EmployeeScreenIQ Blog

As many of us get ready to take some time off this holiday season we reflect on the past year.  Yesterday I came across a great article on Yahoo (Provided by CNN Money) that discussed the “Dumbest Moments in Business for 2009.”  My first reaction was, simply being in business in 2009 was the dumbest moment was it not?  I was really hoping to see a background check whopper in here somewhere but unfortunately the closest they got was the Bernie Madoff Story.  So I guess we will have to live with what we got in the article, enjoy!

Dumbest Moments in Business 2009

Loudmouth CEOs, islands in the desert and bringing dead celebrities back to life. Our annual list of the business world’s bonehead plays marches on.  Read on….

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Notre Dame has fired their over-promising and under-performing head football coach, Charlie Weis.  Rumors are spreading like wildfire for who will replace Weis.  Especially after athletic director, Jack Swarbrick promised to return the school to the era of Knute Rockne, Ara Parseghian, Frank Leahy and Lou Hotlz.  We’ve already heard the names of some pretty heavy hitters as possible candidates: Tony Dungy, Bob Stoops, Jon Gruden, Urban Meyer, Kirk Ferentz, Gary Patterson, Brian Kelly and Jim Harbaugh.

Not a background check story? Think again.  Everyone remembers a few years back when Notre Dame hired an up and coming coach named George O’ Leary to return the team to prominence following a less than stellar performance by his predecessor Bob Davie.  Unfortunately, O’ Leary only lasted a couple days on the job and was unceremoniously terminated because the school found out through media reports that he committed resume fraud and lied about his academic credentials.  Doh!  A simple Education Verification would have saved them the embarrassment that followed.

Here’s hoping they decide to conduct a thorough background check on whoever they bring in.  It will save them time, money and unwanted media attention.

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In honor of my favorite holiday of the year, I give you this year’s Background Check Turkeys:  Those people who thought they could fool us all as well as those who have gotten fooled.  These are my favorites from the past few months. Enjoy!

• Nurse Betty Not Really A Nurse- This nurse of the year recipient was missing a little something from her qualifications.
• VH1 Show “Megan Wants a Millionaire”- How a flawed background check led to tragic consequences.
• Rochville University- Education made so easy a dog could do it.  Just ask Chester Ludlow.
• University of Akron- We’re all for thorough background checks, but DNA?  Really?
• President Barack Obama’s Administration- “Green Jobs” Czar looking for a new job.  Hope his next employer decides to run a background check.
• EmployeeScreenIQ’s Jason Morris- We’ve spent a lot of time this year discussing diploma mills, but Jason’s video on how he got a fake degree takes the cake.  Jason, the Oscar’s aren’t calling!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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…..fight against Diploma Mills.  See how misleading that title is? Goes to show how misleading a diploma mill really is.  I wonder if the SNL writers read our White Paper on Diploma Mills before doing this skit on Saturday?

Anyway, SNL did a great skit on fake degrees this past weekend, check it out below.  Stay tuned for their funny parody on employment screening!

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Here’s my NCAA Football Top 10 Background Check Team.  What would we find if we conducted background checks on these football powerhouses?

1. University of Miami- (Ok, this one is like shooting fish in a barrel) Guilty of Felonious Assault.  Who can forget the program’s most recent black eye when they went at it with Florida International University in the middle of a game?
2. University of California- Guilty of Hit and Run.  Remember the end of game kick-off return that ended with Stanford’s tuba player on his backside?
3. Notre Dame University- Failing to conduct an Education Verification on our good friend Coach George O’Leary.  This story has done more for raising awareness of academic falsification than anything I can remember.
4. University of Michigan- Guilty of hiring a slave driver turned-crybaby in coach Rich Rodriguez who has done nothing but make the school look bad since his hiring in 2007.  One need only look at what he did to his previous employer when he stole university files before leaving. (A good Buckeye never needs an excuse to take a shot at the team up North)
5. Southern Methodist University- Guilty of Everything.  The football program was so dirty that they received the “death penalty” from the NCAA in 1987.
6. University of Georgia- Guilty of Biting Opposing Players?  An Auburn player is bit by his own school’s security police dog.  Many speculate that the canine in question was planted by the Bulldogs.
7. University of Alabama- Coach Nick Saban is always guilty of . . . something.
8. University of Hawaii- Guilty of retaining their head coach, Greg McMackin after slurring the gay community at a press conference this summer.  Rather interesting twist from a team nicknamed the “Rainbow Warriors”
9. The Ohio State University (my Alma Mater)-  Clearly guilty of Identity Theft for pretending to be a national championship contender for the last 3 years.
10. The NCAA- Guilty of robbing all of us of a playoff system that would give us a true national champion.

Can you think of any other “guilty” programs?

Go Bucks!

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I would love to be the company conducting this background check in the future.  Imagine being the interviewer and asking Mr. Moyer if he can explain the charges that were uncovered during the employment screening process.  “Mr. Moyer, it say’s here that you sexually assaulted a Disney character, care to explain?”  Almost as embarrassing as being caught having sexual relations with a horse! (See that story from last weeks blog)

Man guilty of groping Minnie Mouse at Disney

John William Moyer will face sentencing for groping Minnie Mouse at Disney World

A jury this morning found John William Moyer guilty of groping of a woman playing Minnie Mouse at Walt Disney World.

Moyer, 60, of Pennsylvania, was convicted of misdemeanor battery for the June incident this morning.

Judge Wayne Shoemaker imposed the sentence this morning.

“The verdict reinforces the fact that this type of behavior is not acceptable,” said Walt Disney World spokeswoman Zoraya Suarez. Disney officials also banned Moyer from entering any of the company’s resorts, Suarez said.

According to the sentence, Moyer has to write a letter of apology to the victim, Brittney Duncan McGoldrick. He also is under supervised probation for 180 days, must complete 50 hours of community service within four months, pay $1,000 in court costs and submit to a mental evaluation with treatment, if necessary.

Before sentencing, Moyer’s adult son spoke on his behalf.

“He’s a good man,” Emory Moyer said. “He’s a nice guy.”

Emory Moyer also described his father as a man who would never touch a woman inappropriately.

Later, Moyer spoke briefly to the judge.

“I am innocent, I am not guilty of the crimes that I’ve been charged with,” Moyer said.

Moyer has no criminal history and has never received a speeding ticket, he said. This was his first offense.

McGoldrick told prosecutors at the Orange County Courthouse on Monday she had pushed Moyer away from her after the incident.

“My first reaction I just pushed him down. I was doing everything I could to get his hands off my breasts,” Duncan McGoldrick said.

Jurors began their deliberations Monday afternoon.

“We’re just hoping for the only fair and just verdict in this case, which is ‘not guilty’,” said Zahra S. Umansky, Moyer’s attorney.

Moyer had been booked into Orange County Jail on June 7 and was released on $1,000 bail.

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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.”

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Every so often, we at employeescreenIQ like to have a little bit of fun with the question “What would a background check on (insert name) look like?”  We’ve tackled O.J. Simpson (no pun intended), the fictional character of 24’s Jack Bauer and even our own Jason Morris (but keep in mind he wrote that one himself so I’d triple check those facts!).  Occasionally, however, members of the news media do the work for us.  Accordingly, we have the case(s) of Adam “Pacman” Jones, former defensive player for the Tenessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys.

Mr. Jones has made some poor choices in his personal life that have had a significant adverse effect on his professional career.  The whole reason for this timeline of events is that the Cowboys are looking to give him yet another chance at redemption.  If your employee had the same history, would you do the same?

Pacman Jones Arrest Record: His Greatest Hits

By Mike McD, Bleacher Report – June 8, 2009

Reports are coming in that the Dallas Cowboys are thinking of bringing Adam “Pacman” Jones back to the team.

On paper, that may not be a terrible idea.  Jones has shown that he can be a solid defender and a dangerous punt returner.  Off the field, however, Pacman has not exactly proven himself to be a good, upstanding citizen.

He has more arrests than he does career interceptions.  That’s really all you need to say.

Let’s take a look at the kind of trouble Jones has gotten into.

July 13, 2005

He was arrested and charged with felony vandalism after an altercation at a nightclub.  Pacman doesn’t waste any time making himself familiar with the nightclub scene. 

I also love how press releases always say nightclub, but we all know it was a strip club.  How tame was it that all he got busted for was vandalism?  Grade: C-

 October 2005

Jones fails to check in with his probation officer and has his sentence extended for an extra 90 days. 

Jones claimed that he couldn’t get reception, that it always went to voicemail every time he called, that his probation officer was screening his calls, and that he totally lost his phone and actually just found it.  He was ignored.  Grade: D+

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This is a reprint from our most current edition of The Verifier!

Letter from the President: This is What You Are Up Against –Check Out My “Biography”

Pay Special Attention to the Bolded Text

By Dr. Jason B. Morris, Ph.D.

Hundreds of thousands of companies across the globe have entrusted employeescreenIQ to do their employment screening. We have shared exhaustive industry research, insights, and best practices through over 600 blog postings and hundreds of articles accessible through employeescreen University and our newsletter, The Verifier. However, we have never shared biographies of our company executives. In this article I will dissect one of them, myself, Dr. Jason B. Morris.

After graduating with honors from Cleveland Heights High School I entered the United States Air Force. After spending six months in Kuwait during the first Desert Storm I enrolled at Kent State University in 1991. Still on active duty, I graduated in 1995 with a degree in Criminal Justice, and left the Air Force as a Captain.

Later that year, I began working as a full time private investigator for a Cleveland, Ohio-based PI firm. Having graduated Kent State with Honors, and still working full-time, I began working on a Master’s degree. Quickly moving up the ranks, I was named Executive Vice President of a Private Investigation firm, where I focused my time inventing and implementing proprietary investigation techniques.

In May of 1997, I earned a Master’s degree in Economics from Gordon University. Shortly thereafter, I decided to continue my studies at the Ph.D. level. In May of 2000, after much painstaking effort, I earned a Ph.D. in Criminology, also from Gordon University. My dissertation is still lauded as one of the most insightful and progressive works in the field of Criminology: “Lack of Employment Screening in the US Workplace Will Have Dire Consequences in the next Decade.”

I am a frequent speaker at industry events pertaining to background checks, global screening, recruitment and staffing and I often discuss best practice initiatives as they relate to achieving organizational improvements. I was recently named to the “40 Under 40 List” in Cleveland Crain’s Business for innovation in the workplace. I Co-Chaired the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) organization in 2005-2006 and continue to serve as a board member. employeescreenIQ is a founding member of NAPBS. As Co-Chairman of NAPBS I made frequent presentations to government agencies including members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. These presentations focused on amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), and various provisions to forthcoming privacy bills and immigration reform initiatives. I have lobbied on behalf of the screening industry, and have consulted with officials from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the US Department of Justice. My comments were published on the US Department of Justice website regarding pending legislation on the Federal Register. Active in community and philanthropic causes, I am a current board member of The American Cancer Society Cuyahoga County. In addition, I am a former board member of Big Brothers/Big Sisters Association of Cleveland and Make a Wish Foundation. In 2006 I served as the Revenue Chairman for the March of Dimes.

At this point, you may be asking yourself why I have waxed poetically about myself. Is it because I like to talk about myself? Well yes, but in this case you may have recognized some things you didn’t know about me, or worse, some things you knew were untrue!

Unfortunately, this sort of fraud goes on every day in every organization. And those who perpetrate this fraud were not as kind as I was when I bolded all of the facts that were actually accurate and truthful.

The point is that there are services out there and readily available that can verify or expose as lies all of this information. It’s important to use trained professionals to help you hire with confidence. Even the Masters Degree and Ph.D. that I claimed (which hang not-so-proudly on my wall) were purchased from diploma mills and they are fully verifiable to the novice fact-checker. We did a great study this year on resume falsification and diploma mills. If you have not done so, I suggest you read it. If you are not using a professional background screening firm, you may want to ask yourself, how many “Dr. Jason B. Morris, Ph.D.’s” do you have working for you?

Jason Morris is President and C.O.O. for Cleveland-based employeescreenIQ, a best practices provider of pre-employment screening services throughout the U.S. and worldwide. Jason can be reached at (800) 235-3954 or by email at jmorris@employeescreen.com.

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