Categories
Online Dating Industry

Ruminations on Online Dating, Romance and Dueling Degrees

We found a relatively new site called DegreeDate.com

They boast the following–

Degreedate.com is, first and foremost, a dating and personals site geared towards singles who value education in their prospective dates. What differentiates Degreedate.com from other dating sites is that our service provides not only connections based on physical appearance, location, shared interests, and the relationships you are seeking, but we do it in a unique and fun way-by letting our members display their educational background and Alma Mater. Dating is tough, but it is also fun-and, as an added bonus, it can also be educational.

Degreedate.com believes in education-and we believe in it so much that we thought we would provide you with valuable resources to improve your life and maximize your time. From dating sites to online education, shopping options to medical and real estate resources, Degreedate.com provides research and product links for you to be able to make educated, insightful decisions between the choices you make each and every day. We’ve made these resources easy for you to access, and hope they provide you with the solutions to all of your needs.

We at Corra fully support any effort by this or any other date site to encourage romantic efforts that would help propagate a more intelligent species for this planet. Let’s face it, smarter people are desperately needed, and any attempt to design a more exclusive channel to develop relationships among a more educated class is just fine with us. Genetically speaking, the joining of two intelligent people should result in intelligent offspring that will be directed toward being competitive and acquiring at least a college education.

Of course, I have to question whether the natural order of things is for most members of dating sites to drift toward the prospective paramours who share similar values in education as well as similar interests. It is rare in this day and age for even the most enlightened female attorney to go running off with the stockboy at Sam’s Club or even the Chippendale’s Dancer. But then, on a site like Degree Date you don’t have to go wading through the intellectual flotsam and jetsam before finding someone with whom you are compatible mentally.

While we are heartily in favor of intelligence over ignorance and stupidity, we at Corra still recognize that there are more than a few highly intelligent people who are self-obssessed, selfish and inconsiderate, or otherwise a major pain in the ass. In contrast there are duller people who are polite, considerate and courteous. But then so are Cocker Spaniels, which takes us back to the basic premise that love and romance is always a pretty tough call.

But perhaps in the end Degree Date will start a meaningful trend. Perhaps some enterprising soul will open up yet another online dating website where everyone is mandated to take courses in etiquette and common courtesy. Perhaps we can run background checks on them to see if they have been tested on protocol and decorum, where they understand that wearing your baseball hat on backwards reduces your IQ by one point each time you put it on your head. Perhaps we can have little personality profile tests to discover if the men wear wife-beater tees and hairy chests to better restaurants, and if the women do their makeup at the table. We can test them to see if they rely upon meaningless jargon rather than a more articulate and definitive use of the language itself. We can test them for refresher courses in the lost art of conversation, or if they know the difference between Albert Schweitzer and the Albert Hall. Once a site gets firmly established in the “smart and educated” category there is no end to the subjective and contextual upgrades it could provide its members. Naturally, Corra would still have to run background checks to make sure they weren’t lying.

But for now we wish Degree Date all the luck and hope they are ultimately responsible for the marital union of the thousands of intelligent people who in turn will gift the planet with a multitude of intelligent and talented babies. Someone can then design modern baby buggies with built-in computers.

Categories
Human Resources Online Dating Industry

Is Santa Claus a Pervert?

Christmas is the time of year when we like to spend our time with our children, friends and family. At least, that is how the story goes, and for the most part it is pretty true. We forget last year’s tribulations, the traffic jams and crowded stores. We fill our cars with ever-precious gasoline and our spirits with holiday cheer, and then we head off to the mall. We do a little shopping, trying to avoid the crazies who in increasing frequency are ready to do physical battle over the fad gift of the moment.

We stand in line for what seems like forever, juggling shopping bags and restive children, waiting our chance for a few minute conference with none other than the Big Guy from the North Pole, Santa Claus. There he sits on his gilded throne, amid all the blinking lights and Christmas décor. He is assisted by his helpers, who less often these days are midgets or dwarves, posing as elves. Midgets and dwarves allegedly scare the kiddies. The scene is fully nostalgic, resplendent with your own childhood memories. Your children are so anxious to sit and tell Santa what they want for Christmas, they can barely stand it. And here, amid the fake snow and the holiday festivities, it never occurs to you that Santa Claus may be a pervert.

That’s right. Despite all good intentions, your favorite mall may have mistakenly hired a child molester, whose recent residential address may have been the state penitentiary and not the North Pole. And you think you should be concerned about your child’s fear of midgets and dwarves. The truth is, that very lap where you place your child to declare his holiday wishes may actually belong to a pedophile.

To support this claim, CBS News recently had one of its staff impersonate a convicted felon and child molester. The staff member applied in five Los Angeles malls, under the name of the actual felon. The felon was a man who was registered along with 63,000 sickos on what is commonly known as “Meagan’s List.” He was hardly a well-kept secret. And yet all five shopping malls hired the man to be their Santa Claus. Later, when confronted with the issue, one man claimed to have run a free pre-employment background check that is generally good for nothing. The others mumbled lame excuses that, when translated logically, meant they probably had not run any kind of pre-employment background check.

In other malls throughout the country, those responsible do conduct pre-employment background checks, along with drug testing. The good news is, employers like Santa Plus, of Fallon, Missouri, which screens the 500 Santas it places in 250 malls, in 46 states, do conduct background checks. However, by some accounts, 70 out of every 1000 applicants for the Santa or Santa’s helper jobs have a felony record of some sort. That is approximately seven percent of those screened. They may also be applying to the malls and services that don’t do any background checking. They may be like the staff member of CBS, who, while posing as a child molester, got hired anyway. At five different malls. In the case of CBS, their guy was an imposter, helping to work a feature story. In the other cases, they are the real thing.

I know this is terrible. But if it ended there, we could almost be grateful. . Perhaps the larger question is, who are what are you having over for the holidays? Are you not doing the same thing as the shopping malls when you are thinking of dating someone without first checking him out? I know, your new Mr. Possible seems perfectly lovely on the Internet, and he is charming on the telephone. It is the holiday season. You feel lonely. It would be nice to share the holidays with someone who shows the potential for romance. But a confidence man, a criminal, or a pedophile, has had lots of practice at disarming his pray. Winning you over is what his life is all about. Getting to your wallet; getting to your children. They are good at it.

This is not to suggest you investigate old Uncle Fred, although it’s not always a bad idea. It is to suggest, however, that if you are a single woman, especially a single parent, and you are using the singles and online dating sites, you had best run an online dating background check on your potential paramours. Not only does an online singles background check help protect you from theft of goods, confidence scams, identity theft and your own risk of physical harm, but most importantly, it helps protect your children from the kind of strangers they should never meet.

Remember, Check Him Out Before You Date Him.

Categories
Articles Background Checks Human Resources

Don’t Let Your Hiring Practices Turn Into Your Maginot Line

Without Pre-Employment Background Checks, All the Security Precautions in the World May Amount to Nothing

Every business wants to be secure. No business wants to lose money. To offset the current and future threats to security or capital loss, modern businesses large and small spend tens of thousands, even millions, installing video cameras and metal detectors. They hire security guards and order employees to carry identity cards. They monitor activities and wrap barbed wire around the parking lot.

From a technological standpoint there is no end to efforts to secure data files and proprietary content. No industry lives without fear of crackers and hackers, vying to steal vital computer codes, bank accounts, and credit card information. In response, myriad companies are producing their versions of data security applications. They develop firewalls, passwords, encryption codes and spyware protection applications.

Meanwhile, far too many companies have failed to take the first and most obvious step in protecting their business from theft and abuse. They have failed to order even basic pre-employment background checks on their job candidates. Despite all precautions, they have created a situation where the menace lurks within. And that menace may be (greater than all other threats combined.

I recall my conversation many moons ago with the notorious international jewel thief, Albie Baker. At the time I was doing the book tour for “Stolen Sweets,” Albie’s autobiography. While driving around from one media interview to another he pointed out the fancy mansions in Beverly Hills he had burglarized some twenty years before.

“It was so easy,” he said. “Back then, they would spend all their bucks on securing their front doors. But the back doors and maid’s entrances were secured only with a simple lock. I used to open them with a screwdriver.”

Too many companies are following the same senseless pattern as Albie’s victims. They are spending all that money on physical and technical security, and yet they are trying to save a couple of bucks by failing to conduct pre-employment background checks. They are leaving not just the back door open but the front door as well, for workplace violence, embezzlement, data theft, sexual harassment, and drug and alcohol abuse. Some companies are so careless they have hired candidates without knowing if they were felons, perverts or diligent workers.

To make this point, CBS News recently ran a special feature where it had one of its people apply for the Santa Clause gig at five different malls in Los Angeles. The catch was that instead of using his real name the CBS employee assumed the identity of an actual convicted felon and sex offender. The man he was impersonating was a convicted pedophile and was registered along with the 63,000 others in California on what is commonly known as “Meagan’s List.” His nefarious past and questionable present were not what you call a deep secret.

Nevertheless, all five companies hired this man to be Santa Claus. As caretakers and de facto protectors of the thousands of kids who come to the malls every Christmas season they provided the lap of a pedophile as the place for your children to sit. Can you think of a better way to ruin the holidays? For your kid? Forever? In defense of their actions, one man claimed he ran the applicant through a free pre-employment background check. The others commenced to shucking and jiving, issuing an assortment of lame excuses.

Considering that drug and alcohol abusers cost businesses and estimated $100 Billion annually, you would think every business would take the precaution of mandating pre-employment background checks. Add to this sad statistic that employee theft costs American businesses between $60 and $120 Billion, annually and is the cause of thirty percent of the business failures. It has been estimated that replacing the wrong hire can cost the employer up to 24 times his or her annual salary. I’m sure you can guess if it’s the drug and alcohol abusers or the sober and diligent employees who are the cause of most accidents and the most violence in the workplace. The statistics go on, the costs mount up, the risks are heightened.

Yet there are still some decision makers who don’t see the importance of conducting pre-employment background checks. And if they do conduct pre-employment background screenings, they try to cut corners and cheap it up, rather than obtain a really comprehensive background report. Not only are they doing themselves a disservice they are doing the same to their own employees.

The early loss of the French to the Germans in the Second World War has been attributed to the French misconceptions of its “Maginot Line.” The Maginot Line was a formidable series of fortifications, bunkers, artillery, considered impregnable to assault. Perhaps it would have been the case has the Maginot Line been pointed in the right direction. But as with Albie Baker’s quarry in Beverly Hills, the Maginot Line was constructed to protect the front door. However, the Germans came through the back door and defeated the French military in short order. It could be said, “They opened it with a screwdriver.”

The simple lesson to all of this, is let history and Albie Baker dictate that you should never overlook the most obvious place that your are vulnerable to theft and disaster. Sure data security, video cameras and security guards may all be necessary, but don’t allow your business to be another Maginot Line. Common sense dictates, if you want security then address the area where you are the most vulnerable. Considering shrinkage, the risk of lawsuits and countless liability issues, pre-employment background checks are extremely cost effective.

There are many companies that service pre-employment background checks. The Corra Group is one of them. At the Corra Group we specialize in customizing and standardizing the pre-employment background screening to fit the particular needs of your business. We pride ourselves in being around to answer questions. Whether you use Corra Group or someone else, remember—Check Them out before You Hire.

Categories
Human Resources

Background checks flag 48 state troopers

TENNESSEAN – The Tennessee Highway Patrol has 48 officers with charges on their record ranging from suspended driver’s license issues to felonies, according to a background check of the entire department ordered by Gov. Phil Bredesen yesterday.

That’s about one of every 18 officers on the force of 855.

The governor ordered the screenings in response to questions from The Tennessean about background checks on THP officers mentioned in a memo from the commander of the patrol.

“There is an issue for me in how the department operates,” Bredesen said in response to this inquiry and others by the paper. “My reaction was, ‘I’m getting expletives tired of The Tennessean doing our work for us. Let’s go do some work.'”

The newspaper inquired this week about an Oct. 12 memo from Col. Lynn Pitts, commander of the patrol, telling officers that they would have to pass background checks to access a federal criminal database. If officers have felonies on their records, it is their responsibility to get them expunged, the memo said.

That inquiry closely followed a report by The Tennessean that two-thirds of officers promoted since Bredesen took office gave money to his campaign or had relatives or patrons who did.

Bredesen said yesterday that he would ask an independent law enforcement consultant to review practices at the THP, including the promotion issues.

He also ordered the Department of Personnel to review files for the remaining 807 troopers to look for non-criminal issues.

“What I’d like to come out of this all with is … that I can look everybody — the Lord, to the public, to the press, to my wife — in the eye and say ‘I’ve done everything I know with the data that’s available over there to identify any problems and take care of it,’ ” Bredesen said.

The 48 officers showed up in either a driver’s license records database or the National Crime Information Center database, said Jennifer Johnson, spokeswoman for the TBI, which conducted the checks at Bredesen’s behest.

Some of the troopers had been charged with multiple offenses, as many as three in some cases, Johnson said.

The THP, the TBI and the governor’s office declined yesterday to identify any troopers who had been charged with any crimes, or, for the most part, to detail the offenses involved. THP officials did identify two offenses, although they did not name the troopers. One was larceny; another was assault.

One reason they cited for not disclosing specifics was that they do not know the outcomes of the cases.

The NCIC information is confidential by law, and the outcome of some of the charges is not specified in the database — state officials must glean that information themselves from court officials.

State Safety Commissioner Fred Phillips, whose agency oversees the THP, was told late yesterday afternoon about the 48 troopers who had shown up in the TBI review, department spokeswoman Melissa McDonald said. Phillips said he would “take proper action of what the TBI finds … and welcomes and supports the broadening probe” of his agency, she said.

Bredesen has also asked the TBI to work with a lawyer in the stateDepartment of Safety to review all Internal Affairs investigations of the department dating back years to determine if any other cases require action.

“They are going to work backward to review those records to see if there are any other matters that need to be reviewed by the TBI,” Bredesen said.

The idea behind expungement, the process that Pitts suggested in his memo, is that the crime is no longer public. The purpose of the process is to help rehabilitate a first offender without staining them for the rest of their life, said Nashville lawyer David Raybin. He helped author the state’s expungement law.

However, the trooper’s underlying conduct — the action that resulted in the charges — could be grounds for sanctioning that officer, said Raybin, who also represents the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police.

The governor said yesterday that he wasn’t holding any individual in the department responsible for problems, but that he wanted more information.

He said he had asked TBI Director Mark Gwyn to provide a report within a week about the 48 officers in question.

The TBI has broad exemptions from the state’s public-records laws, but Bredesen pledged that when Gwyn issues a report, the governor will make it public.

“When I have that information, we will decide what is the appropriate action ranging from ‘sin no more,’ ‘watch yourself,’ to termination conceivably,” the governor said.

Bredesen said “one of the more serious” issues would be if officers lied on their applications regarding prior convictions. That would lead to immediate termination, he said.

“If they lied on the application, I don’t want to hear any more about it, you’re gone,” he said.

Bredesen’s order of the background checks came after the newspaper began asking questions about the Pitts memo.

“If a felony conviction is found during a background check it will be your responsibility to rectify these records by either expungement or other legal process,” Pitts said in the memo, adding in bold, “It is imperative that you attend to this issue immediately.”

The checks are a new requirement as the patrol works to have all its officers cleared to use the federal database.

“Failure to provide the necessary documentation and/or meet the qualifications as stated shall disqualify you from obtaining certification,” Pitts’ memo said. “It could also effect your position with the Tennessee Highway Patrol.”

In an interview yesterday, the colonel said the memo was not asking officers with criminal problems to try to hide them. He said it was simply a courtesy to officers.

“Not anywhere in here have they been told to do anything illegal, been told to hide something or take something off …” Pitts said. “It does not say that, it has not said that … If you have a felony conviction and I find it out, you’re going on leave without pay immediately.”

However, the governor, when asked in an interview about the wording, said it was “not an acceptable paragraph.”

“Somebody read that paragraph to me — it sort of read to me like ‘I don’t really care if you have a felony conviction or not. Just take care of it,’ ” Bredesen said.

The Oct. 12 memo told officers that THP would be doing background checks; but as of yesterday afternoon, only 200 had been done. Bredesen stepped in yesterday and had TBI do all 855 checks in one day.

Raybin said he saw nothing sinister in Pitts’ memo. Because expungements follow probation periods that can last several years, criminal defense lawyers sometimes forget to file the necessary court papers to get their clients’ charges expunged, Raybin said.

Pitts’ memo could have been misconstrued because it’s not possible to expunge a conviction, Raybin said.

“I think he was probably focusing on officers who had those old post-trial diversions where their lawyers had not expunged it,” Raybin said.

Pitts said the department performs background checks on officer candidates before they are hired, but said there had been some instances where officers may have transferred into the department from other state agencies without such checks by the THP, which is part of the Department of Safety.

As of yesterday afternoon, the department was continuing to conduct its own background checks separate from the TBI, according to Phillips. About 200 of those had been completed, and he said two had flags that raised a concern.

One officer had a larceny charge show up in his background and another had an assault charge. Phillips said he did not know the nature of the offenses or whether they resulted in convictions.

“If I find someone who has a criminal conviction, you’ll know about it because I’m going to fire them,” Phillips said. •

FULL ARTICLE @ TENNESSEAN