Fri, September 28th, 2007 - 4:44 pm - By Gordon Basichis
(Los Angeles, CA) Corra is now providing an automated software system to trucking companies in need of DMV/MVR and CDL background checks. The California based company has recognized the increased demand in the trucking and transport industry.
“As their insurance companies are no longer willing to provide for their policy holders Department of Motor Vehicle Records the trucking and transport industry is turning to background checking companies like Corra,†said Nick Gustavson, Co-Founder of Corra. “The insurance firms are claiming they are restricted by FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) compliance regulations and, legally, can no longer offer this service.
“As trucking companies turn to us, we found it best to train them on our state-of-the-art automated system so that they can access driving records 24/7. With the software, they will have a permanent database of every driving record. The records are usually retrieved within minutes in most states,†he continued.
Gustavson pointed out that many of Corra’s trucking clients elect to also run other background checks, including social security traces and criminal records.
“The additional background checks are part of the trucking industry’s adjustment to the changing demands the Department of Transportation and other government agencies feel is necessary for increased homeland security, “added Gustavson.
Thu, September 27th, 2007 - 2:58 pm - By Gordon Basichis
What’s the difference? Temps or Consultant?
It’s all a matter of semantics.
An intern is someone who works in a temporary capacity with an emphasis in on-the-job training for a career, rather than just employment. Interns can be paid, unpaid, or receive a stipend. Interns can gain school credit and a network of contacts.
Temporary employees are bought in for a specific period of time on a defined project. This can mean a day, a week, six months, or even a year.
Contract employees are also brought in for specific periods of time; however the term generally denotes a higher level of skill and pay than a temporary employee. Think technical support versus administrative assistant in terms of position.
A consultant is similar, in that the position is specific in duration; however, the term generally implies a high level of skill and pay.
The employment market contains many options. Depending on your intention, all are viable alternatives to a full-time employee.
For the entire article go to Techexecpartners.com
Corra understands that with flexible scheduling and ever changing needs for different businesses it is necessary to hire temps as well as permanent employees. Whatever the case, and whomever you hire, it is important to conduct a pre-employment screening program on every person who comes to work for you.
You can established different background checking programs for temps and permanent employees. More than a few companies conduct more simple background checks on their temporary or contractual workers than they do on those who are in permanent positions.
Whatever the case, it is important to run the Social Security Trace and some form of criminal check, be it a nationwide criminal database search or county criminal search. These searches are cost effective and can help reduce liability and assorted problems in the work place.
Check them out before you hire.
Wed, September 26th, 2007 - 2:50 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Employee Embezzlement: Prevention, Detection, and Cure
David Lillehaug
Employee embezzlement costs American employers about $6 billion per year. Embezzlement is the fraudulent taking of personal property with which one has been entrusted. By definition, the offender is someone trusted by the employer. When detected, embezzlement brings great heartache to the perpetrator’s victims and families. The typical motive for embezzlement is simple greed. However, theft arising out of addiction to gambling has grown along with the Minnesota gaming industry.
How does an employer prevent embezzlement? As a famous judge once observed, “Sunshine is the best disinfectant.†Or, as the Americans and Soviets agreed, “Trust but verify.†A business should screen new hires thoroughly. References should be checked, and criminal and credit background checks performed.
The most common embezzlement methods are:
1. Failure to recordcash transactions
2. Claims for false reimbursements
3. Use of company accounts for personal transactions
4. Payroll fraud
5. Fraud through supplier accounts and other payables
6. Kickbacks
For the entire article go to HRResources.com
Corra finds this news disturbing but not surprising. Six Billion is a lot of bucks, even when you say it quickly. That’s a lot of loss. Embezzlement also proves demoralizing to the majority of your work force. Apparently, most in your office resent that someone they know is stealing and that nothing is being done about it. Yeah, they know who is stealing.
For some employees it is the first time–they get greedy or in over their heads, with one vice or another. For some it is simply a matter of doing the same old business at a different stand. Very often they have either not gotten caught at their stealing, although suspicions might have played a part in their dismissal. Sometimes they are caught, and the theft for a number of reasons, embarrassment being one of them, goes unreported.
It is important to run pre-employment background checks on all your employment candidates. You should be running a criminal trace, or, if they have access to your sensitive databases and proprietary information, a series of criminal checks. You may wish to run the Nationwide Criminal Search and the Federal Criminal search, to see if your employee has been culpable previously to white collar crimes.
It never hurts to conduct employment verifications as well. For nominal cost you can get a better idea of who your candidate really is. Check them out before you hire.
Tue, September 25th, 2007 - 3:02 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Wal-Mart Booed On Facebook
Wal-Mart has teamed up with Facebook in a joint venture targeting would-be college roommates. The retailer has created a group on the social network called “Roommate Style Match†which is intended to have roommates discuss decorating options and college life, however the majority of the comments seen on the group’s page have been less than enthusiastic and aimed at the company’s business practices.
Many of the comments are not just aimed at Wal-Mart but at Facebook as well for allowing the page in the first place. Forrester Research Inc. analyst Josh Bernoff said in a statement to Computerworld, “Wal-Mart has more enemies than most people. Wal-Mart has a PR weakness. If you give people an opportunity, they are going to come after you.â€
For the entire article go to Adotas.com
Corra knows a bit about branding. Corra knows that misdirected branding is worse than having no branding at all. When you get off on the wrong foot with your bringing efforts, you will be spending at least four times the bucks and ten times the effort to regroup and redirect. And sometimes, even with all the extra effort, the damage is done.
With branding more important than ever, every business needs branding and marketing personnel who really know what they are doing. A good idea that turns into a bad idea will eliminate any sense of branding distinction and set you back as one more in the pack.
That is but one of many reasons to check out your employment candidates. A good preemployment screening program will help you determine who is best qualified. In addition to the education verification, his major and disciplines, it pays to verify his employment references as well.
Check them out before you hire.
Mon, September 24th, 2007 - 3:37 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Back to Basics. Write an Effective Résumé.
Your résumé is your calling card and first impression to a potential employer. You have less than 10 seconds to grab a reader’s attention.
Every line a reader see’s when your résumé is viewed on a screen will influence the decision to call you.
You may want to format your resume like this:
For the entire article go to TechexecPartners.com
A good resume can be most effective. But is the resume telling you all? Do the facts on the resume correspond to someone’s actual history?
You will never know until you conduct a pre-employment background check. this is why Corra urges every business to run the criminal check, at least, and the education and employment verification checks as well. If your candidate is driving for you, then the MVR Driver’s Report is also a must.
Check them out before you hire.
Fri, September 21st, 2007 - 2:52 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Corra always takes note when our clients are surprised that their perfectly nice candidate has a criminal record or didn’t graduate from college, after all. Sometimes that candidate didn’t attend that school at all, not even for a few semesters.
Life is full of surprises. By running pre-employment background checks on your job candidates, you will sometimes discover more than a few. One prospective client recently confessed that she only did a cursory employment reference check of her candidates’ past employment. Is that enough?
Well, considering that one of our clients upon first interview thought the convicted rapist and wife beater seated before her was perfectly charming, Corra would say, no, not really.
Be smart. Avoid costly liability. Run a criminal background check, and if your candidate is driving, a Motor Vehicle Driving Report is also necessary. And run that education verification. Don’t be caught off guard.
Check them out before you hire.
Thu, September 20th, 2007 - 3:38 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Yahoo Execs Dropping Like Bombs
Yahoo has been in a constant state of reorganization lately with the entrance of Jerry Yang and the still not filled exit of CTO Farzad Nazem as well as other positions being shuffled around.
Being thrown into the mix is position of CFO for Yahoo’s Network division as current holder of that position Mike Weetman, is leaving to become the COO of BermanBraun, a new production company formed by former Yahoo employee Lloyd Braun and Hollywood executive, Gail Berman.
For the entire article go to Adotas.com
So who is left to turn out the lights, when everybody leaves? A good question. Corra has heard of the great mass exodus, especially in Los Angeles, where we are headquartered. Hollywood is rife with either mass firings or mass splittings. Sometimes the mass exodus is even more newsworthy than the last OJ fiasco, but we digress.
So what to do when y our key executives leaves. Recruit new ones, but take your time in making sure they are the right fit, they have the right motivation and the incentive you offer meet with their satisfaction. But someone’s candidate is often someone’s recent firing. There are a lot of reasons for executives being let go, downsizing being not the least of them. But then there are the more incompetent executives, the ones who didn’t meet their numbers or, worse, were caught stealing or selling your valuable databases to your competitors.
Stuff happens. Hence your HR people should be conducting careful interviews and utilizing a comprehensive background search for key executives. When executives may have been involved in white collar crimes, Corra suggests you run the Federal Criminal and Federal Civil Searches, among the other searches you will conduct.
Be smart. Sometimes the gift at the door is just another Trojan Horse. Check them out before you hire.
Wed, September 19th, 2007 - 2:41 pm - By Gordon Basichis
Reverse Brain-Drain?
From: Inc.com
A lack of work visas for skilled immigrants could result in a reverse brain-drain and a subsequent decline in U.S. competitiveness, a new study shows.
As a result of a growing backlog of visas, roughly one in five new legal immigrants and one in three employment-based legal immigrants are planning to leave the United States or are uncertain about the future, according to a joint study by researchers at Duke, Harvard, and New York universities. Every year, about one million scientists, engineers, doctors, researchers, and other skilled immigrant workers compete for 120,000 permanent U.S. resident visas.
For the entire article go to Inc.com
Corra hears all the stories about how the immigrants are taking American jobs away? But what about the smart, skilled and talented immigrants who are needed to fill gaps on high level and professional levels? Let’s face it, for America to move forward it is in need of skilled and highly educated employees. Some of them will be person educated here but from foreign countries.
As it is with domestic candidates, it is important to run a pre-employment screening check on foreign candidates. If your candidates have been educated here and have lived in the US for a long time, often the domestic criminal and education background searches will suffice. If they were educated abroad or have only immigrated to the US then it will be necessary to conduct International background searches as well.
Corra supplies International background searches, including criminal, education and employment verifications. It’s a smart move to run these background checks. And cost effective.
Check them out before you hire.