Month: September 2006

Categories
Background Checks Human Resources Miscellany Relationships Uncategorized

Is There a Terrorist in You Cubicles?

Every day, it seems, we are greeted by headlines that describe how government agents thwarted yet another terrorist threat, or how a new group of malcontents have transformed themselves into a terrorist unit. We are told how so many terrorists and would-be terrorists in the Western Nations are not invaders from the outside but are in fact home grown idiots who are angry over something. More than a few are well educated and from proverbial “good” families who find their militancy through ideology rather than social or material deprivation.

Some act independently while others are influenced by terrorist infiltrators who filter through our borders for the purposes of sabotage and creating dissension. This group of infiltrators and “sleepers” are usually the more dedicated, the better trained, who have devoted themselves to the destruction of Western civilization. Nevertheless, despite all their worst intentions, and whether or not they are home grown, they still have to make a living.

True, some are supported by terrorist funding, be it Al Qaeda or some other group that conveniently believes their piety supersedes any true form of civilized behavior. They are fanatics who decided it is time to rise out of the woodwork and destroy the infidel. Who is you. Just think back to the quaint times when it was only your kids who dished on your values. Now it is a significant minority in a more significant part of the world. It’s a strange feeling, walking around like you have a target on your back.

But as I said earlier, even fanatical terrorists have to eat and keep a roof over their heads. Besides their need to maintain themselves in the world they seem to hate so much, they may well find strategic merit in infiltrating the work place where they can convert and convulse during lunch and the all important fifteen minute breaks. Although the odds are against it, one of our terrorist operators could have a day job. He could be working for you or your company. What a dilemma if he is your hardest worker.

All right, so we shouldn’t make fun of serious matters. Why not? I don’t know really, especially when nothing else seems to be effective. Who said you couldn’t destroy your enemy and laugh at him all at the same time? To digress, during the halcyon days of the British Empire, where the sun never set and all that, soldiers used to wrap their religious fanatics in pigskins and drag them behind a horse. I’m not saying it’s all that funny, but compared to most military tactics or for that matter general entertainment, it might at least be worth a brief reprise. But, as I said, I digress.

Okay, so I am getting off the track here. Back to the fanatical terrorists and their need to hold a job in the world they hate so much. While, as I previously noted, the chances are slim in finding a terrorist filling the cubicle next to you, it would always be nice to have a little hint. Even if he is not a terrorist, he may be a convicted murderer or thief, or even a pedophile who lives in the house where the rodents serve as curiosity pieces.

At any rate, to best determine if someone really is who they say they are, it is best to order a background check. You should order a pre-employment screening check for every job candidate and with it perhaps the Nationwide Criminal Data base search that includes with it the sexual offenders’ registry. It’s always good to know that the person you just hired for the admin gig is more prone to sniff a bicycle seat rather than sit in one. Maybe I’m a little crude here, but that happens when Corra is paid to monitor for catastrophe in the employment landscape.

I don’t wish to frighten you. The news media does that quite well at regular intervals throughout the day. But the news media can also desensitize us and render us inured to violence. But in fact there are a lot of bad guys out there, be they infiltrators, sleepers or home grown militants. And with the exception of the ones who are paid through covert funding, they have to make a living. Sleepers, especially, have to keep up appearances for perhaps years on end, before they are awakened for some awful deed.

Then there is the possibility they have chosen your business because you have desirable databases, proprietary information of intellectual data they believe is worth stealing. More companies try to conceal the theft of sensitive information, rather than admit they have been compromised. Sometimes the stealing has been going on for months or even years, before it’s discovered.

So be sure to run a pre-employment background check on all your job candidates. You may consider also running periodic background checks on your present employees, just to make sure they have been well behaved.

In addition to the criminal, civil and financial background checks, you may want to consider the OFAC. Here is a list of items the OFAC covers–

1. OFAC Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) & Blocked Persons

2. OFAC Sanctioned Countries, including Major Cities & Ports*

3. Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories*

4. Department of State Trade Control (DTC) Debarred Parties

5. U.S. Bureau of Industry & Security (formerly BXA) –

a. Unverified Entities List

b. Denied Entities List

c. Denied Persons List

6. FBI Most Wanted Terrorists & Seeking Information

7. FBI Top Ten Most Wanted

8. INTERPOL Most Wanted List

9. Bank of England Sanctions List

10. OSFI – Canadian Sanctions List C of Global Terrorist Report

More sanction reports are being added as the United States and other governments release them.

Playing the odds is good for gambling. But it is different when you play the odds and one missed guess leads to major catastrophe. Instead, be safe, be secure, and run background checks on anyone in your work place. If one thing 9/11 has taught us, we can never be absolutely safe again.

But we can work to reduce our risks.

Categories
Background Checks Human Resources Miscellany Uncategorized

Don’t Let Data Theft Cripple The Price Of Your Company Stock

We found this articles on mediapost’s marketing dailyCMO Council Finds Link Between Data Breach and Brand Trust

HEIGHTENED PUBLIC AWARENESS AND MEDIA attention have created a direct link between personal data security, brand reputation, and stock price. Yet only 30 percent of marketers have any crisis containment plan for security break-ins or failures.

That is the finding of a new study about data security and brand trust scheduled for release today from the CMO Council. Conducted with the Opinion Research Co. and the Zyman School of Brand Science at Emory University, the study involved consumers, executives, and marketing professionals.

While some 80 percent of top marketers polled registered a growing level of concern, there is a disconnect in what they believe and what is being done, the study reports. For some 60 percent say security has not become a more significant theme in their company’s messaging and marketing communications. A full 27 percent don’t even know if their company has a crisis containment plan.

“There is a real opportunity for marketers to differentiate themselves by talking about their security protection,” says Scott Van Camp, editorial director of the CMO Council and author of the study.

Factiva, which sponsored the research with software security maker Symantec Corp., tracked more than 17,000 distinct articles written on security breaches over a 16-month period.

The most surprising finding, says Van Camp, is how unprepared marketers are to deal with what is surely an inevitable part of doing business in today’s connected environment. “There needs to be a lot more preparation,” he says.

Of more than 52 million individual account records placed in jeopardy in 2005, more than 9 million Americans were victims of ID theft, with cumulative losses totaling more than $54 billion–a per-victim average of $5,885, the report states.

So far this year, at least 30 million more cases of compromised data have occurred, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Researchers from Emory University also found that on average a company loses from 0.63 percent to 2.10 percent value in stock price when a data breach is reported–equivalent to a loss in market capitalization of $860 million to $1.65 billion per incident.

There is the inside job and the what? Outside job. The outside job is the break in, the burglary or the hacking and cracking of your computer systems in order to steal your valuable data, intellectual property, and proprietary information. While certain security systems can help prevent the outside job, Corra believes the inside job should always begin with a background check. Every new job candidate should be subjected to a rigorous background check and perhaps even your current employees. As reports show, perhaps as many in four in ten are willing to steal. It would stand to reason they would steal more than pencils and staplers, preferring valuable data and proprietary information that could make them some real money.

Frankly, in today’s world you have to be crazy not to require background checks for everyone you hire. If you are not crazy, then you must exist in a glass bubble in a fantasy world where there is no crime nor duplicity. But here on Earth as many as thirty percent of the failing businesses fail because of employee theft. Then there are the other little things for which you are liable and subject to loss, like substance abuse and violence in the work place.

So before you see your stock take a dive and your company embarrassed by glaring headlines that announce how your data has been compromised, tighten up in this age of Homeland Security. Run a comprehensive series of bankground checks, ranging from criminal and civil, through credit and driving. Bad credit risks are often more susceptible to outsiders wanting a shot at your valuable data. Substance abusers? Well, you can do the math.

Check them out before your hire.

Categories
Background Checks Human Resources Miscellany Uncategorized

Human Resources Should Be Busy With Job Prospects Up For Autumn

We saw this article on Topix.Net

U.S. hiring prospects to remain steady

Newscom

U.S. employers expect to end this year as they began, with steady hiring plans, an industry group said Tuesday.

The latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, conducted quarterly by Manpower Inc., said that 11 quarters of consistent survey results show that the job market in the United States is not prone to radical swings at this stage.

Even the economic pressures of 2006, such as rising interest rates, energy costs and inflation, were not enough to rattle employer confidence. Employers are also experiencing difficulty in finding skilled people, which is contributing to the moderate hiring plans, said Jeffrey A. Joerres, chief executive of Manpower.

Of the 14,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 28 percent expect to add to their payrolls during the fourth quarter of 2006, while 8 percent expect to reduce staff levels. Fifty-eight percent expect no change in the hiring pace, while 6 percent are undecided about their hiring plans for September through December.

Manpower also said those looking for work are likely to find the strongest job prospects in the West, and the weakest hiring market in the Midwest.

As this article reflects, the job market looks good for this autumn. With a proliferation of jobs, however, there is fewer candidates that will apply for each job, and human resources departments are sometimes pressed to find qualified personnel. This is when Corra warns human resource departments to be cautious with your hiring process.

While you are in need to staff your workplace,don’t allow desperation to replace discrimination where you are hiring high risk candidates. We urge your to always conduct background checks, but with a brisk job market your hr department should consider perhaps adding reports to your standard employment screening routine.

One background check we would suggest, what with the conditions of the world being what they are is the OFAC report, or the Global Terror Report as it is variously known.

Remember, Check them out before you hire.

Categories
Background Checks Miscellany Online Dating Industry Romance Uncategorized

Don’t Be So Caught Up in Romance You Are Blinded to the Warning Signs

We spotted this in a bright new magazine Tango, and we excerpted part of the article. Michael Shnayerson wrote the article that alerts you to the twelve red flags that should discourage further engagement

2:The Dirty Dozen

Watch out for the Fling-o-matic, the Parent Trap, the Anger Hum, and these other stop signs.Chronic lateness.
For clarity, “chronic” here means “three dates in a row.” If your date arrives more than ten minutes late each time, don’t wait for his (or her) fourth arrival. Be gone. No doubt your date will have wonderful excuses, and one or two may even be sound. But three in a row is a pattern, and what the pattern says is: I don’t want to get into this. So neither do you.

Ketchup on eggs.
If one of those first dates is brunch, and your new friend reaches for the ketchup to put on her eggs, RED FLAG! I realize this may seem arbitrary or fussy. Or perhaps you think I’m making a class judgment here. Well, maybe I am! What’s wrong with that? All I know is: Nothing good ever comes of ketchup on eggs. And it’s really gross.

Rudeness to waiters.
And taxi drivers, and any-one else in a service job. I shouldn’t even have to explain why this is a dealbreaker. Just remember that it is.

Scary divorce stories.
It’s amazing how much a new prospect will tell you about her life on a first or second date—much more than she knows she’s saying. The question is: Do you hear it? If she launches into the story of her messy divorce, is her ex the villain in every respect? To me, that’s a red flag right there. Anyone who’s emotionally grounded should be able to see that two people, not one, contributed to a divorce.

A deep attachment to disturbing pets.
A golden retriever is fine, and cats are all right if they don’t do much. But I’m still haunted by the memory of an ancient, hairless dachshund that would manage to jump up on the bed during inopportune moments and bay. Not until the dog-owner chose to disengage herself from me and comfort the dog instead did I know that this was trouble.

Fling-o-matics.
During a first, incredibly romantic lunch with a new prospect some time ago, I mentioned that my most recent relationship had ended after a year. “A year,” my new friend marveled. “That’s so impressive! All of my relationships end after three months.” Of course I resolved to be the exception. Over the next weeks, which happened to include Christmas and New Year’s, we had an amazing time, both in New York City, where she had a charming Hell’s Kitchen walk-up, and at my house in the Hamptons. One Sunday, after I’d put her on the train home, I came back to find the most tenderly romantic note on my pillow, something about soul mates joined. The next week, for no outward cause, she called to break up with me. No argument, no terrible time, just end of story. Only later did I realize it was week 12. Lesson: When a woman over 35 tells you all her relationships have ended after a few months, RED FLAG.

Demon children.
Children with an issue or two? Maybe. Children who hate you? Watch out. Hopelessly spoiled or angry children, like D—’s? Head for the door.

Money matters.
Money stirs up so many issues, conscious and unconscious, far more than any magazine article can cover. For now, let’s just list two red flags you can spot early on. One: If a man suggests splitting the tab on a first date, the woman should pay—then bolt. I don’t say this is fair, especially if, for instance, the woman is a CEO and the man is a freelance writer. But it’s the way it is, and any man who tries to worm out of his society-given role as tab-picker-upper on the first (or second or third) date for the sake of saving a few bucks is a creep to be ditched. For men, an early red flag about money may not start waving until the third or fourth date. A lot of women begin life as daddy’s girls; a few stay that way. They feel men should provide them with the lifestyle to which they’ve grown accustomed from other men who did just that. If you’re a sugar daddy yourself, have fun. If not, back off. Over time you’ll only be despised—and dropped.

The Parent Trap.
Powerful emotions about one’s parents—positive or negative—are a huge red flag. For men, mother-worship is relationship death. One 50-year-old man I know has dated every single woman in New York and found, to his bafflement, that none is good enough—for his mother, that is. (She’s still calling the shots at age 85.) One of this guy’s many castoffs is a very attractive, successful woman of 42, whom I later dated myself. Now that I know both, I can only wonder who was the first to reject the other. It must have been like two gunfighters at the O.K. Corral. N— rejected me after three really nice dates because she decided my eight-year-old daughter, whom she hadn’t yet met, would be an “encumbrance” to our relationship. (Since she hadn’t met her, she couldn’t claim my daughter was a demon child.) Only after we became friends did I learn how much she resents both her parents. Coin-cidence? I don’t think so.

Bad sex.
I don’t need to go into detail here, do I? Except to say that bad sex may get better after a first, fumbling time, but bad sex two or three times in a row is sex that only gets worse. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that sex is just one part of a relationship, that laughter and shared values are as important, etc., etc. They’re not. Red flag. BIG red flag.

Dirty underwear and socks.
Your mother was right. They have to be clean. Dirty underwear is the hallmark of a secret slob, and every secret slob has many worse habits you don’t even want to think about—but will all too soon get to know if you don’t leave now.

The Anger Hum.
As he or she talks, not just about past romantic relationships but about work, friends, and family, listen for a low hum of anger, like a third rail running along the tracks of your new prospect’s life. For reasons I never quite figured out, I used to be attracted to women who had that vibe. Maybe it seemed sexy; maybe it reminded me of my mother. But I now know how to recognize anger—not shows of temper, which may be healthy in moderation, but the deeper, more destructive hum—and to back off when I hear it.

We think these are great words of wisdom. We were especially taken with thewarning about ketchup on eggs and quite agree that no good comes of it. We are also aware of a recent study where the study demonstrates that those who are rude to waiters and service help are usually terrible in supervising staff. They are not only terse, insulting and often dismissive, but they lack the essential communications skills necessary to relate to their allged “underlings.” One more thing we don’t need is a lover with an attitude problem.

Dirty underwear and socks, etc., aka a slob, well let’s say for graphic reasons we can see where dirty underwear and bad sex can go hand in hand. We are always puzzled that when we live in a world of millions of showers, how few of our citizens choose to use them on a regular basis. And while the writer is at it, perhaps they should include the wearing of too much cologne and perfume as the baker’s dozen warning signs. If the perfume scent arrives several minutes before your date, then perhaps you should beat a retreat.

There are other warning signs, some are obvious and some more esoteric. Some of you can read them, and some cannot. In any event, before the B.O. the ketchup or the late arrivals overwhelm your senses, run a background check on your new romantic prospect. If nothing else, it helps make sure they are who they say they are and tips the guessing game in your favor. And if you see something that raises the proverbial red flag, like time in prison for sexual abuse, embezzlement, domestic violence, confidence scams, all the fun things we confront in this modern age, you will know it is time to leave before it ever begins.

There are a lot of predators out there. When you open your house to predators they will take advantage of you and any situation you offer. They will steal your identity, take your money, and then there is always the possibility of physical harm.

Corra offers special background checks for singles and people interested in dating. Look at the packages and see what one is maybe best for you. If not, we will customize a package for you. No matter what, cover your assets.

Check them out before you date them.