I’ve commented several times in the past that “stuff” in cyberspace will never go away, and, more recently, that expunged court records often aren’t [expunged] and confidential information does get leaked.

Companies are moving from background checks prior to hiring to continuous checks during employment, using products such as Verified Person.

Screening and reference checks are needed, but consider this comment posted recently on the Business Week article cited above.

“Nickname: nate
Review: I’m currently unemployed. I have a felony conviction for larceny from when I was 18. I am now in my thirties, and still this haunts me. I am not even able to be employed in the field I went to college for, due to the non-hiring of felons policy. I strongly believe there should be a limit on the amount of time these checks go back. How many people can say they are the same person now as they were in their teens? Or 15 years ago for that matter? I am over qualified for most of the jobs I apply for, yet I remain unemployable. You can’t imagine how frustrating it can be. I agree with background checks but do not agree with the no-felons rule that my state (Florida) has. Any advice or comments: acanathan@hotmail.com Thank you, sincerely Nathan (Date reviewed: Sep 29, 2006 8:05 PM)”

How many did similar things, but weren’t caught? How would like your employment opportunities to be based on what you did sometime in your past? And, on a totally philosophical note, of what value are prisons and education when “paying your debt to society” and education do nothing to erase previous actions?

Even if one grants the need for such ubiquitous checking I have real qualms.

First, the checking is dominantly done via the web and the information in criminal, credit, and other databases is notoriously old and/or inaccurate, especially in these days of identity theft,

Secondly, it seems that both background checks and in-depth reference checks start diminishing as the level (not quantity) of hiring goes up, i.e., backgrounds are more critically checked for low level workers than for senior management.

Third, what effects, short and long-term, will this attitude have on companies’ ability to attract and retain their talent?

Finally, I really wonder just how often any of this, especially continuous checking, is applied to the company’s top brass?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 at 1:43 pm and is filed under Business info, Culture, Hiring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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