Research and other sites and pages with more information about Pre-Employment Background Screening, Hiring,  Human Resources, and professional services.

1. Links to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to find out more about the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).

    The FTC has  prepared  publications concerning the FCRA:

• The official publication that all Pre-employment agencies should provide to employers is the "Notice to Users of Consumer Reports Obligations of Users under the FCRA."
• In addition, the FTC has prepare a brief summary of the provisions of the FCRA that apply to employers called, "Using Consumer Reports: What Employers Need to Know."
• Another critical  document is the FTC prepared document, "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act."  This is the summary that must be provided to a consumer any time an adverse notice action is taken.

Other helpful links for finding out more about the FCRA are:

• Text of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)   Generally, sections 604, 606 and 615 are of the most immediate concern to employers.  The FCRA was amended on November 27, 1998.  The principle change dealt with the seven year limitation on criminal records. However, as discussed in the ESR special report on criminal records, there is no clear national rule because states may choose to have more restricted laws.  (California for example, recently adopted the previous federal limit of $75,000.  See this site in the near future for an article on the state of the law concerning criminal records and the FCRA.)
• The FCRA is summarized in the special report prepared by Employment Screening Resources on, "Complying with the   FCRA in Four Easy Steps."
• The FCRA "homepage" for the Federal Trade Commission.  It has other consumer literature as well.
• The Index to the FTC Staff Opinion letters page.  This is where researchers can find the published opinions by the FTC staff interpreting the FCRA.

2.  Copy of the California Pre-Employment Guidelines published by the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment. 
    All employers know that there are certain areas that cannot be covered in a job          interview.  This summary tells employers what they can and cannot ask in job interviews. It is generally helpful to employers in all the fifty states.
        A.  Introduction and Application for Employment
        B.  Pre-Employment Guidelines

3.  Employment forms and materials

NEW: Why applications are key--Column in the   November 16, 2000 Sunday San Francisco Examiner/Chronicle by Lester S. Rosen, President of Employment Screening Resources.  (See also the ESR special report on Criminal Records, Employment and Employment Applications.)

The following forms are generic in nature, and taken from a variety of sources.  Many of these forms are widely available on the internet from a variety of legal and business sources.  Additional forms will be added in the future.  They are provided here for general information only.  An employer should carefully examine any forms to determine if the forms meet their needs, and if they comply with any legal requirements in their jurisdiction.  ESR does not express any opinion on  the suitability or legality of any form for any particular purpose.

        a.  Generic employment application     (Page also has information as to why employers should utilize an application and not just resumes, and what is required for background screening)
            (For Word version)

        b.  Coming soon-Generic form recommended for high-tech companies.

        c.  Special Report--forms that  can be used by employers that  use resumes instead  of applications.  In that situation, all applicants  should still be required  to fill out a supplemental form with critical language, as well as a disclosure and release for background screening.  

4.  Interesting Links to other sites offering related Human Resources services or information.

           See the list of HR Resources assembled by Employment Screening Resources

5.  Links or e-mail addresses to Recommended Professional Services

Brenda Lynch, President  of Lynch and Associates is a Human Resources consultant with offices in the San Francisco Bay area.  Her firm provides Human Resources consulting, as well as day to day outsourcing of Human Resources functions.   Areas of expertise include staff recruitment and retention practices, employee compensation and benefits, organizational development, internal audits and compliance, company policies and procedures, employee relations, staff training and personal development.  (bklynch@aol.com)

Richard Schmidt, is a licensed private investigator and a retired police captain with thirty years of investigative experience.  He also holds a Masters degree in pubic Administration from Golden Gate University, and works extensively with police departments all over the United States.  (rschmidt@aol.com)

WEA Consulting (formerly Western Employer Associates)--Expert consultants assisting organizations in all aspects of Human Resources, Labor Relations and Integrated Business Planning

6.  Interesting books on pre-employment screening and hiring.

There are two  books that may be of interest to HR professionals in the area of screening and hiring. 

First, ESR is pleased to recommend , "45 Effective Ways for Hiring Smart!: How to Predict Winners and Loser in the Incredibly Expensive People-Reading Game." the author is psychiatrist Pierre Mornell, and is an outstanding book on smart hiring. 

Another book that has been well received is the newly published, "Don't Hire a Crook." Also recommend reading.

7.  Drug testing links--Click Here for helpful sites for pre-employment drug testing

8.  Helpful Research Links

These are  excellent sites for performing business research over the Internet.   They are:

1. People Search   (Data by InfoUSA)

2. Business Search   (Data by InfoUSA)

3. Yellow Page Search    (Data by InfoUSA)

4. How to Find People on the Net;

5. How to Research Companies on the Net.

6. www.freeedgar.com      An easy way to search through company filings with the SEC.

7.  www.10kwizard.com Another site to research public companies by reviewing SEC filings.

8.  www.business.elibrary.com   A site that charges a small fee, but has a excellent database of newspapers, periodically, and press releases 

9.  www.refdesk.com    and www.refdesk.com/instant.html   An outstanding collection of references sites on the web for do it yourself due diligence research

10.  www.nedsite.nl/search/people.htm All in one search site links to hundreds of databases

11.  www.teldir.com  For finding people outside  the US, with links for web sites to over 150 countries

12.  www.qucis.queensu.ca/FAQs/college-email/college.html  Site with links to universities all over the world

13.  www.franchisesolutions.com/links.cfm for an excellent listing of resources to to evaluate, start, or manage a small business.

9.  Credit Reports:  Viewing their contents or obtaining your own credit report

NEW:  Article on,  "Credit Reports and Job Hunting," published on-line at www.MedCAREERS.com. Article by ESR for both employers and job applicants on the role of credit reports and employment.

The Federal Trade commission has resources that will help consumers and job applicants deal with their own credit reports.  These are excellent resources for job applicants that would like information about improving their reports.  For a general  list of articles, see www.ftc.gov/bcp/menu-credit.htm .    For an excellent article on credit repair published by the Federal Trade Commission, including how to avoid scams, see  www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/bbcr.htm

It is an excellent idea to obtain and review  your own credit report   to make certain that  everything is accurate and up to date.      The advantages of viewing your own credit report is that you can see which companies are looking at your credit information, you can identify and dispute any inaccuracies, you can track  any late payments or adverse information, and you can tell if someone is using your identity.

There are also commercial services available that can help consumers view and track their own credit reports. One such service is called QSpace. Check your credit.  There are  also services to monitor your credit which includes a merged credit report and updates.    Monitoring Report

The  best practice  is to obtain a merged or combined report from all three major agencies.  Although the  three major credit bureaus offer the ability to obtain a copy of your own report either by mail, phone or through the Internet, it is usually easier  to purchase one combined report from a reputable commercial agency.  

A consumer  can contact the three major agencies in the following way (phone numbers may change, but current information is available on their web sites. 

1.  Trans Union (www.transunion.com/CreditReport/CreditFileInfo.asp)--call 800-888-4213.
2.  Equifax (www.equifax.com/consumers/consumers.html)--888-532-0179.
3.  Experian (www.experian.com/customer/index/html)-800-972-0322 (Has a helpful discussion of consumer credit issues).  

10.  Helpful Legal Links

The following links are of assistance in researching laws in the fifty states, and federal law:

a.  Findlaw--www.findlaw.com/11stategov/index.html   

b.  An index to the criminal  law for each state:  http://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/state_statutes2.html#criminal_code

c. California statutes  can be found at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/calaw.html.   The California Penal Code can be found at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20

d.  Rominger Legal: legal resources for each state

11.  Career and HR News Brought to you daily by major magazines and News sources

A.  HR Daily News Feed
B.  Everyday ESR brings you interesting reading materials on Careers, Human Resources and the New Economy--taken form major magazines and news sources.  Stay current.

12.  Resources concerning Identity theft

See article in San Francisco Chronicle on what to do if you are the victim of identity   theft.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2001/02/11/BU183774.DTL

Employers can help prevent identify theft in the workplace--From the February 2000 Issue of HR News—HR’s leading Newspaper published by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), containing information and quotes  from Les Rosen, president of ESR
(entire article to be posted  shortly)