberty. At SELECTiON.COM®, we take that same approach to helping protect what YOU value- your company, your reputation, and your clients. We do not simply do research; we look for ways to protect YOU.
SELECTiON.COM® holds our veterans and military servicemen and women in very high esteem. We are proud to support many different military related charities. SELECTiON.COM® is a sponsor of Team Fastrax™ and Team Fastrax™ Warrior Weekend to Remember. We help veterans live their lives to the fullest and thank them for their service.
Team Fastrax™ is sponsored by SELECTiON.COM®, a leading provider of criminal background checks and pre-employment screening services. They are the most ambitious professional skydiving team in the world. The team has a roster of more than twenty-nine active members, with a collective of more than 300,000 skydives. Team Fastrax has performed exhibition skydives all over the world for audiences large and small as a patriotic display or as a product promotion.
The SELECTiON.COM® Ohio Challenge Hot Air Balloon Festival and Team Fastrax™ Warrior Weekend to Remember is July 20th-23rd. 2017. The weekend includes many public events where you can honor and meet over 40 combat injured warriors and more than 8 Gold Star Families who have made the ultimate sacrifice in losing a loved one in combat service to our Nation.
For more information on veteran-owned small businesses: https://www.va.gov/osdbu/
For more information on Team Fastrax Warrior Weekend to Remember: http://warriorwtr.com/
Blog
Most HR Professionals have experienced losing an “A” candidate due to delays in the hiring process.
A recent study published by Management Recruiters International (MRI) showed that “47% of declined offers in 2015 were due to candidates accepting other jobs” between application and offer. A statistic that was “up 10% from the first half of the year.”
As is most often the case, an applicant with one company is usually also actively seeking employment with other companies concurrently.
For that reason alone, timeliness is a big part of the hiring process.
Establishing a process that gathers the required information and insights on potential applicants is key to success in Human Resources, as it can drastically reduce the amount of time between application, mutual interest, offer and acceptance.
Here are a few suggestions in review of your process:
1. Job Posting – Promote the benefits of the position and organization. Clearly define requirements and job duties.With well-developed job postings, you can decrease the time spent with unqualified candidates.
Additionally, track which postings give you the best results and replicate those for future openings. 
2. Application – An application that gathers key information and eliminates extraneous details can save time and improve the number of qualified applicants you receive.
Is it necessary to gather a lifetime of work experience or are you more interested in experience related to the position? Perhaps a full work history can be gathered a later time.
DO have all applicants complete a release form for a background check along with the application. You don’t have to run a background check on every release form received, but you also don’t want to have to wait for release once you find that highly-qualified candidate
3. Interview/Assessment – If your application gathers the right information and you identify a qualified applicant, you want to move quickly to schedule interviews or get assessments.
We know there are marginal candidates that you can wait to hear from but the “A” candidates are looking for a positive response. Get to know them with follow-up questions, assessments or interviews right away.
4. Background Check/Offer – Most successful companies make a job offer contingent on background check results or they run a background check prior to making an offer. Background checks are very important to your hiring strategy and the expediency of the process can dramatically shorten or lengthen the hiring window.SELECTiON.COM® will help sharpen your hiring strategy by providing quicker turn-around times on all your background check needs.
Developing, and consistently reviewing, a successful hiring process will help your company land more of the best candidates…BEFORE they accept an offer from your competition!
Contact SELECTiON.COM® to review your hiring process and explore the value that we can offer your organization.
