Video – See to Believe – The Need for Employment Screening

The recent Fox’s report about how Tower Defense and Aerospace employees behave during their lunch break hours has been shocking to many human resource departments and hiring agencies. Most CEO’s around America question what kind of hiring process could have allowed this. Well, the truth is Tower Defense had employee background checks in place, but this video demonstrates quite clearly that there’s a big difference between just checking criminal records, and actually investigating whether or not a candidate will be a valuable resource for a company.

Tower Defense and Aerospace Factory Workers Party at Lunch: MyFoxDETROIT.com

Tower Defense Aerospace is a U.S. government contractor that builds combat vehicles and aircrafts for the U.S. Military that is sent to remote places like Afghanistan for the American troops to operate. But as the embedded video of the featured report by journalist Bob Wolchek shows, it seems some employees really should never have been hired in the first place. How could this happen? Proper employment background checks require a professional investigation firm in most cases to screen the risk, and verify a person’s background, not just checking public records.

These employees seemed to have been hired by the former administration of TDA and now, after the report, the current management claims to be conducting an investigation about employees drinking and smoking marijuana during their lunch break, clearly visible from company property. These people build the vehicles and aircraft that U.S. marines and soldiers use to keep America safe and free, a job that requires focus and concentration, not what we see here.

As a government contractor, these workers are paid by the American people’s hard earned tax dollars, at a time when the government and American people have no time or money to waste. This of course is just one example. Bad employees can be a serious risk, and can even bring a company down to ruin and bankruptcy, or worse, say criminal charges for management. The bottom line is that screening employee candidates is important, and it’s important to have the job done right. A prudent background check should cover past employment, education, credit and criminal records, address and document verification, character and reputation, etc.

Managers hiring in other countries or continents have even a greater duty to verify, given the high risk when hiring from a different country where culture, rule of law and language are different. International background checks are strongly advised for any foreign hires or domestic employees who have spent a considerable amount of time in a foreign country or countries.

Proper employment screening conducted on potential job candidates can save you a lot of trouble and headache. Is the candidate a sex offender, does he have a criminal record, does he or she have a good reputation at his previous employer? Did he actually earn his Master’s degree at Oxford? Is this person who he claims to be? In this day and age, you can’t take someone’s word for it unfortunately. There’s too much at stake. Be safe, interview, verify and hire.

Best of luck,

A Hathaway
© 2011 A Hathaway