Month: March 2009

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Background Checks Economy Human Resources Miscellany Personal Background Checks preemployment screening Retaining Employees Staffing Uncategorized

When You Can’t Find a Job, Start a Business

Looking for work can be painful.   Looking for work can be worse than actually working.   Some people get so frustrated looking for work they decide, “the heck with it,” and start their own businesses.   In a recent article in the New York Times one enterprising young man,  Alex Andon, started building jellyfish aquariums and selling them to restaurants and such.  He is now preparing a desktop model for marketing and production.

As the article attest, plenty of laid of workers, frustrated by the job search are designing business plans.   With the eocnomy in the downturn, they figure no time is like the present to start their own businesses.   From this we can expect to see technological breakthroughs and innovations in every industry.  We should be seeing new developments in the sciences and energy sectors, stemming from the engineers and scientists who are out of work.

For most entrepreneurs it is not so much big dreams as bringing in some cash that drives them to open up a busienss.  They are not necessarily looking to become the next mega corporation but rather a business successful enough to bring in revenue.  One consideration with the multi-antionals stumbling as they are in this economy, maybe they aren’t as functional as we once believed.   Perhaps it is time to regenerate small businesses that are flexible and responsive to their customers’ needs.

At Corra Group we wish them well.   It is good to witness the resilience of our American spirit.   It is more telling than bailout plans and any stimulus package.  People when pressed, get real about their needs.  We also encourage new businesses to conduct business research to be sure their new clients can afford to pay them and that any ventures they entertain are not with questionable companies of ill reputation.

Check them out before you hire.

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Background Checks Business Research Economy Human Resources Miscellany preemployment screening Staffing Uncategorized

Registered Sex Offenders in the Work Places

In a recent article in  he Los Angeles Times a registered sex offender has been implicated in the disappearance and presumed death of a 19-year-old woman, name of Donna Jou.    The sex offender was already serving a year and jail for fialing to register as a sex offender and was scheduled for release.    The article does not list the prior offense that caused the deffendant to land on the sexual offender’s registry in the first place.

This article brought to mind the burden the sexual offender can place on your work staff.  Frankly, hiring a sexual offender tends to deplete the morale of your workforce.   The women hate him, and the men would liek to do him physical harm.    There is very little understanding, and I am certainly not calling for sympathy and understanding in this article.   That is neither my place nor my disposition.

Mos Americans believe in giving people a second chance.  When it comes to sexual offenses, especially those offenses that are inflicted on minors, the recidivistic rate is astronomical.   So in the case of sexual offenders the proverbial second chance may mean a second opportunity.

As a background check service, we don’t get all that many hits for the sexual offenders registry.   But when we do they seem for some odd reason to come in waves.   Suddenly several clients around the country within the course of a week will receive background checks with sexual offenders listed among the criminal background reports.   As a preemployment service with a personal touch we feel obligated to call our clients and inform them the reports will be coming back with sexual offenses.   We want them to be aware and to not overlook what coudl prove diasterious in their place of business.   The legal liability issues alone are substantial, to say nothing of the damage it could do to an employee.

So pay heed and check them out before you hire.

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Background Checks Business Research Economy Human Resources Miscellany Personal Background Checks preemployment screening Retaining Employees Staffing Uncategorized

Diamond Mine Closures Translates to Jobs in the Wedding Industry

Recently,  The London Telegraph reported De Beers would suspend production in its mines until further notice.    De Beers, which is accountable for 20% of the world’s diamonds attributes the mine closures to the economic downturn.  No surprise there.   But the last time DE Beers stopped production in its mines was in the 1930’s.  So this is a most significant bit of news.

Over dinner one night, I pointed this out to friends.   They were quick to assure me that the mine closures were nothing and just a way of regulating the diamond market.    I argued that it was much more, considering that holiday  diamond sales in the United States were off  by 25%.   I argued that not only did this reflect poorly on the holiday season but with the economy in its present disastrous state, surely engagement and wedding ring sales would also be down substantially.   This in turn translated into the loss of sales in the catering business, and the hall rental, flower and ancillary retail industries as well.   It meant a downturn in hotel and resort books, as honeymoons would be diminished.

Instead of hiring employees or at least maintaining current staffs, employers may be laying off people.   It would roll out from there to the uniform suppliers for those working in the hotel and catering industries, the linen suppliers, the wholesale food suppliers, and of course the background checking industry where most employers conduct their preemployment screening programs.   Other aspects of business also suffer the loss as discretionary spending suffers.

I am reminded of the investment company who in its comemrcial teases you with the notion of how the rice yield in India impacts the fishing industry in Japan.   Well, in the global economy everythign appears to be interelated.   It is an unavoidable fact.   We are all dependent on each other and on the industries we represent.

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Background Checks Business Credit Reports Business Research Economy Human Resources Miscellany preemployment screening Staffing Uncategorized

Bernard Madoff is a Reason to Conduct Your Business Research

In recent news broadcasts, it was announced that Bernard Madoff admitted his guilt and told he world he was sorry for what he did.   Of course, most of his victims didn’t find his apology of any great value, especially since a good number of them lost millions and millions of dollars.   Their lingering anger is most understandable.   As you watch them testify on the various news programs I think of two things.   The first is what a pity that a sick thief like Madoff could walk off with so much money.  The second is, why didn’t these people check him out more thoroughly before giving him their life savings?

Now I realize that Madoff’s perceived value was so great that someone had to recommend the investor to the great man.   You had to seek him out and ask that he deign to represent you and your money.    Which is either a gaff all to itself,  an easy way to bait the hook.   Of course there were money managers, complicit or not who took their clients’ investment money and turned it over to Madoff,  never asking just what in fact he planned to do with it.   I would suppose the issue of diversification never came  up among business managers and the great Madoff.  Too bad.

So Madoff is ssaid to have stolen some $50 billion in his Ponzi scheme, leaving people to suffer emotional and financial distress, some of whom didn’t mind displaying it on national television.   But then you have to vent it somewhere.

The moral of the story is not that there are people without consciences who will steal from anyone, including charity groups and non-profits.  The fact is that before you put your hard earned money or business reputation in the hands of someone else, do your due diligence.   In this economy, especially, people will make all kinds of desperate moves.   Normally reputable people may decide to cross a line.   Those without scruples will prey on those who are having difficulties due to the economy and are increasingly desperate.

If you are doing business, conduct business research on potential business partners.  conduct corporate research and business credit reports on potential new clients.   they may be coming to you because they have nowhere else to go.  They have burned their other bridges, and now you are their port in the storm.   becuase you are so happy to get a new client, you may overlook the more obvious or subtle red flags.

If you are an individual and someone is making a pitch for your money, don’t be afraid tocheck him out.   Remember the old but tried and true axiom–if a proposition sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.