Background Checks: What employers are really looking for.

In the real world, no one cares one bit about what websites you’ve visited, what you’ve purchased on Amazon, and what you write on your anonymous blog about your children, your post-nasal drip, and your annoying neighbor.

They do care about your judgment, your public image, and your felonies. What a recruiter is likely to do is run agoogle search on your name, not on your IP address. If pictures of you smoking questionable substances (or heck, in some companies, smoking legal substances) show up, that’s a problem. If your blog about how awful your current/last boss was pops up, that’s a problem too.

What do companies look for in background checks? Well, they look for the following...

Education verification (so don’t lie about that degree, even if you’re only 3 credits short)

Credit history (in relevant jobs, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn’t really like credit checks, so many companies don’t use this tool)

Employment verification (did you really work at the companies you said you worked for, do your titles match what your resume says, and how long did you work there)

Criminal history (yes, that DUI will show up),

Certification/licensing verification (again, don’t lie, and make sure they are up to date)

Driving record (if the job involves driving)

Most likely you’ll also have to do a drug test and some companies require a physical exam. (This isn’t an intensive exam, more of a “let’s see if you have any problems to begin with” exam, so you can’t sue us for problems you had before you started working here. For jobs that involve physical activity, these can be more important tools.)

The recruiter and hiring manager will most likely run your name through Google, so do that before you start applying for jobs and see what pops up. If you have a common name, they may or may not wade through the junk to figure out what is about you. If there is someone with your name who does bad things on theinternet, you may wish to explain that this is not you. What you don’t wanted do is include non work related blogsor Twitter accounts on your resume or cover letter. Yes, you may be proud of your writing, but if it’s not related to your career, it’s more likely to do damage than help.

Now, keep in mind that when companies do internet searches on candidates in addition to the official background check, what they are really looking for is evidence of good judgment, or rather lack of evidence of bad judgment.

Remember, the internet is forever, but if you have something up that really could be damaging to your career, you may wish to take it down and ask yourself, “Why am I putting things on the internet that I don’t wish the world to know?” Remember, the internet is not private. It is very public. VERY.

Forensic handwriting comparison passes legal test.

The D.C. Court of Appeals has held on the state of forensic science-that handwriting comparison and identification, as practiced by FBI examiners, passes the Frye test for admissibility. The case came about as a result of the findings in the 2009 NRC report.

However, in the matter of Robert E. Pettus, Appellant v. U.S.A. Appellee, the appellate court, found that while the report was hardly an unqualified endorsement of handwriting analysis, it also did not provide evidence that the science community opposes it as a whole. Handwriting analysis has been generally accepted under D.C. law for nearly a century. As such, it is presumptively reliable and, thus, generally admissible.

The full decision can be read at:
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1593870.html

A Tour of our Office

How will that new hire do? Check out her Facebook profile.

(Author Unknown)
That’s the advice of a new study from the Northern Illinois University, the University of Evansville and Auburn University. The researchers recruited a group of four Facebook-savvy human resources professionals and students to evaluate the Facebook profiles of 56 users. The four perused each of the profiles for about 10 minutes each before grading them according to the so-called Big Five personality traits (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism).

Six months later, the researchers compared the evaluations of the 56 users’ work supervisors and found a strong correlation for traits including intellectual curiosity, agreeability and conscientiousness. The evalauations are, of course, subjective, but job seekers shouldn’t necessarily worry that they need to clean up their Facebook profile.

For instance, Don Kluemper, one of the authors of the study, says that contrary to popular belief, a picture of you partying won’t necessarily hurt your chances of getting hired. “I don’t think a picture of someone holding a beer adversely affected them, but [a picture of you] being drunk in a ditch somewhere might be a negative,” he says. Not surprisingly, pictures and references to traveling signaled openness to new experiences and adventurousness, while the number of friends you have indicates extroversion.

A second study also looked at evaluations drawn from Facebook profiles and academic success. Kluemper says that report, which included a larger sample (244) and found the profiles were an accurate predictor of GPAs. “We can predict academic success better than a standardized IQ test,” Kluemper says.

Despite the studies, Kluemper says that companies shouldn’t use Facebook to screen applicants, although, of course, many already do. Kluemper says there hasn’t been enough research yet to show a definitive connection between Facebook profiles and job performance. “This offers a shred of validation,” Kluemper says of his research. “But there are thousands of studies that show personality tests predict performance. More studies [on Facebook as an indicator of job performance] need to be done.”

Alpha Agency offers a complete "Social Network" search that can provide you with insight that can assist you in making the right choices for your business. Contact us tday to learn how you can incorporate these social investigations into your current background screening processes.

How Law Enforcement Uses Social Media for Forensic Investigation

Forensic analysis of social data is performed post-incident. Naturally, investigators will gravitate to where the evidence exists — in this case, sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and others. Although the photo and video evidence is sometimes posted by the criminals themselves, investigators can also utilize information posted by others to both strengthen a case and even identify the perpetrator of a crime.

In speaking with numerous police chiefs, I’m amazed by the technological savvy of traditional “gangs” which utilize social media to both intimidate victims online as well as coordinate offline activities, such as recruiting new members. Leading public safety agencies have integrated investigation of online communities into their crime solving techniques, identifying accomplices who may communicate with one another through social media or even collecting communications threads directly related to an event and implicating individuals.

Read the entire story here:


How Law Enforcement Uses Social Media for Forensic Investigation

About the author:
Todd Piett is the chief product officer at Rave Mobile Safety / Smart911.com. He writes about technology trends in public safety and enhanced 9-1-1.

Supreme Court Ruling about GPS Tracking

GPS Tracking - How Does It Effect You?

The Supreme Court ruled on January 23, 2012 that Government Agencies must obtain a warrant before attaching a GPS tracker to a vehicle.

The scope of the decision was limited to government agencies and does not concern private investigators. Please see the Washington Post article link in this email.

For government agencies, obtaining a warrant is a formality and many do so now. In fact in the case before the Supreme Court, the agency obtained a warrant but they failed to attach the device within the 10 day period and the warrant expired.

A few states require that the government agency serve the warrant on the “target” within 10 days. In these circumstances the tracking device can be used for 10 days then removed on the tenth day before the warrant is served. I am told by these agencies that this is legal and standard procedure.

There are no plans in the near future for a case to be heard regarding private use of the devices.

This information is provided courtesy of the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/supreme-court-warrants-needed-in-gps-tracking/2012/01/23/gIQAx7qGLQ_story.html

FTC Warns Marketers That Mobile Apps May Violate Fair Credit Reporting Act

Agency Sends Letter to Marketers of Six Apps for Background Screening

The Federal Trade Commission warned marketers of six mobile applications that provide background screening apps that they may be violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The FTC warned the apps marketers that, if they have reason to believe the background reports they provide are being used for employment screening, housing, credit, or other similar purposes, they must comply with the Act.

The companies that received the letters are Everify,

Inc., marketer of the Police Records app, InfoPay,

Inc., marketer of the Criminal Pages app, and Intelligator,

Inc., marketer of Background Checks, Criminal Records Search, Investigate and Locate

Anyone, and People Search and Investigator apps.

According to the FTC, some of the apps include criminal record histories, which bear on an individual's character and general reputation and are precisely the type of information that is typically used in employment and tenant screening. "If you have reason to believe that your background reports are being used for employment or other FCRA purposes, you and your customers who are using your reports for such purposes must comply with the FCRA," the letters say.

The FCRA is designed to protect the privacy of consumer report information and ensure that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is accurate. Consumer reports are communications that include information on an individual's character, reputation, or personal characteristics and are used or expected to be used for purposes such as employment, housing or credit. Under the FCRA, operations that assemble or evaluate information to provide to third parties qualify as consumer reporting agencies, or CRAs. Mobile
apps that supply such information may qualify as CRAs under the Act. CRAs must take reasonable steps to ensure the user of each report has a 'permissible purpose' to use the report; take reasonable steps to ensure the maximum possible accuracy of the information conveyed in its reports; and provide users of its reports with information about their obligations under the FCRA. In the case of consumer reports provided for employment purposes, for example, CRAs must provide employers with information regarding their obligation to provide notice to employees and applicants of any adverse action taken on the basis of a consumer report.

According to the letters, the agency has made no determination whether the companies are violating the FCRA, but encourages them to review their apps and their policies and procedures to be sure they comply with the FCRA.


Bruce Hulme
ISPLA Director of Government Affairs
http://www.ispla.org/
Your Proactive Voice from State Capitols to the Nation's Capitol