Pre-employment screening – 3 WC Blog 403
Background Check Company -3
Don’t Be Fooled By Applicants Who Aren’t Who They Say They Are; Pre-employment Screening Keeps Things Real
I LOVE listening to my favorite oldies while I’m writing. Who doesn’t love the Ventures, The Beach Boys or The Beatles? How about Chuck Berry? Don’t forget Elvis Presley, Clarence “Frogman” Henry or Doo Wop with Gene Chandler and “The Duke Earl”? It becomes a little discouraging when, as I browse through online sites like YouTube, to watch some of the videos of these groups that I see commenters arguing about who stole who’s notes or lyrics. For example I was listening to “Surfin’ U.S.A.” by the Beach Boys and then the nasty little comments by a few of the Chuck Berry fans pointed to the Beach Boys lyrics being played to a Chuck Berry tune. Okay, they have a point, but it turns out to be only part of the truth. The WHOLE story is that the song was done as a tribute to Mr. Berry’s song “Sweet Little Sixteen” but according to the website Songfacts, the Beach Boys failed to get his permission first and Mr. Berry did threaten to sue the group but they wound up paying him royalties. How about other music controversies? Elvis Presley did not first sing “Hound Dog”, that actually was first sung by blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mamma” Thornton in 1952. Presley recorded his rock and roll version in 1956. For some readers who may not be quite as old as me, or enjoy the oldies, a somewhat more recent controversy took place when 80’s rapper “Vanilla Ice” “…sampled the base line to the 1981 Queen/Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure” (Rolling Stone, “Songs On Trial: 10 Landmark Music Copyright Cases”, by Jordon Runtagh, June 8, 2016). Now before you go ballistic wondering what in the world ANY of this has to do with Retail Loss Prevention hear me out. If you didn’t know any different and you took them at face value, you would assume the artists who recorded the music were the originals unless their album cover (or CD cover) stated otherwise. The same applies to job applicants. Unless you conduct a pre-employment screening you assume what the applicant says about themselves is true. How do you learn fact from fiction and avoid a problem down the road?
Pre-employment screening is a process in which a background check company receives the personal information on a job applicant and the information is verified. For example, if a social security number is provided the company can ensure the applicant is the person to whom the number actually belongs. The background check company can look at credit histories for applicants to determine if they might pose some risk of financial fraud to your business. And how about a person’s work history? You are looking for someone with a specific skill set and an applicant says they have work experience that qualifies them for the job you need to fill. Are they who they say they are or are they taking someone else’s work history and passing it off as their own? See? Much like my music analogy, “You don’t always get what you want” (to steal a line from a Rolling Stones song) unless you get a company to validate a candidate’s credentials.
I would also like to point out that there are ramifications when a band or artist is found guilty of using music or lyrics that “belong” to someone else. According to fuse.tv Johnny Cash used the lyrics from “Crescent City Blues” by Gordon Jenkins for his hit song “Folsom Prison Blues” and had to pay the composer $75,000 for the lyrics and the tune (this was disappointing to me since I have been a big Cash fan since I was a young boy). From the NME music website, George Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” with his song “My Sweet Lord” copying the music of The Chiffons hit “He’s So Fine”. According to the article, while the term means he unintentionally plagiarized he, “Still had to pay 1.6 m in damages, though.” What costs might you incur if you don’t take care to look at a candidate’s history? You may end of firing him or her and going through the hiring process again. You could end up with someone stealing from you. It is possible you could hire someone who has a criminal history that is not compatible with your business. There are a number of bad things that could result from not conducting pre-employment screening. Sing a happy tune when you use a background check company to hire people who are who they say they are.
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
I LOVE listening to my favorite oldies while I’m writing. Who doesn’t love the Ventures, The Beach Boys or The Beatles? How about Chuck Berry? Don’t forget Elvis Presley, Clarence “Frogman” Henry or Doo Wop with Gene Chandler and “The Duke Earl”? It becomes a little discouraging when, as I browse through online sites like YouTube, to watch some of the videos of these groups that I see commenters arguing about who stole who’s notes or lyrics. For example I was listening to “Surfin’ U.S.A.” by the Beach Boys and then the nasty little comments by a few of the Chuck Berry fans pointed to the Beach Boys lyrics being played to a Chuck Berry tune. Okay, they have a point, but it turns out to be only part of the truth. The WHOLE story is that the song was done as a tribute to Mr. Berry’s song “Sweet Little Sixteen” but according to the website Songfacts, the Beach Boys failed to get his permission first and Mr. Berry did threaten to sue the group but they wound up paying him royalties. How about other music controversies? Elvis Presley did not first sing “Hound Dog”, that actually was first sung by blues singer Willie Mae “Big Mamma” Thornton in 1952. Presley recorded his rock and roll version in 1956. For some readers who may not be quite as old as me, or enjoy the oldies, a somewhat more recent controversy took place when 80’s rapper “Vanilla Ice” “…sampled the base line to the 1981 Queen/Bowie collaboration “Under Pressure” (Rolling Stone, “Songs On Trial: 10 Landmark Music Copyright Cases”, by Jordon Runtagh, June 8, 2016). Now before you go ballistic wondering what in the world ANY of this has to do with Retail Loss Prevention hear me out. If you didn’t know any different and you took them at face value, you would assume the artists who recorded the music were the originals unless their album cover (or CD cover) stated otherwise. The same applies to job applicants. Unless you conduct a pre-employment screening you assume what the applicant says about themselves is true. How do you learn fact from fiction and avoid a problem down the road?
Pre-employment screening is a process in which a background check company receives the personal information on a job applicant and the information is verified. For example, if a social security number is provided the company can ensure the applicant is the person to whom the number actually belongs. The background check company can look at credit histories for applicants to determine if they might pose some risk of financial fraud to your business. And how about a person’s work history? You are looking for someone with a specific skill set and an applicant says they have work experience that qualifies them for the job you need to fill. Are they who they say they are or are they taking someone else’s work history and passing it off as their own? See? Much like my music analogy, “You don’t always get what you want” (to steal a line from a Rolling Stones song) unless you get a company to validate a candidate’s credentials.
I would also like to point out that there are ramifications when a band or artist is found guilty of using music or lyrics that “belong” to someone else. According to fuse.tv Johnny Cash used the lyrics from “Crescent City Blues” by Gordon Jenkins for his hit song “Folsom Prison Blues” and had to pay the composer $75,000 for the lyrics and the tune (this was disappointing to me since I have been a big Cash fan since I was a young boy). From the NME music website, George Harrison was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” with his song “My Sweet Lord” copying the music of The Chiffons hit “He’s So Fine”. According to the article, while the term means he unintentionally plagiarized he, “Still had to pay 1.6 m in damages, though.” What costs might you incur if you don’t take care to look at a candidate’s history? You may end of firing him or her and going through the hiring process again. You could end up with someone stealing from you. It is possible you could hire someone who has a criminal history that is not compatible with your business. There are a number of bad things that could result from not conducting pre-employment screening. Sing a happy tune when you use a background check company to hire people who are who they say they are.
Pre-employment screening is important and we can help you with it. Call 1.770.426.0547 and let’s talk.
