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News Releases:
EYES
TRAINED ON EMPLOYEES' PAST
How important are background checks? If recent reports are any
indication, they're crucial. Springfield handgun maker Smith & Wesson
Holding Corp. found that out the hard way last week after a report
surfaced that James J. Minder Jr., its new 74-year-old chairman,
spent 15 years in prison in the 1950s and 1960s for a series of
armed robberies and an attempted prison break in Michigan. Minder
resigned from the chairmanship but will retain a seat on the board.
Minder is hardly the first person with a questionable background
to occupy the executive suite. Albert J. Dunlap, former chairman
and chief executive of Florida-based Sunbeam Corp., was fired from
two other jobs before he was ousted by Sunbeam. But the headhunters
who probed his work history for the company failed to uncover that
information. Instead, an article about the firings appeared in The
New York Times.
 There's
also Frank Abagnale Jr., the charismatic impostor whose exploits
became the focus of the movie, "Catch Me If You Can." The film,
featuring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale, depicts the life of a young
con artist who wrote millions in bogus checks while pretending to
be a pilot, a pediatrician, a professor, and a lawyer. The crime
spree began when Abagnale was 16 and ended when he turned 21. Abagnale
spent five years behind bars as a result, according to his website,
www.abagnale.com.
Workplace and recruitment specialists say reports on the misdeeds
of corporate executives and the tarnished backgrounds of top managers
have focused attention on the need for background checks, even when
candidates have stellar credentials. Companies, they say, shouldn't
hesitate to hire independent professionals to investigate the employment
history, education, criminal backgrounds, driving records, and credit
reports of potential hires.
"In the recruitment process, it is incumbent on the employer to
conduct the background search," said Joseph Daniel McCool, editor-in-chief
of Executive Recruiter News, a publication of Kennedy Information
in New Hampshire. "This is critical. Nobody wants the job of damage
control once a damning incident has occurred in the boardroom."
More employers are paying attention to this issue, according to
a recent report by the Society for Human Resource Management in
Alexandria, Va. The professional association reported that 82 percent
of human resources professionals say their companies routinely check
job candidates' backgrounds, up from 66 percent in 1996.
The report also noted that employers worried about on-the-job violence
say background checks are crucial. "Although background checks are
not perfect, they sometimes bring to the forefront behaviors that
might be predicative of future violence," the report said. "They
also protect employers from negligence should a hired employee become
violent at work."
Take the case of Charles Cullen, a 43-year-old nurse who confessed
to killing 30 to 40 patients at 10 medical facilities around the
country through lethal injections. The murders allegedly occurred
over a 16-year period. Cullen was fired several times and suspended
once before he landed a new job at the Somerset Medical Center in
Somerville, N.J. According to published reports, he was arrested
in December in connection with the death of one patient and the
attempted murder of another. In some cases, nursing homes that hired
Cullen were accused of negligence in connection with the deaths
because they did not review his work history. All charges were dropped
at some facilities because they did background checks on Cullen
before hiring him.
Why didn't the background checks reveal Cullen's employment history?
David Opton, founder of Exec-U-Net, the online executive career
management site, attributes the failure to find potentially damaging
information to how far back in time researchers delve.
"How much information you get depends on how far back you want to
go," said Opton. "Many times hiring managers are only interested
in what went on over the last 10 years."
But a background check might not reveal prior misdeeds because some
states do not routinely update their criminal databases, said Toshi
Akiyama, a partner at American DataBank, an online
employment screening service in Denver.
"We don't rely totally on databases because not all counties report
the information or upgrade the information regularly," said Akiyama.
"We look at a variety of factors, including where the person lived
in the past, where they worked, financial and credit checks, assets,
education, and at state and federal criminal records."
Akiyama said the level of detail in a report depends on what clients
want to pay. A simple county criminal search costs $10 to $55, depending
on court fees and screening firm. A national fingerprint search
costs $28 per name and can take up to 30 days to complete.
Employers should also carefully screen resumes, said Jason Morris,
president of Cleveland-based Background Information Services and
operator of employeescreen.com. He said resume checks are critical
because applicants have become more creative and adept at hiding
information and stretching the truth.
According to Morris, 56 percent of all resumes reviewed by fact
checkers contain false or misleading information. Of those resumes,
9 percent falsely list a college degree or false employers. Thirty-four
percent of all application forms contain lies about experience,
education, and the ability to do the job. Eleven percent of applicants
lie about why they left their previous employer.
Morris said it costs an employer $15,000 when it hires the wrong
person for a low-level position, including training fees, recruiting
costs, and money spent replacing and training the dismissed worker.
The cost is higher for an executive and includes recruitment, relocation,
and transportation and lodging for candidates who traveled for an
interview.
Failure to check a resume is not the only reason companies get burned,
said Exec-U-Net's Opton. He believes trust is also a factor. Corporate
hiring executives sometimes assume they know a candidate because
he or she belongs to the same club, attended the same church, graduated
from the same college, or is a member of the same professional network.
"You get to a certain level and people assume things," said Opton.
"If you've known someone for 25 years and you and that person have
played golf together or were roommates, why would you think otherwise?"
Perhaps that was the case with James Minder. No one at Smith & Wesson
Holding Corp. knew that Minder used a sawed-off shotgun to rob a
Detroit bank and a string of stores after attending classes at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, according to reports.
Following his release from prison, Minder became a highly respected
businessman. He gave generously to charity and established a foundation
for delinquent youths. Minder later moved from Michigan to Arizona,
where he founded the management firm, Amherst Consulting Co. His
upstanding professional and personal reputation led several organizations
to invite him to sit on their boards. In 2001, he joined the board
of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp.
Last month, Minder told The Arizona Republic that he hadn't planned
to hide his past. When asked why he didn't tell the Smith & Wesson
board about his criminal record, Minder said: "Nobody asked."
Author(s): Diane E. Lewis,
Globe Staff
Boston Works
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