Thursday, May 14, 2009
Intelius Blog is Journalism First, Marketing Second
Easton at BusinessBlogWire writes a review of the Intelius corporate blog today. Like Easton, I have some quibbles with style (the posts are awfully long). But it's a great example of the kind of "journamarketing" you could be doing.
Intelius helps people get access to public information through personal background checks and other services. They deal with a lot of complicated issues, and the people who work there become experts in that space. So they're using their blog to explain some of those complicated issues. It's really nothing more than journalism. There's no overt sales pitch for Intelius. For example, the blog has entries about what kinds of mistakes you might find in public records -- and whether it's a good idea to publicize the names of people who've received concealed-weapons permits.
You might think this is a silly thing for them to spend time on. But when people want to dig into public records, I'll bet they almost always go online first. So building a repository of information, dedicated to helping people track down public information, will pay off in the long run with more referral traffic and a better online reputation among people who might use Intelius' services.
Information about Intelius, Founded by Naveen Jain
Founded by Naveen Jain, Intelius well known in the information commerce industry helps clients make intelligent decisions about assets, people, and businesses. Intelius applies advanced heuristics to public and publicly-available information, delivering it on-demand and online to consumers and businesses to facilitate a more informed decision-making process in business and life.
Intelius ranks among the top 100 most trafficked Websites, with an average of one million unique visitors daily. The many products and offerings of the company include a set of comprehensive and customizable pre-employment screening services, a consumer-facing people search service, list management, and an award-winning identity theft detection, prevention and insurance service.
Intelius’ background checks have helped consumers make better decisions about the people, businesses and assets in their world, from potential dates to new neighbors.
People search by Intelius, has reconnected thousands of people with friends or relatives with whom they’ve lost touch. In the HR world, Intelius’ employment screening services enable companies to analyze candidates’ professional backgrounds, from drug testing and fingerprinting to criminal records, professional licenses and education verification, plus a best of breed SSN verification service.
These services have helped create leads and confirm data for millions of customers, in addition to giving them peace of mind and the ability to make better decisions by making use of valuable public information. The Intelius executive team consists of IT and Internet professionals, technologists, business providers, and security specialists, and is led by Chairman Bill Owens and CEO Naveen Jain.
Intelius makes security available at multiple levels, including the personal, technological, and operational levels. Intelius also protects customers’ personal names, credit card numbers, and social security numbers. Intelius’ Verisign certificate signals safe and secure web transactions.
Reference: Intelius.com
http://www.peoplesearches.com/news/
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
A Little Background Check Goes a Long, Long Way
Everyone has some kind of secret in the past. It may be something harmless but embarrassing, like working part-time as a mascot for a fast food chain at sixteen. On the other hand, a secret can also be serious, like being fired from previous jobs due to excessive absenteeism. Indeed, there are some secrets that are darker than most.
If you are an employer, part of your task is unearthing your potential employees' skeletons in the closet through a background check.
Doing a background check doesn't mean that you have to know all the intimate details of an applicant's life. But this also doesn't mean you need to take at face value everything he wrote in his resume and said in his interview.
A thorough background check determines whether or not his credentials are true. It will also inform you if the previous companies he worked with only have good things to say about him in terms of character as a person and performance as an employee.
Does the applicant have a criminal record? If yes, how serious is it? As an employer, you are responsible for keeping your employees safe, and one way to do that is ensuring your workplace is free from unreformed criminals. Without a background check, you risk hiring a convicted murderer who escaped prison. Sounds paranoid?
Maybe, but that scenario is not impossible if you skip on a background check. It's better to be safe than sorry.
Aside from fishing out even the most-hidden criminal records, a thorough background check also weeds out liars who embellish their resumes. An applicant may think a few exaggerations and fabrications in his resume are harmless, but what does that say about his character?
A background check will identify the person who truly fits the job you're trying to fill in and differentiate him from someone trying to get in under false credentials.
After all, you want a qualified position for the job to make sure that it gets done right. Besides, how can you trust a liar with your company's sensitive data and processes? This alone should give you a clear picture of how important a background check is.
When doing a background check, you can verify information such as criminal records, official transcript of records, character references, certificates of employment from previous employers, and even credit score. A credit score at first may not be an obvious choice to be part of it, but a good score is a good indicator responsibility and diligence.
Most of the pertinent information you need to include in your background check is usually public information anyway, so there's no excuse for you to skip on doing a background check.
You should hire the applicant under no false pretenses, and this can assure you that you've done so. If you do a thorough background check on applicants before you hire them, you will have a safer and more secure workplace filled with competent and trustworthy employees.
Reference: EzineArticles.com
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Now, Small Firms Do a Background Check before Employing
A small financial company in Jaipur recently hired an experienced financial hand from Mumbai as its chief financial officer.
No sooner had he joined, they had to fire him. He was found to have hidden the fact that his previous employer had sacked him for incompetence.
Small companies across India are facing difficulty in finding the right people who can manage their growing businesses as the fear of picking up the ‘wrong’ guy is also on the rise.
The Jaipur Company was lucky in the fact that the employee in question had conveniently forgotten to submit a relieving letter from his last employer. When a referral check was done, out came the shocker.
Background screening—or reference checks of prospective employees—is a normal practice among the big firms, especially multinationals. But stung by recent occurrences, small companies too are resorting to it.
Background screening, although in the nascent stage, is already an Rs 500-crore business in India. If small companies get involved, it could be a much bigger business, say experts.
According to a research conducted by First Advantage, one of the biggest players in the space in India, more and more executives are falling prey to fraudulent methods to get jobs.
The research mentions that security services saw most people (66.67%) trying to get jobs through misrepresentation, followed by the education business (44%).
“Most of these firms are small emerging firms,” says First Advantage MD Ashish Dehade. Interestingly, this is also fallout of the downturn. People who are getting sacked are resorting to fraudulent practices as job opportunities are becoming scarce.
Such frauds are also occurring in banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI), consultancy services and FMCG sectors.
“There has been a phenomenal increase in people trying to hide information like criminal records, their being sacked from previous organization. As the slowdown in the Indian economy increased so did the people trying to fake it to get a job,” says Dehade.
The report suggests that the number of people misrepresenting the facts have shot up almost 100% over the last year. The maximum increase has been in the FMCG, BSFI and consultancy, says the report. Some time back, a senior executive was caught by a background screening organization who had faked IIT and IIM degrees.
Most organizations, however, try to put these incidents under the carpet than allow it to come in the public scrutiny. “Recently we had approached a background screening company, and we were shocked to find out that many of our existing employees had misrepresented facts for getting a job.
We had asked those employees to leave but did not report the cases anywhere in the police or made it public,” says CEO of an emerging IT company based out of Bangalore, who requested anonymity. There are around 200 players in the background screening business, most of the players being emerging companies.
Reference: economictimes.indiatimes.com
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Sunday, August 3, 2008
Court: Some Teacher Records Exempt From Public
In a 6-3 decision, the court found that releasing the names would violate the privacy exemption of the state's Public Disclosure Act.
School districts still must release records related to unsubstantiated cases so the public can judge how school districts handled allegations of sexual misconduct, the court said. "The identities of the accused teachers will simply be redacted to protect their privacy interests," Justice Mary Fairhurst wrote for the majority.
Names of teachers must be disclosed only in cases where sexual misconduct has been found or some form of discipline has taken place, Fairhurst wrote.
The ruling drew a stinging dissent written by Justice Barbara Madsen, who declared, "It is important to bear in mind that unsubstantiated does not mean untrue."
Madsen said the public will not have access to information necessary to determine whether school districts satisfactorily deal with allegations of sexual misconduct.
"As a consequence, predatory teachers may go undetected and unpunished," Madsen wrote.
The case stems from a 2003 investigative project by The Seattle Times that found 159 coaches in Washington were fired or reprimanded for sexual misconduct, ranging from harassment to rape.
The Times report found that school districts often failed to investigate complaints against coaches, and didn't report them to law enforcement or the state education office.
While researching the series, The Times filed public-disclosure requests with Seattle, Bellevue, Federal Way and seven other school districts for records relating to allegations of teacher sexual misconduct in the past 10 years.
The Times argued that regardless of the outcome of an investigation, the names of teachers alleged to have committed sexual misconduct was of legitimate public interest.
The newspaper's request was challenged by 37 teachers.
A King County Superior Court judge found that the districts must only disclose the names of teachers whose alleged misconduct was substantiated, resulted in discipline or if a district's investigation was inadequate.
A state appeals court overturned most of the decision, ruling that districts could only withhold records relating to teacher sexual misconduct when the allegation was "patently false."
In today's ruling, the majority said, "Making a distinction between 'unsubstantiated' and 'patently false' is vague and impractical."
The appeals court provided little guidance on what should be deemed false as opposed to unsubstantiated, the court said.
"When an allegation is unsubstantiated, the teacher's identity is not a matter of legitimate public concern," Fairhurst wrote.
The adequacy of an investigation should not affect a teacher's right to privacy, because the accused has no control over the investigation, she added.
Madsen, in her dissent, wrote that teachers do not have a right of privacy because allegations of sexual misconduct fall within their public duties. The allegations do not involve intimate details of their private lives, as required by law, she wrote.
Madsen said the court's ruling will allow school districts to manipulate investigations to avoid disclosure of teacher names.
"A school district can effectively control whether an accused teacher's identity must be released by reaching an agreement with the teacher exchanging resignation for silence," Madsen wrote.
Chief Justice Gerry Alexander joined the majority, along with Justices Susan Owens, James Johnson, and Bobbe Bridge. Justice Tom Chambers also signed the majority opinion, but wrote that he agreed "in result only," with no further comment.
Madsen's dissent was joined by a Justices Charles Johnson and Richard Sanders.
Toby Nixon, president of the Washington Coalition for Open Government, blasted the decision in a written statement.
"This is yet another example of exemptions to public records disclosure being created by the courts rather than by the legislature," Nixon said. "School districts often hide evidence of patterns of misbehavior by teachers, coaches, and staff to avoid lawsuits.
It's one thing to expunge allegations shown to be false from a teacher's record, but we know from sad experience that where there's smoke there's usually fire — and now parents will have a harder time becoming aware of continuing patterns of accusations."
As part of the ruling, the majority also found that school districts do not have to release the names of teachers who received letters of direction, or guidance, when the letter doesn't identify an incident of substantiated misconduct and no discipline or restriction is imposed.
Reference: seattletimes.nwsource.com
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
Some City Licenses Cost to Rise Due to Background Check Expenses
The ordinance is designed to recover costs of conducting criminal background checks on applicants.
The new fees will help the city recover fingerprinting costs and labor to process license applications that require a criminal history review by the state Division of Criminal Investigation.
The new fee will add $20 to cover the cost of the DCI's charge for conducting background checks, and $15 for the police department's additional labor both for new license applications and annual renewals.
Currently, there are 273 beverage, 377 security, 16 secondhand shops, seven pawn shops, five gem and metal dealers and 47 taxi drivers who have a license from the city.
Alderman Sam Kooiker and other council members believe the city must lengthen the period of time licenses are valid to lessen the impact of the fee increase.
"This is going to create sticker shock. It's the kind of thing that causes inflation. I think it warrants more discussion," he said.
Police Chief Steve Allender said new requirements from the state will increase time and labor for the police department to process license applications and then to forward results to the state for background checks. The ordinance is designed to recover those costs.
When informed that people will be required to be re-fingerprinted every year to get licenses renewed, Kooiker was incredulous.
"People's fingerprints aren't going to change unless they burn them off, right? I mean, in all seriousness, does this make sense?" Kooiker asked.
"No," Allender answered.
But the city must adhere to federal and state regulations regarding background checks, he said. The DCI will not do a criminal history check on an applicant without a set of fingerprints to ensure the identity of the person.
"This has got to be one of the dumbest things I've seen in government to do a set of fingerprints on everybody every year," Kooiker said.
Some council members believe the so-called "sticker shock" of a $35 increase to get a license in the city could be reduced by requiring a renewal every two years instead of annually. Alderman Bob Hurlbut said delaying the renewal would reduce administrative costs but still allow for full background checks.
City attorney Jason Green said another ordinance is in the works that will describe which licenses will require a background check. He said the council could also discuss license time periods as part of that ordinance.
The background check issue arose earlier this year when some council members sought to require mobile ice cream vendors to be screened for criminal history due to the proximity those businesses have with children. Ice cream vendors are likely to be included in the upcoming ordinance.
An attempt to postpone the issue for a month failed. The council then voted unanimously to approve it. The companion ordinance may be introduced as early as the July 30 legal and finance committee meeting.
Reference: rapidcityjournal.com
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Saturday, July 19, 2008
Expert says FBI Checks Needed for Youth Pastors
David Allburn, executive director of Safe Harbor Resources and the National Foundation to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse, is critical of the process, although background checks are required for youth pastors.
"The scope and content of the checks is usually superficial," Allburn said. "Faith groups are especially vulnerable to cherishing the myth that 'it can't happen here,' so their leaderships usually feel that background checks are a routine to be accomplished as fast and cheap as possible."
Former Mansfield youth pastor John Picard, 40, was arrested Thursday in Springboro on 10 counts of sexual battery reportedly involving a teenage parishioner. He is accused of having sexual relations with a girl starting in 1992, when she was 13, and continuing until she reached adulthood. Picard was a youth pastor at Grace Brethren Church on Marion Avenue at the time.
Mansfield police said Picard has not been involved with Grace Brethren Church for about four years.
"Allegations started surfacing," Lt. Allen Vandayburg previously told the News Journal. "The ministers decided they didn't need his services anymore."
The Rev. J. Hudson Thayer did not return a call seeking comment.
Allburn recommends having youth pastors undergo an FBI fingerprint check.
"It exposes arrests from all states at once, going back more than 50 years, and revealing all fake names the sexual predator provided police when arrested," he said. "Actually, nobody knows for sure what an individual's name is, and, in fact, we might not care.
"He can call himself Donald Duck if he wants to because the FBI fingerprint check tells if that person was arrested for anything more serious than traffic and minor misdemeanors, no matter what his name."
According to Mansfield Municipal Court records, Picard had nothing more than a handful of traffic offenses before Thursday's arrest. He has no felony record in Richland County.
Police said they think there are more victims. Detective Jeff Shook opened the case in 2005. He said some of the alleged abuse occurred in the church, while other reported incidents happened at Picard's 419 Sloane Ave. residence.
Vandayburg said Picard has worked in Springboro for a steel company for some time but moved there only three or four months ago.
Anyone with information relating to the Picard case is asked to call Shook at 419-774-3533.
"The goal is to make this case so devastating to him that it stays out of the courtroom for the protection of these girls," Vandayburg said.
In a 2001 case at Grace Brethren, Michael Sloan was charged with sexual contact with seven teenage girls he met through the church. He pleaded no contest to five counts of sexual imposition and two counts of importuning -- all misdemeanors -- for inappropriately touching or soliciting the girls. He was given a one-year diversion sentence.
Reference: mansfieldnewsjournal.com
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Google Background Check as a Tool for your Research
Even in doing a background check it’s a known fact that even judges use search engines. Google search directs someone to find the background check info that the person may be looking for or guidance for handling a case.
A report on News.com stated that a government employee, David Mullins, complained that his “right to fundamental rightness” is violated. He was then suspected of misuse of government vehicle, time and travel card and falsification of official travel document.
Valerie Capell was the one who weighed the allegations against the accused. She, herself discovered that Mullins was twice removed from a job (with the Department of Air Force and with the Smithsonian Institution, respectively).
Ms Capell’s decision to fire Mullins from the job doesn’t affect the Google search. In fact, when Capell discovered Mullins losses of job, she had already 102 specifications that would support the allegations against Mullins.
The government agent has the right in conducting a background check. It is a process on which the company can check either the employee has a clean record or has a questionable reputation before.
It just only justifies the decision of Capell that firing Mullins is right. With the substantial evidences recorded and known and procedures according to law, the decision made no prejudices.
Google search, as part of a background check, is not a question.
It can be a reliable resource of information. Though it is not used against a person to judge per se, a background check is used to identify one’s identity to have a fair judgment. And definitely, a background check is used not to harm others but a useful material for any decision.
Reference: detectiveunlimited.com
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