A small business owner in San Diego County told me recently that
they were using one of these brand name “Instant Nationwide”
background check services that was, in fact, recommended
by their liability insurance carrier. When I showed
the gentleman on the service’s own website that they search
nothing in San Diego County he was naturally upset and alarmed.
He said that they had been using the service for years to screen
their employees. I asked if he ever got a criminal record on
anyone and he said that he didn’t think so. Well, no wonder.
The service that he paid for searched no records in San Diego
County, ever.
Now think about that. How was he supposed to know? His
insurance carrier recommends a company and he wants to do the
right thing to protect his business. I think that this business
owner could prove that his insurance company was negligent in
recommending a company whose services are essentially useless to
him.
I have been in this business for 15 years and worked with such
varied clients as the GE Power Systems, the LA Times, the United
Nations, the Department of Defense, McDonnell Douglas/Boeing,
Mars, Inc., TATA and the National Transportation Safety Board.
Through the years I have had many discussions with small
business owners and managers all over the country about what
they should do and how to proceed with screening their employees
and applicants. Based on those talks I have compiled this
list of the most common mistakes that small business owners make
with regard to this subject.
Mistake #1: Using a cheapie database search. Those
Instant Nationwide criminal records checks that you see
advertised on the internet and sold for anywhere from $9.95 to
$49.95 are not what they say they are. Everybody assumes that
they are getting what the name implies; a check of all
records nationwide. NOT SO. These are $1 database
searches that in most cases are records from the department of
corrections in each state, so the info is of felony
convictions only. It is important to understand this point
Even worse, in many areas of the country such as most of
California, all of Maine, New Hampshire Vermont, Massachusetts,
Louisiana, and Montana and Maryland and Hawaii, Illinois,
Indiana and Washington D.C and several other states you get
nothing at all. You may say, “I am not in any of those areas
listed, so it’s OK if I use a database, right?” Wrong. You
don’t know where your people are from. They could have lived
most of their lives in one of those areas and just moved to your
area recently. For more on this subject read my Article:
Background Check Buyer Beware. You can find it on my
website listed below.
Mistake #2: Assuming that you know the people you hire.
We all make this mistake. I’ve done it myself and I do
background checks for a living. How crazy is that? One problem
business owners have with this is that they are kind of
embarrassed to have someone they know submit to a background
check, especially at a small Mom and Pop business or a small
town business. These employers are the people you see on the
news saying, “He was a quiet sort of a fellow that kind of
stayed to himself and never gave us no (sic) problems,” after he
goes postal and shoots up the place.
If you hire a friend or relative, think about how this looks to
your other employees if this person doesn’t have to submit to a
criminal, education and/or previous employment check. Believe
me, they will notice and they won’t like it.
Mistake #3: Procrastination and not acting at all. I
know that as a business owner or manager many, many things are
vying for your attention and this is just one more thing you
have to worry about. I also know that the cost of doing the
background checks is one factor that may slow the process. Check
with your liability insurance carrier and ask them if you will
receive a discount on your policy if you conduct criminal
background checks on all new hires.
One humorous thing that we have found is that there is no
perfect sized business. Small business Owner/managers tell me
all the time that they are small and therefore can’t afford much
OR that they are a growing business therefore it will cost too
much to screen all of their applicants.
Mistake #4: Using a poorly worded consent form. You want
to use a consent form that covers all contingencies; one that
allows you to conduct a background check and, if necessary, a
drug test as now, as a part of the pre-employment process AND
at any time in the future if the need arises. Here are some
examples: As a condition of a promotion you may want to re-check
for criminal or civil records. In case of an accident in the
workplace, you may want to check for drug or alcohol use. If an
employee is now going to be driving a company vehicle you will
certainly want to check his/her driving record.
Mistake #5: One of my friends is a cop who checks everybody
out for us. This particular mistake is more common with
volunteer organizations like churches and other non profits, but
it still applies to regular small businesses. The
problem with this is that everybody assumes everything. If I
were a betting man I would bet that if you fall into this
category that you don’t know what is being checked. You just
assume that everything is. You would not believe how many people
I talk to on an almost daily basis that think that there is
somehow some magic government databases that have all of your
personal data at the touch of a keyboard. Again, not so.
Find out just what exactly is being checked. Are they checking
just your county or your whole state? What if your subject just
moved there from another state? How complete is the
information? Does it list all misdemeanor and felony arrests
and convictions? How up to date is the information? Are they
checking maiden or other names? Are you getting a written report
to keep in a file and not just a verbal OK? Does the company
guarantee its work? Oh, and by the way, if your peace officer
friend is checking the NCIC database (FBI files) he/she is
almost certainly doing it illegally.
One way to choose a company that you can trust to do your
employee and applicant screening is to find one that will answer
all of your questions. The internet is full of companies that
will not disclose the source of the information that they sell
to you. Ask if the information is directly from the courts or
from an outside database. Ask how recent is the information and
how far back the information is available. Ask if it is searched
in person, if necessary and if there is an extra charge for that
service. Ask if the courts are consolidated in your state;
meaning that you can get all of the info of the county in one
place. Ask if your state offers a statewide search. These are
easy no-brainer questions for someone who knows what they are
doing. If a company can't answer those questions to your
satisfaction, find another company.
Kit Fremin is the owner and
founder of Background Check International. Since 1994 BCI has
served clients a varied as: the LA Times, Department of Defense,
Mars, Inc., the United Nations, the NTSB and Calvary Chapels
nationwide. His website is:
www.bcint.com and he can be e-mailed at
kit@bcint.com.
