The Background Check: How Much Do You Really Want to Know?

A few years ago, a client manager asked me to screen for a position on his staff. He wanted to hire a Unix systems administrator with experience in financial markets. After submitting a resume of a very qualified person, I received a call from him rejecting the candidate. I was confised because he certainly had the qualifications for the job. I asked why.

"Go to www.google.com and search for by his name; you'll find what I did. A message he posted on a discussion service where he talked about sizable trading losses. We can't let him anywhere near our systems or anywhere near our trading models."

And from there I learned a valuable lesson.

As a junior recruiter, back in The Stone Ages, I lost two hires for matters that might seem personal--one was an officer with a bank who, shortly after she joined, had penned several pornographic books; the other was a computer consultant who, apparently not long before accepting a position with the consulting firm I introduced her to, had posed for two magazines that were released two weeks after she joined her no employer (how they discovered the photo shoot and magazines was never asked, of course).

With the recent NFL draft highlighting a drive toward great athleticism and character resulting from recent bad episodes involving players, it begs the question of whether your firm is doing anything of even a marginal basis to check a person's background prior to their joining your firm.

Does your firm engage in a background check?

Do you use Google to search for old resumes that are inconsistent with the one you received?

Have you been surprised by anything that appears on their web page or social network site page?

If you have, have you asked the person about anything that you've found?

To be clear, I am not suggesting that your firm turn into the second coming of the KGB. I am suggesting that character is impoprtant in your new hires is important and that question marks need to be investigated before something occurs later that will be an incredible headache for everyone.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to him at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com

Creative Hiring in Active Job Markets

By now, I'm sure you've noticed that the job market is extremely active and that it is hard to find qualified people, let alone qualified people without breaking the bank.

I want to share an anecdote from a recent hire that a client of mine did that showed intelligent creativity.

The position involved was for a technology professional with a J2EE background plus solid architectural experience. I could go into a lot of detail about the job requirement but I believe it is unnecessary to making the point.

The first thing my client did was to be flexible to job hunters who might not be working near their offices by doing an initial phone interview with job candidates. Instead of having human resources make the initial call, HR scheduled an interview with two of their managers and the candidate. This allowed them to do a solid evaluation of the person and their competencies prior to meeting with them.

The second thing they did was open their search to qualified individuals who were working in the US under an H-1b visa. doing this allowed them to access to less expensive potential employees.

They met the person in their offices (the job applicant worked outside the region during the week but was home on Fridays and available to meet them), and spent time both evaluating and assessing the individual and their qualifications but also talking about the firm and the good things about working there.

A second meeting was scheduled with a Director and at that time, HR spent a significant amount of time talking with the potential hire about benefits and quality of life issues. They also made clear the fees that they would pay for both the visa transfer and the green card--all except for job applicant legal fees.

An initial low offer was made but they indicated that there might be some small flexibility. They then improved it slight, increasing the base salary plus providing a sign on bonus that would pay for the legal fees for the transfer.

Asa a result, they hired someone who was qualified to do their job for $14000 less than what they had originally budgeted for the position while maintaining salary parity within the firm.

Are there any ideas you can take from this?

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to http://www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to him at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com