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Match.Com to Run Background Checks on Dating Site Members

Sex offenders need not apply to Match.com for a membership.   Since the reported sexual assault, Match.com will be conducting background checks on its membership.  An article in the Gothamist describe the unsavory and violent ordeal a woman experienced having agreed to go out with a man on Match.com.     The article said the man had six separate convictions as a sex offender.

I wonder if these types roam around from one online dating service to another, in search of prey.   Many are quite charming and know all too well how to push the right emotional buttons on women in search of a paramour.     If nothing else,  most sex criminals understand a successful pervert knows how to exude that special kind of charm.

Match.com President, Mandy Ginsberg wisely issued the caveat, “We want to stress that while these checks may help in certain instances, they remain highly flawed, and it is critical that this effort does not provide a false sense of security to our members.”   Definitely words to live by.   There is more to searching for sex offenders than merely looking up a name.  I would think, too, is the new member to an online dating site actually signing up in his own name?

The article asks what becomes of people with similar names as convicted sex offenders.   The sex offender registry is, after all, populated with numerous people of similar names.   I don’t know how it will be handled through Match.com, but when we at Corra Group conduct a sex offender background check we isolate the person using his first last and middle names as well as his date of  birth.  We will draw up his social security trace to see where has lived and if his former residences reflect where the sex crimes initially took place.   At the very last, we will obtain a photo of the person and ask our clients if this looks like their guy.

It is one thing to conduct the background check.  But once there are results, especially with something as serious as s sex offender, it is necessary to do the additional research.   On one hand you don’t want to allow a sex offender to slip between the cracks.  But on the other, you don’t want to accuse someone just because they have a similar name as the one turned up in a sex offender background check.    That’s an unfair price to pay for a genuine guy with a similar name, just exploring the dating sites in search of a little love.

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Pre-Employment Background Checks Can Protect Against Identity Theft

A recent article in the Cornell Daily Sun announced that 45,000 people are exposed to identity theft now that someone stole a university owned laptop computer.   Neither the names nor the social security numbers were not encrypted, making it easy pickings for even your garden variety identity thief.  The names on the list were those of students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

That’s convenient as the names on the list are not necessarily limited to impoverished students, although it would be difficult to say with a straight face that many Cornell students are particularly impoverished.   Although, with the economic downturn, you never can tell.  But then there are names of notable faculty and of course the alumni who as graduates of Cornell University have probably gone on to relative affluence.   So the stelaing of 45,000 names for possible identity theft becomes the happy hunting ground for these particular thieves.

We shouldn’t blame Cornell.  In fact the United States government has lost computers with vital information.   The Department of Agriculture once left open a portal where ambitious thieves had access to thousands of names of people associated in some way with that branch of government.   State governments and private corporations also leave names and social security numbers lying around.

The thing is in this rotten economy, people will resort to desperate acts.  Identity theft is high on the list of nefarious enterprises, especially with the recession.

There are ways to determine if you are a victim of identity theft.  Of the more obvious, if you are notifed of late bills for credit accounts you never opened, then that’s a sure hint that someone stole your identity.   Running your credit reports for all three agencies and checking to see if there are credit accounts listed that are unknown to you, is a good ounce of prevention.   Running your social security trace to see if there are other persons associated with your name is always a helpful background check.

If you are employer, it is vital to be sure the person you are considering for employment is not working on someone’s identity.   As odd as it seems, it happens on a fairly regualr basis.   Undocumented workers use social security numbers that were either stolen or given to them by friends and associates.   It is not all that uncommon to see multiple names on a pre-employment social security trace.

As an employer, don’t rule out the possibility that someone can find employment under an assumed name only to rob you of your proprietary information and then disappear without a trace.   Their showing identity if not enough, as counterfeit identity can be purchased in many parks and on many street corners around the country.   With the economy on the downturn and not many jobs available, false identity documents can now be had for a bargain.

So do your best to prevent theft of your identity.   And for employers, check them out before you hire.

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Soap Opera, Soap Opera as Actors’ Pay is Cut

When Soap Opera actors start receiving pay cuts then you know the economy is on a slippery slope.   But it is true.   Yes, true…cue in the ominous organ music.   According to an article in AdAge, Susan Lucci and others actors will be learning to live with less.  Aren’t we all?

I suppose one could say this is where art, if you call it that, imitates reality.  The loyal Soap fans are suffering, so why not the actors?   Well, maybe the viewers aren’t so loyal anymore.  Ratings are down.  Ad revenue is way down.  Not just for the networks, but affiliates are also looking at declining revenue.  Not many car commercials between gripping moments of human baby.   “She is having my secret, illegitimate, baby.”  Maybe.  But not in this car.

In some cases, due to the budget constraints resulting from this economic downturn, actors have been let go.   Maybe they aren’t really fire but just laid off, until they can make a dramatic comeback in better times.  “I survived the fire that killed by parakeet,  but times at least are good now.”

When shows are renewed, the networks are renewing them at reduced license fees.   That is the fee per episode the network pays the producer.   Writing staffs have been reduced.  I have a friend who is a longtime soap writer and producer, and he could vouch for that.

Some claim it is the reduction of characters or the permanent sets, which are now used to save dollars.  Others claim the stories and characters are not what they should be.  Some say the loss of older characters and the older storylines are causing a problem.   Viewers like characters with pasts and the background history they bring to the drama. But the audience is tuning out, that is for certain.

Does this sound like your business?   Being forced to cut back and lay off people?  If so, as some have suggested about the Soap Operas, maybe it is time to return to a more basic business principle.  Everyobdy likes service.  And, as everyone likes actors who can deliver rich characters, everyone likes workers who can deliver the service.   Customers not only like the service but respect you for providing it, especially in critical times when others are cutting back.

So maybe it is time to hire people.  And if you do, check them out before you hire.

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Is it Time to Makeover Your Business?

There is nothing like an economic downturn to think about doing a business makeover.   You might want to consider the business model itself, your branding, logos, colors, symbols, and especially your marketing and merchandising efforts.

Pepsico is doing a total business makeover.  To the tune of $1.2 Billion over the next three years.  A recent article in Advertising Age reports that Pepsico will be closing six plants and laying off thousand of employees.   The business will revamp the branding on its carbonated soft drinks and will review the branding on its Gatorade products as well.

Why?  Business is lousy.  Sales have fallen off.   With respect to soft drinks, in tough economic times people will drink tap water and eschew the dubious virtues of carbonated soft drinks.   Pepsico will change its logos so that the core Pepsi Cola will show a series of smalls on the white part of the label, a grin will be used for Diet Pepsi, and Pepsi Max will display a laugh.  I say forget the smiles, laughs and grins.   Perhaps it would be better to reexamine the possibility of switching out the icky corn syrup sweetener and replacing it with sugar, just like in the good old days.   That would go a long way, I believe, in gaining new appeal.   But, hey, for $1.2 Billion they are entitled to make their own mistakes.

So with Pepsico doing this huge makeover, is it time for you to look at your own business?   In this great economic bakeoff it’s time to see which aspects of your programs work for you and which do not.   Look for ways to cut costs by making your business more efficient.  Look to hire employees who can bring you up to the cutting edge of business technology.   Be sure to have a preemployment screening program in place to make sure they are who they say they are.   Conduct business research and business intelligence so when you conduct business development you are not fishing for loser clients who can’t pay their bills.

If you have cash, then use it as a resource to cut better deals with your vendors and suppliers.  There are so many late pays right now you can cut yourself better rates and service by virtue of your ability to pay, and to pay quickly.   Look over your branding, your logos.  Make sure you business model is fresh and not outmoded, reminiscent of these sorry times.  Change what you need to change.   As for the forthcoming Pepsi-type smiley faces, I’ll leave that up to you.