Imperative is one of the three founding members of ConcernedCRAs, a group of  background screening firms collaborating in an effort to raise the marketplace's awareness of consumer protection issues .  In less that six months and with no advertising other than word of mouth, the group has to over 60 members! We released the following press release today.

Entre Nax Karage is one of the many wrongfully convicted murder defendants in Texas proven innocent by DNA testing and the Innocence Project. Although he was pardoned by Governor Rick Perry (the actual perpetrator was identified with DNA testing) and his criminal conviction was erased from Dallas County's records, he has continued to pay the price of his wrongful conviction.

Now that the merger of Wells Fargo and Wachovia is complete, Wells Fargo has decided to terminate 175 Wachovia employees who were previously Wells Fargo employees. They do not meet Well Fargo's employment criteria based upon their history with Wells Fargo, said a spokesman. The 175 employees were less than 10% of the 2,000 former Wells Fargo employees at Wachovia.

Our clients are our clients because they see the importance of making a good hire. Past performance predicts future performance and a good background check is an investment. However, what about subsequent behavior outside of the workplace? Should an employer be concerned about the 6,680 hours a year that an employee is not at work?

According to an Associated Press article today, cities across the US are considering removing criminal history questions from city employment applications. "Ban the box" or "block the box" initiatives are intended to help former offenders obtain employment. This is a dumb solution to a legitimate problem that will ulitimately negatively impact those ex-offenders who are most likely to succeed.

For the last four years, the National Association of Professional Background Screeners' Accreditation Committee has cussed and discussed, debated and conflagrated, and generally had a lot of fun in the midst of a lot of hard work as we developed what we hope approaches a "gold standard" for the employment background screening industry. In April, we are finally going to roll out the Background Screening Agency Accreditation Program.

The awkwardly-named program establishes a standard against which screening firms can voluntarily be measured. The standard covers issues ranging from data security and consumer protection to legal compliance and sound business practices. Screening firms of all sizes, publicly-traded and privately-held, participated in the process of developing the standard and extensive feedback has been received from the screening industry, legal and privacy experts, as well as a hired expert in establishing and managing accreditation programs.

As a past chair and still active member of the Accreditation Committee, I am proud of the final product that will be rolled out at NAPBS' annual conference in April. It represents the best work of some of the smartest people in our industry. And while the program does not remedy the greatest issue facing our industry, it certainly achieves it's goal of raising the bar for all of us.

Read NAPBS' official press release about the program here.

 We announced the release of our study of the problems with Texas DPS' criminal records database late last week. That study is beginning to get some attention. Newspaper and other media outlets across Texas have jumped on the story.

Texas' central criminal records database was found to be missing 36% of the criminal convictions and deferred adjudications included in a study published today by Imperative Information Group. This is the Department of Public Safety criminal records database relied upon by state licensing agencies, employers, youth sports leagues, churches, and a host of other organizations.

A few months back, Jobing.com asked Mike to talk about background checks and the background investigations industry.  They also asked Mike to provide advice to individuals who are currently seeking jobs but may have questions about the application process and how it relates to background checks.

Jobing.com split Mike's interview into a small collection of videos and posted them on their website.  Below is a list of those vides.   

Enjoy!

LISTEN NOW:

This week's podcast features Mike's interview of Diana Meisenhelter of Riviera Advisors, a human resource consulting firm. 

Diana has over 20 years experience in corporate staffing and recruiting.  Prior to her role at Riviera Advisors, Diana held the position of Vice President of Staffing and Talent Acquisition for Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, and prior to that she was Director of Worldwide Recruitment for Westin Hotels & Resorts.  Additionally, Diana is on the board of directors for the DFW Staffing Management Association.