You probably use a free e-mail account for taking care of your personal business. For the most part, that is fine. After all, if there is nothing but e-mail forwards from Aunt Maude and pictures of your cat, the impact and motive for cracking your account is low. It is an inconvenience and a hassle but you can survive it.

If you’re like me though, you use your account for many things including personal and business purposes. You stay logged in for long periods of time and that can be a problem as explained on bloggingtips.com:

Read more…

If you have an outstanding warrant for your arrest, you may not want to report to the police station for your background check. That’s what this man did when a prospective employer required a background check. To further harm his job prospects, an officer searched the man and found several rocks of cocaine in his pocket. To say the least, he did not get the job and he was arrested on the spot! Read more…

Another in the series of articles by guest blogger Jack Thomas.
Check back frequently to see if you’re state has been covered!

Everyone has experienced a substitute teacher in their lifetime. No surprise there. But a 19 year old? You read it right-19! In an article from the Salt Lake Tribune, there seems to be an uproar from the Granite School District,where they used a 19 year old student as an emergency substitute teacher. A further outcry came when the substitute was arrested for a sexual encounter with a 13 year old female student. That’s right-13. Read more…

The following article is written by Jack Thomas, Guest Blogger and Author of our Nifty 50 Series. The excerpt is from an interview with the head of a local University. The source has asked to remain anonymous to avoid any response directly to their institution. We of course have granted this request, and hope you find the advice as insightful as we have.

Interview tips from Leaders in Business

1. What are some of the most common mistakes you see in the application process?

From the agency/organization’s side: When the organization creates a job description, it lists 15 to 20 pieces of information in it:  job functions,     responsibilities, and candidate qualifications.  Usually, all of this is good.  However, most organizations don’t take the next step to prioritize which are most important or which are required.  So when applications come in, it’s hard to screen them.  I would recommend identifying 3 to 4 qualifications that are required and create a “gate” with them. Read more…

Prospective nominees for Presidential appointments must answer 63 questions in order to ensure there are no skeletons in the closet. The original pdf is available here. Read more…

I posted about a company I used to work for and how they did comprehensive background checks on all of their employees including the janitor.  I thought it was ridiculous that they would do a credit check on a janitor and it made it extremely difficult to hire for that low level position.

Then Jeri posted about Obama’s background questionnaire on the CrimCheck blog (here’s a link to the actual PDF document) and it just about knocked me over.

Read more…

Applicants for Obama’s administration have to pass an extensive background check. The seven-page document questions applicants regarding domestic help, social media sites such as Facebook, requests copies of any text messages or emails that could prove a source of embarrassment. Read more…

We all know that stealing is wrong, right? That’s pretty obvious.

Okay, so you ended up stealing something. You don’t tell anyone, right? Well, of course!

You certainly don’t publish the story to one of the largest read websites in the country, right? Duh!

That’s why this story about Phil Busse is so … well … just take a look:

Read more…

This article points out the fact that the opportunity for student teachers to do harm is just as real as full-time teachers and other school employees. Therefore, the State of Kansas is wise to consider it mandatory to require the school district to perform background checks if the student teacher’s college does not provide one. Read more…

Not all states allow public access to statewide criminal records information. At this time, forty states allow some type of criminal record access. Some allow online access, others require written application forms and still others require in-person inquiries. Fees vary, and the data reported varies greatly and may not be up-to-date. Read more…