I am going to hire one or two employees. I want to do background checks on the people I decide to hire. What company do some of you use to do these checks. I sure there are good and bad companies out there.
Thanks,
Ed
Ed we use http://usis.com/
We have been using them for about 3 years. It costs about $10 a person to run a check. We do drug testing in house… but I think they may offer that as well.
I use http://www.ebiinc.com/. Although I have only had to use them a couple of times, I’m happy with them.
Ed,
We do them through a local company here. You might be able to do the same. Its relatively cheap- about $100.00 a guy. We run them through the mill though. County, State, Federal, Workers’ Comp. Its a slew of different things. It is the ethical thing to do. I, being primarily residential, makes it mandatory in my book. You are partly liable for your employees conduct while on the job. If you put a customer in harms way, and something terrible happens, you could and most likely will see legal action brought against you. With a background check in place, you will look better in the face of a judge if something goes wrong. You took additional steps to try to prevent something from happening. You can also use it to market your image more professionally. My advice- Do it!
Steve
I would be terrified to send someone out to peoples homes without knowing if they are rapists or thieves.
I would be terrified just working with someone like that. When I was 25 a friend of mine and my brother cut a cab drivers head off while high on crack. Make matters worse he was tough as hell. One of those guys we all know who knocks dudes out cold with one punch. So he could have just beat the **** out of the cabby, but no he had to kill him for $50 of crack money with a streak knife. Looking back the guy was a complete nut case, but on his good days nice as hell. Like most killers he has found god while in jail. Last year my brother called me and told me the guy was getting out of prison. I was shocked, he got 25 years. But my brother told me, the guy did 10 years and went to the parole board and because he 'Found God" he was able to get a local priest to write a nice letter about him. I have not heard anything about the guy since or have I seen him. But imagine if that guy was to get back on the pipe. Then go work for someone.
So are you saying you wont be hiring him when he comes looking for a job?
LOL. HELL NO. I seen him go off one night. Only guy I truly ever feared lol. If he came looking for a job I could prob tell him yes your hired and then close up shop after he went home, then I would move lol.
hahah…
Wow this got me to thinking about this guy so I searched our DOC public records and found his inmate photo. HOLY CRAP. lol. I sent it to my bro and he just called an asked me why I wanted to ruin his day lol
We are now doing background checks on all of our employees. I contacted the company Chris suggested USIS first. Problem I had with them is they require you to pay $300+ to just set up an account, they want to do an onsite inspection and they require tax information I just don’t have on hand. However I did find a company that I did start using called National Employment Screening. There is no start up cost, I can pick and choose what checks I want to do and Know how much they each will be before I oreder them. I was also able to start doing checks the very same day I called. where as with USIS I was going to have to wait about a week.
USIS is a great company, but since we are a small company the money I would have shelled out for start up fees is more than I will probably spend on background checks all year.
If you are going to start background testing your new hires, you must do it on EVERY new hire from here on out. Not doing so is a basis for discrimination.
If you end up letting someone go and they seek legal action against you, that may be a huge loop hole that an attorney will find to nail you. You cant pick and choose who you will and will not background check from here on out.
I have seen really likable, clean cut applicants with a rap sheet as long as my arm.
I decided to take back over the role of interviewing new applicants… So for the past couple of weeks I have been doing 16 interviews a day 30 minutes each from 9-5. I usually find 1 or 2 people I think will fit in here out of every 16 applicants… So at the end of the week i have 7 -10 people I would Like to hire.
Next step is telling them I would like to hire them so I can get there info to run a background check. Automatically 50% of the people come back with some sort of hit so you cant hire them.
Then you have 5 new hires… they come in for training and get there drug test… bam that knocks out half of the remaining right there… So after a full week of interviewing I am left with 1-2 New hires that may or not work out.
UGH
3 memorable ones from this week:
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A gentleman came in here and showed me his electronic house arrest bracelet. he asked me to keep the interview short so he could run home before it was noticed he was missing. Turns out he was on house arrest for a string of burglaries… This job would be perfect for him.
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An older gentleman came in for a very strange interview… After the interview was over he walked out into the parking lot…Got in the bed of his truck and put on a pair of snow skis. He stood there fiddling around with his skis (also taking them off and aiming them around like a rifle) for a good 20 minutes.
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I heard police sirens so I went and looked out the window. 2 police cars were in the parking lot with lights on and a young gentleman sprawled out across the hood. Apparently he was soooo late for his interview he blew right by a speed trap and refused to pull over so he could make it here on time for his interview. (he was 15 minutes late anyway)
You’re a magnet, Chris.
I was talking to another (ex) local window cleaner & his help could never remember which side of the squeegee was meant to face the glass. When I picked up some of his old jobs later, I could see which windows the help had been tasked.
My job Application is 8 pages with an essay portion in the middle of it. At the end of it is the page that is for those that have prior arrests/felonies. It is amazing that some will skip the entire part of that portion. Like Im not going to see it or something!? I have seen so many dirtbags in front of my desk, I’ve lost count.
Would you mind posting it? I would like to see it.
I guy I know has to register as a sex offender. It pops up on every background check. See, thing is it was a statory rape charge. He was 18 and his girlfriend was 16. They have been married for 15 years…It might be reasonable to offer a [U]promising [/U]prospect the opportunity to explain the details of his prior, in writing.
Varitek,
The application was done for me by my background check company. I dont have it on a PDF or anything like that. It is designed to give me a feel for the person before I choose to interview them.
It has all of the legal stuff in it as well. Basically the essay questions ask (1) what did you like / dislike about your last job? (2) If there were no restrictions placed on you, what you you most want to do with your life? < I love this question. Lots of unique answers. It tells alot about what their goals are. Some are very creative and amusing to say the least.
Good reviews on Amazon:
96 Great Interview Questions to Ask Before You Hire (Paperback) by Paul Falcone
$12.21
