by Nick Fishman

Another Annual SHRM Conference is in the books and many of us that attended have just one question: Does Size Matter? I’m sure they are less than pleased with the fact that attendance was down sharply, but at least from our perspective, this was one of the best Annual Conferences we’ve attended in years.

Maybe they didn’t have 12,000 attendees, but those that were there were eager to learn all they could about the lastest trends in the human resources field.  No one needed to be reminded that this has been a difficult year, but the overall tone seems to be one of guarded optimism that things are getting better and will continue to do so.  So sure, everyone still wanted the free stuff on the show floor, but they also really wanted to know how exhibitors could help them improve efficiencies within their respective organizations.

As my friend Kevin Grossman from HRMarketer wrote following the conference, “Less than 7K [attendees]. That’s less than half the number of folks who attended the past two shows. But I gotta tell you, it’s been more of a blessing than a N’awlins voodoo curse.”

A Couple EmployeeScreenIQ Highlights:

• We released our annual background screening trends report for the coming year
• We recorded some great podcasts that we will be posting on the EmployeeScreenIQ Podcast Channel in the coming week, including:
  • China Gorman, SHRM Chief Operating Officer
  • Michael Layman, SHRM Government Affairs
  • College Recruiter’s President and Founder, Steven Rothberg
  • Cheezhead’s Joel Cheesman
  • Amanda Ellis, Director of Business Development at iCIMS
  • Intern Queen, Lauren Berger
  • And Many More
• We’re excited to learn more about SHRM’s new Social Network SHRM Connect
• Regular conference Tweets- Connect with through Twitter at www.twitter.com/employeescreen

Make sure to check them out starting next week!

by Natalie Beck

The Bozeman City Commission called a special meeting last night to decide whether the city should hire a third party investigator to look into the hiring practices of the city’s human resources, police and fire departments after the city drew worldwide criticism for requiring job applicants to provide passwords to social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook on their job applications.  Needless to say, the vote culminated in a unanimous yes.  Personally, I think a negative vote on this move would have resulted in more criticism for the city.

Since this story broke, we have been all over it like bees to honey.  And we will continue to follow it in anticipation of the outcome.  The use of social networking sites as a background screening tool is a very hot topic for hiring professionals and the result of this inquiry could ascertain its level of appropriateness, if any, in the decision making process.

Stay tuned…

Investigator to look into Bozeman “social media” policy

Montana’s News Station - June 30, 2009

by Nick Fishman

Greetings from the exhibit floor of the 61st Annual SHRM Conference in NOLA.  Believe it or not, this place is rocking.  Attendance is down a bit, but you wouldn’t notice it judging from the crowds at the general sessions and in the exhibit hall.

We chose to release our Annual Top 10 Background Screening Trends list at the conference list year.  Check it out!

Hiring Controversies, Social Networking and Falsified Resumes Top EmployeeScreenIQ’s Annual List of Background Screening Trends

Global employment screening company shares 10 insights about hot topics that hiring professionals need to watch during 2010

EmployeeScreenIQ, a global leader in employment screening, has announced its 2010 list of 10 background screening trends.

Since 2007, the company has developed an annual list to be unveiled at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Annual Conference and Exposition. This year’s trends were announced at SHRM’s New Orleans conference and are designed to equip hiring professionals with advance information on crucial screening topics before they become everyday news.

EmployeeScreenIQ’s top background screening trends for 2010 include:

1. Greater hiring controversies due to social networking. Social networking has exploded in popularity and changed America’s culture. A recent CareerBuilder study found one in five employers used social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to influence hiring decisions. However, many sites have no verification process and several can be edited by anyone with access to the Internet. Sites such as YouTube and MySpace have few content requirements, and nearly all sites allow users to make up a profile in someone else’s name. At risk are FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) regulations and EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) guidelines.

2. Contractor and PEO background checks rise in importance as temporary labor gains widespread use. As the economy regains its footing, employers will turn to temporary labor such as onsite vendors, contract employees and PEO workers. When a contractor is on-site at an employer’s business, which party is responsible for screening the contractor’s workforce? And how can all those involved be sure the contractor has chosen a screening provider who employs best practices? Addressing these issues before signing a contract will be critical for employers in 2010, and their diligence will be tested. A primer for employers is available at: http://university.employeescreen.com/articles/Contractor_Performed_Check

3. Increased hiring in 2010. Integrating a background screening program with applicant tracking systems (ATS) will enable companies to save time and money in the onboarding process. This will help speed the inevitable hiring upswing in 2010, as companies realize that the recent mass layoffs cut too deeply into their workforce. Key employees will be rehired and job vacancies will need to be filled.

4. Fewer employers will respond to requests for resume verifications. Mass layoffs have left HR departments short-staffed and spread thin in managing responsibilities. As a result, employers are either slow or unable to assist with background checks and verifications. The reality is that former employers don’t make money providing verifications, and many are outsourcing the verification process to a third party provider. However, such companies simply provide payroll data that their client – the candidate’s former employer – uploaded to their system, and information is lost about the candidate’s performance, attitude, skills and experience. http://university.employeescreen.com/articles/Employment_Verifications_Layoffs

More

by Jason Morris

I first came across this topic earlier today reading Sam Narisi’s blog, HR Recruiting Alert.  A brilliant piece that originated from an article in last months Wall Street Journal.  Applicants are dumbing down their resumes so they don’t look OVERQUALIFIED!  In Narisi’s piece, “The New Lie Applicants Are Telling.” he states:

With jobs hard to come by, more and more applicants are lying on their resumes. But they’re not the kind of lies you’re used to.

As HR pros know, it’s not out of the question for candidates to inflate their past job titles and duties, or add academic degrees that were never completed.

But these days, many out-of-work managers are looking for stop-gap jobs and are stretching the truth in a different way — by “dumbing down” their credentials so they don’t appear overqualified.

A lot of formerly high-up employees are willing to step a few rungs down the ladder just to get a steady paycheck. Often, that requires them to convince hiring managers they won’t jump ship the moment the market improves and something better comes up.

One way their doing that: changing job titles to look less impressive, according to the Wall Street Journal. For example, one marketing exec listed her previous jobs as “manager” and “trend researcher” to “staff” and “office support.”

Candidates are also hiding degrees and other academic achievements. One woman looking for temporary clerical work said she received no calls from employers until she stopped listing her master’s degree on her resume.

More

According to the Wall Street Journal’s article:

Kristin Konopka sent out nearly 100 copies of her résumé in January in search of receptionist work, but got only one callback. That’s when Ms. Konopka, a 29-year-old New York actress and yoga teacher, took her master’s degree and academic teaching experience off her résumé.

The calls started coming in. The slimmer version of her résumé landed in 30 in-boxes and earned her three callbacks and two interviews. “It definitely picked up the interest,” says Ms. Konopka, who realized quickly that people don’t “want to hire anyone who is overqualified.”

Securing work in a tight economy means more job seekers might find themselves applying for positions below their qualifications. Many unemployed professionals are willing to take paycuts for the promise of a paycheck. But to get a foot in the door, candidates are gearing down their résumés by hiding advanced degrees, changing too-lofty titles, shortening work experience descriptions, and removing awards and accolades.

More

So, when we started EmployeeScreenIQ in 1999 one of our pitches was not to overpay candidates because they lied about their qualifications.  I guess employers need to be cautious and do background checks so not to pay market value when they are overqualified? Chew on that for a while???

by Jason Morris

No, its not….but as a fan of The Ohio State University that would  be a heavy helping of Just Desserts!  We have used stories in the past from The Onion and I have to say they are my favorites.  This week “America’s Finest News Source” has a special issue on the workplace, a must read!  This story plays so well into our past diploma mill stories I felt compelled to post this satirical masterpiece.  I am hoping for some background check stories to pop up soon. Enjoy.

University Implicated In Checks-For-Degrees Scheme

ANN ARBOR, MI—The University of Michigan has become the 17th institution of higher learning to be implicated in the checks-for-degrees scandal rocking American campuses, representatives from the Department of Justice reported Tuesday.

Enlarge Image University Implicated In Checks-For-Degrees Scheme

The campus of the embattled University of Michigan.

“We have strong evidence that the University of Michigan granted academic degrees to students in exchange for hefty payments, often totaling tens of thousands of dollars,” Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey said. “In the process, thousands of graduates have emerged with degrees, but few or no skills applicable to everyday life. And many are as unprepared to enter the job market as they were when they first enrolled.”

More

by Jason Morris

Its one thing when a company fails to do a proper background check somewhere in the United States. Its another when it happens in my own county!  Cuyahoga County, well know around the State of Ohio for corruption has another feather for its cap.

Agency that transports the elderly within Cuyahoga County fires its finance director after The Plain Dealer inquires about his criminal past

Senior Transportation Connection — a public-private partnership that runs van service for senior citizens in about 20 Cuyahoga County communities — fired its finance director Wednesday, a day after The Plain Dealer confronted him about his recent criminal history of stealing from employers.

Jeremy D. Fields worked as a consultant for the agency since May 2007, months after getting out of prison for his second felony theft conviction in two years. Court records and interviews show that Fields, 32, embezzled nearly $200,000 from two area businesses before landing the job with Senior Transportation Connection.

Agency Director Janice Dzigiel said she was unaware of Fields’ criminal past until Tuesday when a reporter contacted Fields. Dzigiel said after Fields ended the phone call, he rushed into her office and revealed everything.

Dzigiel said she was stunned by the revelations and told Fields to turn in his keys and leave the agency offices, on West 150th Street in Cleveland.

More

by Jason Morris

For the past 3 years EmployeeScreenIQ has released an annual list of the 10 hottest screening trends – these are the trends that are expected to make industry headlines next year.  The 2010 list will be announced later this month at the SHRM Conference and Expo in New Orleans, but we’re releasing a sneak preview of some of the trends.

Jason Morris and I recently sat down with HRMarketer’s Kevin Grossman to talk about some of the trends that made our list and what they mean to hiring professionals. Each week in June we’ll air a selected trend as we get closer to SHRM in New Orleans.

This week’s feature focuses on our Trend #1:

Greater hiring controversies due to social networking.

by Nick Fishman

Power to the people! It sounds like the city of Bozeman, MT was sufficiently bombarded with phone calls and emails objecting to their practice of asking job applicants to supply user names and passwords to their social networking sites after the media and bloggers excoriated them. The city announced late Friday that it will suspend this practice.

City Manager, Chris Kukulski was quoted as saying the policy, “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community”. He probably should have also included “acceptable in the free world” in addition to his community.

See story

We’re all for employment background checks, but it is important to protect the rights of job candidates in the process.

by Kevin Bachman

City apologizes, stops asking for Internet passwords

By AMANDA RICKER Chronicle Staff Writer

The city of Bozeman has stopped asking job applicants for their log-in information to online groups and social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

However, the city has only suspended, pending “a more comprehensive evaluation,” its practice of reviewing information found on password-protected sites, City Manager Chris Kukulski said, leaving open the possibility that it might find other ways to look at the sites.

The city ended the policy as of noon Friday because the city “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community,” Kukulski said. “We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the city of Bozeman.”

Acting Mayor Jeff Krauss said he expects the Bozeman City Commission will be reviewing the city’s hiring manual line by line.

“We might want to see what other interesting things are in there that we might have to address,” he said.

As for finding other ways to look at social-networking sites as part of evaluating a job candidate’s suitability for a city job, Kukulski defended that approach.

“We will continue to do our full due diligence to review any public information that we can get our hands on to research potential employees,” he said.

Read more here.

For the last few days, any internet surfer would be hard pressed to find a media outlet that DID NOT pick up this story. A few days after the story breaks and the town walks it back. But it sounds like they’re trying to have their cake and eat it to. In the face of intensely negative public opinion, they backed down, but only by “suspending” the practice, maintaining it was designed to elicit valuable information that is useful when making a hiring decision. They continue to state other practices that are useful toward achieving those ends will be considered. 

But will this process reappear once TV reporters stop calling?

Look, I admire the intent to find information that allows them to hire qualified candidates who will keep the community safe and serve the people with honor and integrity. Too many companies are looking to cut corners these days. Hoping their candidate doesn’t have a criminal record rather than checking it.  Wishing a degree comes from an accredited University and not a Diploma Mill. But there’s a line here. I wonder if the town feels they might just have crossed it. 

by Nick Fishman

According to the ABA Journal, the city of Bozeman, Montana is asking job applicants to provide a list current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.  While we’ve written extensively about our objections to using such sites for employment background checks, we understand that it happens.  What we have never seen happen is another requirement of the city which asks candidates to list their user names and log-ins.

We are all for extensive employment background checks and stringent employment screening practices, but this seems a little over-reaching.  Do you think the city has gone so far over the line that they can’t even see it anymore?  I wonder what our favorite legal bloggers from Ohio and Delaware think about this policy.

Town Requires Job Seekers to Reveal Social Media Passwords

A human resources requirement by the city of Bozeman, Mont., that job applicants provide a host of personal information, including passwords to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, is creating a sensation online.

E-mail is fair game too considering officials also ask for passwords to Google and Yahoo accounts.

Montana’s News Station, a CBS affiliated site, reports that they were tipped to the application process from an anonymous individual who was concerned about Bozeman’s background check policies.

According to the station, job seekers for Bozeman city posts are required to sign a background check waiver. In addition to allowing standard criminal records checks and past employment reviews, the applicant is required to do the following:

“Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.”

The city form then offers three lines for applicants to list websites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords, Montana News Station reports.

City Attorney Greg Sullivan is quoted as defending the policy: “We have positions ranging from fire and police, which require people of high integrity for those positions, all the way down to the lifeguards and the folks that work in city hall here. So we do those types of investigations to make sure the people that we hire have the highest moral character and are a good fit for the city.”

In a follow up piece on the Bozeman HR requirements, the Montana News Station reports that, as a result of the story, Bozeman officials are receiving an e-mail a minute about the policy.

At the time the follow up story was reported, more than 5,000 votes had been tallied in an online poll (IMAGE) about the issue. A whopping 98 percent say the policy is an invasion of privacy.

The city is reviewing the policy. And they may be speeding the effort now that Facebook has become aware of the city’s HR policy.

The information technology publication, The Register, quotes Facebook as saying the Bozeman policy “is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which received feedback from users and was ultimately approved in a site-wide vote.”

Facebook further indicated it would be in touch with Bozeman officials.