by Jason Morris

Be wary of who you are hiring!  When hiring someone from a foreign country a title of “doctor” can mean many things.   Utilizing a solid global screening or international screening program is more important than ever.  Simply verifying a professional license or checking the equivalency of a license could make a big difference.  Imagine the embarrassment of hiring a doctor only to find out he is a doctor of nothing!

Highly “Educated” Dictators of Tehran

The fiasco of the clumsily forged Oxford doctoral diploma of the Iranian interior minister is comically tragic. Unfortunately for the interior Minister Ali Kordan, he will not be able to join the elite group of Dr. Ahmadinejad, Dr. Larijani, Dr. Khatami, Dr. Maleki, Dr. Rezaii, Dr. Motaki, Dr. Jajili and a thousand other officials with a PhD degree any time soon. However this debacle raises the question, why Tehran´s rulers feel the need to carry the title of “Doctor” to govern?

More than anyone else, these inept executives are conscious of their own incompetence. Most of them have climbed up the same four step career ladder: Revolutionary Guard, prosecutor/torturer/executioner, provincials governor, city mayor or division director, and finally minister/MP/president. Their busy vocational path has left little time for learning skills needed to run the government. Purchasing a PhD diploma has been the logical choice for these rulers to purge intellectuals and educated workforce, and place themselves better to rip off the county´s wealth.

The popularity of the doctoral title among the theocratic dictators is also due to the ill reputation and disgrace associated with religious titles such as “Hojatoleslam” and “Ayatollah” among people. Such religious titles in Iran are now symbols of demagogy, brutality, and despotism.

For those officials who are engaged in interactions with the international communities , such as nuclear negotiation teams, or ambassadors, the doctoral title is used to conceal insincerity and deceitful intents and cunning tactics.

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by Jason Morris

‘PRIVACY ISSUE’: The company that cloned five pit bulls for a woman who was accused of kidnapping said its services could play a part in stabilizing customers

“There was no reason to check her background.”

A South Korean cloning company said yesterday it had no plans to screen its future customers, despite a scandal involving a US client accused of abducting a man decades ago.

Ra Jeong-chan, the head of Seoul-based RNL Bio, said he was unaware of the criminal records of Bernann McKinney, accused of kidnapping a Mormon missionary in England, handcuffing him to a bed and making him her sex slave.

Bernann McKinney gained widespread prominence recently when she had RNL clone five pups from her beloved pit bull, Booger. The firm claims that the puppies, for which McKinney paid US$50,000, represent the first successful commercial cloning of a canine.

But the intense media coverage of the event also helped expose the 31-year-old mystery.

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by Jason Morris

India, one of the largest pools of IT professionals in the world is seeing an increased need for background checks.  One of the reasons we launched employeescreen University was to educate employers across the globe on the virtues of doing proper employee background investigations.  One bad hire can cost your company millions in lost revenue and a lot of embarrassment.  Global background checks or “international background screening” is a growing trend. (Read employeescreenIQ 2009 Trends).

This story is a perfect example of why organizations need to tighten up their hiring practices.

IT Firms Have No Place for a Fake Resume

The IT-BPO industry is becoming increasingly clear that a fake resume can cost you your job with India’s largest IT serivces provider, Tata Consultancy Service (TCS), being the latest to recently ask close to 20 employees at its Kolkata centre to leave. The company, during the background verification, found that these employees have used fudged resumes to get jobs.

In the recent past all the major IT firms including Infosys, Satyam and Wipro Technologies and many mid-cap firms have taken a hard stand on fake or fudged resumes. However, the incidents continue. First Advantage, a leading background screening firm, in its recent report states that 30 per cent of all the resumes they have screened have discrepancies. In 2006-07 the company screened over 2 million applicants across industries. Ashish Dehade, managing director (West Asia), First Advantage says, “The percentage has been increasing. In 2006 it was 16-17 per cent, for 2007 its was 30 per cent and while we are just six months into 2008 the percentage is around 30 per cent.”

TCS is not the only firm doing this. Earlier Infosys had asked close to 100 employees to leave in FY07 due to discrepancies found in the resumes. Same goes for Satyam and Wipro Technologies. Some time back it was reported that Wipro would be sharing with other IT firms the database of job applicants who have faked information in their CVs.

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by Jason Morris

With no law equal to the FCRA in the UK and questions about accuracy of CRB records, this story comes as no surprise.  The use of (Criminal Records Bureau) CRB checks for UK employees has been a hotly contested subject in our industry for several years.  With foreign nations beginning to embrace the concept of employment screening, best practices are now becoming the hottest topic!

Hundreds of Innocent People Wrongly Branded Criminals by CRB Checks

Hundreds of innocent people have been wrongly branded as criminals by the Government agency set up to vet people working with children, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

People applying to take up jobs as teachers, nurses, childminders and even those volunteering to work with youth groups are likely to have been among those falsely accused of wrongdoing by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB).

Those wrongly accused by the CRB face having their careers blighted or being stigmatised by their communities. They also face having to endure an appeals process to clear their names.

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by Jason Morris

A care worker who was sacked after a criminal record check revealed an unfounded allegation of abuse is fighting a legal battle to clear his name.

John Pinnington, a father of two children, from Benson, Oxon, claims that the police were wrong to disclose the allegation to his new employer. He is now awaiting the outcome of a judicial review.

The dispute has become a major test case. His lawyers say that if he loses, thousands of carers will be prevented from working with children and vulnerable adults.

Mr Pinnington was fired from his post as deputy principal of Thomley Hall, a college for autistic children in Oxfordshire, when his employers requested an enhanced Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check after he took the job in 2005.

The check revealed an unsubstantiated allegation of sexual abuse that was made against him by an autistic child he had cared for at another college in 2001. Police had investigated the allegation at the time and dismissed it.

Mr Pinnington, 59, is now challenging the right of Thames Valley Police to have disclosed the allegation to his new employer.

The case is a test of tough new vetting laws introduced after the murders of the Soham schoolgirls in 2002. The girls’ killer, Ian Huntley, had been able to get a job as a school caretaker despite having faced repeated allegations of sex offences involving underage girls.

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by Jason Morris

I am not a fan of reality television, I don’t watch a single one of them.  I wish I knew about The Apprentice on the BBC in the UK, I understand it has sparked a nationwide debate on CV lies.  I wrote about this last week without understanding the true impact, this guy flat out lied on national television. This story will now be included in my future presentations. Lee McQueen will now be mentioned with the same vigor as George O’leary, Marilee Jones and Robert Irvine! Its nice to see the importance of doing background checks get some international attention.

Michelle Rodger: Liar beware: porkies on your CV will come back to haunt you

By Michelle Rodger

I UNDERSTAND Sir Alan Sugar is already looking for new victims (sorry, contestants) for next year’s Apprentice. The recruitment advert on the BBC Apprentice website makes for interesting reading: “As usual he will be looking for someone ‘drop dead shrewd’ – someone with some business experience and obvious real potential, a leader with a wide range of skills, who is creative, sparky and bright.”

Sounds about right, doesn’t it? But wait a minute, there’s something missing, what could it be? Spelling ability? No, that isn’t important for an Apprenticeship. Oh, that’s it, there’s no mention of skills in CV-manipulation. Nor an ability to turn four months into two years.

Step up Lee McQueen, Apprentice contestant, time traveller and alleged university graduate. Tut tut tut. What a naughty boy.

I have to be honest, Lee wouldn’t have got past the very first stage in my company recruitment process. Did you see the spelling and grammar on his CV (”tommorrow”, “ambtion” and “recoinged” just for starters)? Interview him? I think not. Appalling. But worse, much worse, was his dishonesty.

Lying on his CV about the dates he attended university was bad enough, but when caught out by Sir Alan’s Viglen chief executive Bordan Tkachuk, he blatantly lied again and failed to apologise when backed so far into a corner his backside must have been positively triangular.

Surely BBC researchers would have checked the facts when Lee applied to take part? Or did they already know and allow him through, knowing it would all come tumbling out in the end to make for great Wednesday night viewing?

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by Jason Morris

Don’t Get Caught out Like Sir Alan When Hiring your Next Apprentice

Wednesday’s edition of The Apprentice contained the revelation that one of Sir Alan Sugar’s potential apprentices, Lee McQueen, had lied on his CV about his education.

Angus Sim, director in PricewaterhouseCoopers forensics practice has the following advice for companies looking to avoid a similar pitfall:

“Clearly the discovery of fraud on Lee’s CV at such a late stage in the competition was embarrassing for Sir Alan, but he is one of many bosses throughout the UK having the wool pulled over their eyes by potential employees. Research shows that up to 25% of jobseekers in the UK lie on their CVs to impress their prospective boss.

“It is tempting to say that CV fraud has always been in existence, but there are a number of factors exacerbating this. For example, the flexible and increasingly mobile labour market makes it easier for people to leave details of their past behind as they move from one place to another. In addition, there is far greater emphasis being placed on getting a candidate on board quickly at the expense of any real effort taken to perform basic checks.

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by Jason Morris

Its obvious this teachers “union” does not read the employeescreenIQ blog.  Its even more obvious that this group has not done any research on safety in our schools. I can’t believe that this Union can oppose this with a straight face! I empower and encourage all of them to read the articles and postings at employeescreen University.

Teachers call criminal record check law useless
Janet Steffenhagen, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, June 02, 2008

BRITISH COLUMBIA - The B.C. College of Teachers is mounting a campaign against a new law requiring adults who work with children to have criminal record checks every five years.

The college says the law, as it pertains to teachers, is useless and it hopes to persuade trustees, principals, parents, school staff and first nations to join its call for government to fix it.

It has invited all education partners to a forum June 17 to discuss what could be done instead to better protect children in schools.

“This legislation is bizarre,” Richard Walker, chair of the college’s governing council, said of the law that took effect Jan. 1.

“It’s useless and it’s going to be very costly at the end of the day.”

The B.C. School Trustees’ Association shares the college’s concerns about the law.

“We’re not convinced it is the most effective way of improving student safety,” president Connie Denesiuk said in an interview, adding that she is looking forward to hearing the college’s presentation at the forum.

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by Jason Morris

This is a step in the right direction.  With international screening becoming more important across the globe this could be a big win for screening firms.  Nothing will come out of this directly for background firms but its a step that could make more records available in the future.

EU aims to share criminal records with its members

The European Commission has proposed the establishment of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) a computerised database allowing European Union member states to share the criminal records of their citizens.

Announcing the ECRIS proposals, European Commission Vice-president Jacques Barrot, the Commissioner responsible for Justice Freedom and Security said in a statement: “To reinforce the European Area of Security and Justice, and to ensure the security of citizens, it is important to establish at European level a concrete and user-friendly system which will enable an efficient exchange of information on previous convictions of criminals.

“Information about previous conviction shall circulate between judges and prosecutors as well as police authorities. This is essential in order to provide adequate responses to crime but also to prevent new crimes from being committed,” explained the Commissioner, who recently took over the portfolio in an internal reshuffle of the Barroso Commission.

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by Natalie Beck

I find it difficult to accurately convey my thoughts on this story as I think the title speaks volumes by itself. And, quite honestly, I’m extremely dumbfounded that almost seven years after 9/11, this type of oversight on the part of a major airline has even occurred.

We cannot stress enough how important it is for employers to conduct background checks on their employees. Furthermore, it is equally important to screen those who are working for your business in any capacity – volunteers, contractors, part-time, seasonal, etc. For the safety and security of your employees, customers, students, friends, and/or family that enter the confines of your business, you just have to know who you have working for you. You are taking a very big risk if you don’t.

Afghan Hijacker Found Working as Cleaner at Heathrow Airport

FOX News - Friday, May 16, 2008

An Afghan hijacker who won the right to live in England is working at Heathrow Airport in London as a cleaner in the British Airways training center, the Daily Mail reported.

Nazamuddin Mohammidy, 34, was among nine hijackers who in 2000 diverted an Ariana Airlines flight with 160 passengers on board to Stansted Airport in Essex, England.

The group, armed with guns and hand grenades, claimed it was fleeing the Taliban and threatened to kill all the passengers unless they were granted asylum. It took four days for the hijackers to surrender.

Mohammidy appeared in court this week after police pulled him over while he was driving a car around the new Terminal 5 at Heathrow, the Daily Mail reported.

At first authorities thought he was an unlicensed cab driver but were shocked to discover he was one of the hijackers and had a British Airways pass on him.

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