Hiring the Right People Starts With Hiring the Right Screening Company

Posted by Pamela S. on Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012

We could give you 20 reasons to conduct a background check on a future hire or current employee. You could search background checks online and find even more reasons, but nothing speaks louder than real life. Don’t make your place of employment a cri

me scene.

 

Hiring before the Background Check comes Back

Employers often have spots to fill ASAP. Sometimes they don’t want to wait for the results of a background check. This is folly. Many background checks can be conducted in a timely manner. Sometimes companies conduct a background check after hiring an employee. I’m not sure if this was the case with Huffington Post Senior Vice President of Sales Moritz Loew. He lost his position with Huffington Post after only three months on the job, when a background check turned up an outstanding arrest warrant in Seattle from 2003. Loew had failed to appear in court on a DWI charge. Loew claims he was unaware of the outstanding warrant.

Doing Nothing and Hoping for the Best

In 2002, the Transportation Security Administration hired a defrocked priest as a security guard at Philadelphia International Airport, without conducting a background check. A background check was conducted in 2003 and the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey informed the TSA that Thomas Harkins had been accused of sexually assaulting two girls. He was never criminally prosecuted, but the diocese settled civil lawsuits for $195,000. Another woman has filed a civil suit, claiming that Harkins also sexually assaulted her when she was a child. Journalists discovered the suit and found that Harkins is still working for TSA.

 

G4S came under a lot of scrutiny during the Olympic Games in London, England, but they aren’t scrutinizing their employees. The world’s largest security firm was warned not to hire an armed guard for duty in Iraq just days before he killed two of his colleagues. According to a BBC investigation, Danny Fitzsimons shot a Scottish private security guard Paul McGuigan, and an Australian guard, Darren Hoare, in 2009 while in Baghdad on a protection contract.

A G4S worker sent a number of emails to G4S headquarters in London warning them that Fitzsimons was unstable and had previous convictions. This is another reason to keep the lines of communication open with employees, and don’t ignore whistleblowers.

Fitzsimons killed the two men after only being on the job in Iraq for less than 36 hours. He claimed that he had been in a drunken brawl with the two victims. Another victim was wounded.

Fitzsimons had been fired from a previous security position for assaulting a client. He had a criminal record and was facing charges of assault. He had also been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder. Fitzsimons was sentenced to 20 years in a Baghdad prison, in February 2011.

 

Hiring the Right People Starts With Hiring the Right Screening Company

According to an article on Workforce.com, only 47 percent of employers conduct a criminal and credit background check on applicants.

Even if you have a pre-employment screening policy in place, you probably have employees on the payroll who have been with you for many years and were never screened. If you plan to implement infinity screening, make sure that you have the correct policies in place and are familiar with the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA) and other federal and state laws.

There are dozens of background screening companies online. Do you know how they get their information?

Last week, David Musk of Omaha was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison on three

federal wire fraud charges for collecting money in a fraudulent background check scheme. Musk’s business, Pavilion Commercial Group scammed real estate developers out of $170,000, claiming that for $600 he could obtain FBI and Interpol background checks.

When you use a private investigation agency, such as Sheer Investigations, you are getting more than a background check company. Many online companies are not licensed investigation companies, therefore they are not subject to the same regulations and oversee. An investigator can always dig that little bit deeper, if concerns surface during the process.

 

Former FBI Assistant Director Tom Sheer has recruited the best from the FBI, DEA, IRS and Secret Service to build a formidable team at Sheer Investigations. Our private investigators have the sensitivity and experience to handle the most delicate investigations.