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Background Checks Criminal Records Economy Human Resources Miscellany Recruiting Uncategorized

Even the President Can Be Embarrassed When He Doesn’t Do Background Checks

With some cases concerning background checks, there are minor examples and there are major examples of embarrassment and dysfunction.    The minor examples may consist of an overlooked misdemeanor or citation on a background check.   Another minor example would be a lousy driivng record when a background check was conducted on your employment candidate but the MVR was never ordered.   Unless that candidate gets into an accident or otherwise hurts someone with his vehicle while working for you, these kind of situations can generally be rectified.

But in many instances with state and public service agencies, there are cases where police officers, health care and social service workers, and even teachers and playground attendants are hired because someone failed to either background checks or review them carefully upon the return of the completed background report.   This kid of mishap has occurred enough to make frequent headlines.

And then we have the really and truly egregious exception.    This is where the President Obama calls a women to the podium to best make his case for the extension of unemployment benefits.   The President no doubt was sincere in his urging for the extension of the unemployment benefit.  His heart was certainly in the right place.  His only mistake is that he picked a woman who was found guilty of a prescription drug fraud charge, just one month before she lost her job.   According the Newsplex, the woman had been working as an aesthetician in a Charlottesville, Virginia Spa.    Currently, there is no way to determine if the woman lost her job because of the conviction.   There’s also no indication from the court file that woman lost her job because of the court case, or that she has received unemployment benefits improperly.

But all that said, there are probably better examples of people who need extension of their unemployment benefits, because they lost their jobs.    The moral of the story is to conduct background checks, before going public with any news story where someone involved may have criminal convictions.   It may come back to bite you.  In this information age, it probably does.   We at Corra Group have seen this result enough times that we always advise…check them out before you hire.

By Gordon Basichis

Gordon Basichis is the Co-Founder of Corra Group, specializing in pre-employment background checks and corporate research. He has been a marketing and media executive and has worked in the entertainment industry, the financial, health care and technology sectors. He is the author of the best selling Beautiful Bad Girl, The Vicki Morgan Story, a non-fiction novel that helped define exotic sexuality in the late twentieth century. He is the author of the Constant Travellers and has recently completed a new book, The Guys Who Spied for China, dealing with Chinese Espionage in the United States. He has been a journalist for several newspapers and is a screenwriter and producer.