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Excerpts BUSINESS
WORLD NEWS SEGMENT: INFOCHECK News Desk: Mark: Oakland, California,
November 24: Thomas Wheelock, 20 of San Ramon was arrested for fatally wounding
co-worker Rodrigo Cortez on their first day working together for Armored Transport
of California. Immediately after, Wheelock fled the scene in the company armored
car. In Sacramento, California, Pamela Montoya-Schleetzer is suing Rio Linda
High School for the wrongful death of her teenage daughter Michelle at the hands
of substitute janitor Alex Dale Thomas. Thomas, who was on parole for manslaughter
at the time, had been allowed to work for the school district for almost a month,
even though his fingerprints and criminal background check had yet to be completed. Cases
like these are becoming an all too frequent part of news headlines these days.
When an employee is threatened, attacked or killed on the job, it is not only
emotionally devastating to all involved, but can also be expensive to the employer.
An employer's actions before a violent act can determine the severity of legal
action, which may result in multimillion-dollar legal settlements. Some employers
are taking steps in preventing violence from erupting in the workplace. Employers
are now seeking ways to protect themselves as well as their employees and customers. Penny: And
how are they doing this? By utilizing prevention strategies that include pre-employment
screening. And just who are they turning to? Well, when this story broke in our
newsroom, one company emerged as the clear choice of many employers. Its
called InfoCheck, Inc., a pre-employment screening service that has been working
with employers to create a better workplace for over a decade. On Camera: Founded
in 1991, Infocheck was established to fill the growing need for simple and thorough
access to background information on potential employees. Since its inception,
Infocheck has developed an impressive battery of Pre-employment screening services.
The company has also made extensive use of the internet in order to provide access
to a complete line of services via its website, www.infocheck.comNarration: With
the job market showing low unemployment, the demand for qualified help has increased.
Be sure your candidate is who and what they say they are. Verifying your candidate's
references and criminal activity on your own can be time consuming, leaving you
with the tendency of bypassing these important steps in the hiring process. On
Camera: The need to check references and criminal records is something you
may have considered in the past but felt might be too costly or just unnecessary.
Today it should be an integrated part of your hiring process as companies are
ultimately responsible for the actions of their employees. Narration: Outsourcing
screening to a pre-employment background information service can help your company
build a solid due diligence program that can lower your liability. A reputable
pre-employment screening firm will provide you with one simple report containing
criminal, employment, and academic background verification results in an easy
to read format. The ideal form should also have national access to records, carry
Errors and Omissions insurance, and provide you with current references and information
regarding the Fair Credit Reporting Act. On Camera: Our investigation of
InfoCheck has uncovered a range of capabilities not found with other background
screening firms. Q. 1. What separates you from the competition? Customer
awareness. Even though we are located on the west coast, our hours are from 6AM
to 5PM Pacific Time to accommodate our east coast customers. We also offer live
operators and an after hours message center. We also have available 24 hour 7
day availability via a secure website for order entry, retrieval and status review
for our clients. Q. 2.. Does InfoCheck require startup or maintenance fees?
Monthly minimums? There are no setup or monthly fees. On the contrary; There
are a variety of discounts available, from group and volume discounts to web entry
and early pay discounts. Infocheck. Inc. does not require a term contract or exclusive
use. Some companies use several screening firms simultaneously to balance their
workload. If you are nervous about switching screening services, I suggest you
try our services and compare with your current vendor. To open an account or apply
for a job visit www.infocheck.com Q
3. What types of services are available from InfoCheck? Criminal record searches,
Social Security Track, credit reports, DMV records, verification of employment
references, academic degrees and professional licenses. Please visit www.infocheck.com
for a full list of all the services available. We have created some fixed price
packages such as the Unlimited Felony Package which includes felony records from
all locations generated by an included Social Security Track, and
we have a Key Personnel Package which includes unlimited felony, misdemeanor
and federal searches as well as employment, academic verification, a credit report
and driving analysis. One of the most popular packages is the Employment &
Academic priced at $89, which includes unlimited felony & misdemeanor and
federal criminal record searches as well as 3 employment verifications.Q 4. So
you can check employment and all criminal records for only $89? That seems reasonable.
Are there any types of discounts available? That $89 is before any discounts
and the volume discount alone could be up to 40%! This brings that package down
to less than $55 an applicant! There are also web transmission and early pay discounts. Q
5. What is the average turnaround time for a background check? The average
turnaround time is 2-3 business days. Youll be assigned an Infocheck service
rep, and youll be able to review the status of your requests live on our
website. You may even input new names to be researched. We utilize the Internet
heavily with remote home verifications and criminal researchers able to begin
their work the second your request is made. This helps speed up our turnaround
time so our clients can make a quick hiring decision. Q 6. What if an
employer has multiple locations and not all locations have Internet access? We
have created a phone response system that allows multiple locations to request
searches and receive results. Our client defines their own guidelines determining
the applicants eligibility. To receive results, your managers simply dial
into our system and are prompted with either available, or not
available for hire. Narration: It has become obvious that you can't
judge a candidate solely by their interview. So that old saying "you can't
judge a book by its cover" never rang more true than when dealing with a
professional interviewer. With over 13,000 courts in the United States it is a
grueling process to determine where to check for criminal activity. So the advent
of pre-employment screening services has become an integral part of Corporate
Americas hiring process. Some of these services now offer secure Internet
access, making the process to request and receive reports even more simple and
cost effective. Narration: Employee fraud can occur at any level within
an organization, and the motivations can be as wide ranging as the methods used.
Fraud investigators dont take anything for granted. Neither should companies
that want to protect their assets, employees and customers. To defeat fraudsters,
companies must establish strict policies and procedures, supplement them with
employee awareness programs, and enforce them consistently. One of the best
defenses a company can have is a strong pre-employment screening policy that weeds
out candidates with a criminal history, falsified degrees or employment history,
or other past clues to future trouble. Poor hiring policies, conversely, increase
the likelihood of insider fraud. Q 7. How do you gather criminal records? Criminal
investigations are conducted through a combination of direct court access and
our nationwide network of court researchers, who visit the courts on a daily basis.
InfoChecks direct court record retrieval provides accurate up-to-date court
findings in a timely and cost effective manner. Third party databases are not
used since they may not be updated regularly and may not reflect the courts
current information. Q 8. What size and type of company could use InfoCheck's
services For any company, performing a thorough background check on each prospective
employee is very important. We would suggest you interview the candidate personally.
If the candidate is satisfactory to that point InfoCheck can provide you with
an extensive background check. This helps companies protect themselves by providing
a uniform background screening process that is the same for all applicants.
On Camera: (Close) It doesn't matter what kind of business you own, you
can be a victim of employee wrongdoing. Protecting yourself is not only a matter
of legal precedence, but also one of civic duty. From Pleasant Hill, California,
Im
for Business World News.
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