Have you ever called an employment screening company and asked “how much for a standard background”? I know that you are expecting a 10 word or less answer and I have no idea how to answer that question to the satisfaction of the caller.

It is the question that is the problem. What is the problem with the question? I am glad you asked. That question can only be answered by asking another question. What is that question you ask? My, you are curious today. That question is ….. wait for it ….. “how much do you really want to know”? Within the law of course. That is not the best answer/question. There is a better question, so read on.

“Within the law” is the scariest statment known to HR and employment background agencies. It causes great pause and lowers your life expectancy. So how much do you want to know about your prospective employee. You want to know “just the right amount”! Well, what is that? I guess I should have been a politician. Okay, I’ll get to the point.

Background screenings should be approached from the position from which they are being put. A retail clerk would not have the same check as a truck driver or even an accountant. You may wonder what is the difference between an accountant and a retail clerk. They both work with money and have personal access to company assets. The background that you can perform on the accountant may include more personal detail, leagally, due to the size of salary. All of this is dependant on what you know about your state laws. A good lawyer or resource that watches state and federal laws surrounding employment is paramount in the employment business and that is everyone who employs people in the united states. I can’t speak for china, but I think a pulse is the only thing required for employment and that might even be a stretch (jusy kidding).

The long and the short of it is that you should have some information about the positions you are hiring for and what state they are working within prior to asking the standard cost of a background. You should also know more about your screening company and what are their resources. They should be a member of NAPBS. Not because NAPBS membership is important but because its resources to screening companies is invaluable. Your screening company may know its home state laws but needs help for national accounts where employees are being employed in other states.

To sum it up, lets do this together. We do not want a background to be a mystery cost nor what we do to be a mystery either. We cannot answer the standard background question to your satisfaction. If a backgorund search agency does not ask for what type of position and what state will they be working, hang up and call another agency.

A resource for HR professionals in case they didn’t know.  This seams a little early for major elections but this refers to all voting days.  HR beware!

State-by-state list of employee Election Day rights.

Just thought you might want to know.  Useful if you are doing business with the Feds.  I am sure the list will expand in the near future.

Who has to use E-Verify? Complete rundown.

A short list regarding E-verify.  You may already know these if you have government contracts.

Feds answer 5 tricky E-Verify questions.

The long and the short of it is that if you do business with the Feds you will eventually have to use E-Verify.

This article seems good but I don’t think it will last.

Half of laid-off workers finding new work — and many are getting paid more.

I guess I am a pessimist, but when I look at the next three years I do not see any indicators that this economy is going to get better.  I place a lot of that pessimism on the current administration.  If this administration continues to create a hostile environment for the small businesses in America, then this is going to get worse.  I have two reasons for this pessimism.

First, we still have three and five year arm loans coming due and if we do not address those there is another wave of foreclosures coming.  There seems to be a lot of action by the administration and private companies to stem the fallout.

Second, the current Healthcare reform proposal leans heavily on the small business to pay for their employees’ healthcare.  Small business can only combat this with lower wages and putting the costs back on the employees.  This will lower the amount of free spending that has been going around and there will be more large businesses closing stores due to lack of spending.  Store closures will raise the unemployment and so forth and so on.

More taxes on the small businesses and people of this country will doom it to third world status.  I know that’s extreme but the only way I see us getting out of this with our pocket books and freedom is to lessen the burden on the public and businesses.

Help me out with this.  I want to see the sun through the trees.  Am I wrong?