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Employee Screening Articles For April 2009

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In case you missed any of our employee screening articles for April, here’s a quick recap of our most popular:

Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy

FYI Screening, Inc. offers a complete portfolio of employee screening services that will help you work smarter while providing the industry’s fastest turnaround and the highest quality results.

This will allow your company to focus on what really matters:

Hiring and Retaining The Best Employees Possible

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Job Applicants Are More Likely To Lie As The Recession Grows

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Enterprises thinking about cutting budgets for investigations and employee screening should think again. National and international studies recently show that job applicants at all position levels are more likely to lie as the recession grows.

Photo credit: kevindooley

Employee Screening Articles For March 2009

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In case you missed any of our employee screening articles for March, here’s a quick recap of our most popular:

Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy

FYI Screening, Inc. offers a complete portfolio of employee screening services that will help you work smarter while providing the industry’s fastest turnaround and the highest quality results.

This will allow your company to focus on what really matters: hiring and retaining the best employees possible.

  • Sign-Up for a quick demo to see how your company can get the fastest, most accurate and cost effective employee screening results in the industry.

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Diploma Mills: Degrees of Deception

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diploma mills

Are you ever tempted by an email or an ad claiming you can “earn a college degree based…on life experience”?  Don’t be, say attorneys for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), America’s consumer protection agency.  Chances are good that the ad is for a “diploma mill,” a company that offers “degrees” or certificates for a flat fee, requires little course work, if any, and awards degrees based solely on life experience.

Most employers and educational institutions consider it lying if you claim academic credentials that you didn’t earn through actual course work. Federal officials say it’s risky behavior: If you use a so-called “degree” from a diploma mill to apply for a job or promotion, you risk not getting hired, getting fired, and in some cases, prosecution.

Diploma mills may claim to be “accredited.” Colleges and universities accredited by legitimate organizations undergo a rigorous review of the quality of their educational programs. Although many diploma mills claim to be “accredited,” their accreditation is from a bogus, but official-sounding agency that they created. You can use the Internet to check if a school is accredited by a legitimate organization at the database of accredited academic institutions posted by the U.S. Department of Education or at the Council for Higher Education Accreditation database. (There are a few legitimate institutions that have not pursued accreditation.)

Look out for sound-alikes. Some diploma mills take on names that are very similar to well-known colleges or universities; a “dot edu” Web address is no guarantee of legitimacy, either. Keep in mind that some diploma mills use credible-sounding foreign names. Researching the legitimacy of a foreign school can be a challenge, but is clearly worth the time. If you’re having a tough time checking out a particular school, call the registrar of a local college or university and ask if it would accept transfer credits from the school you are considering.

So how can you tell if the institution you’re thinking about is legitimate? Here are some tell-tale signs of a diploma mill:

  • No Studies, No Exams — Get a Degree for Your Experience. Diploma mills grant degrees for “work or life experience” alone. Accredited colleges may give a few credits for specific experience pertinent to a degree program, but not an entire degree.
  • No Attendance. Legitimate colleges or universities, including online schools, require substantial      course work.
  • Flat Fee. Many diploma mills charge on a per-degree basis. Legitimate colleges charge by the credit, course, or semester, not a flat fee for an entire degree.
  • No Waiting. Operations that guarantee a degree in a few days, weeks, or even months aren’t legitimate. If an ad promises that you can earn a degree very quickly, it’s probably a diploma mill.
  • Click Here To Order Now! Some diploma mills push themselves through aggressive sales tactics.      Accredited colleges don’t use spam or high-pressure telemarketing to market themselves. Some diploma mills also advertise in newspapers, magazines, and on the Web.
  • Advertising through spam or pop-ups. If the school caught your attention through an unsolicited email or pop-up ad, it may be a diploma mill. Legitimate institutions, including distance learning programs, won’t advertise through spam or pop-ups.

Source: Federal Trade Commission

Next Step

  • Contact us for an online demo and see why smart companies are using FYI to streamline their employee screening process.  FYI Screening, Inc. is a leading global provider of employee screening solutions to corporations, government agencies, healthcare systems and educational institutions.

Smart, Compliant Hiring Decisions Made Easy

Resume Fraud A Growing Concern

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Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consulting firm, released their monthly update on CEO departures.  They report that CEO departures in February 2009 were at the lowest monthly turnover since December 2004.  They also report that resume fraud is a growing concern.

“Resume fraud is likely to become more prevalent in the downturn, even among high-level executives. With increased competition for available positions, there is more pressure to find and keep a position. With this pressure comes the temptation to embellish one’s education or work record. More of these embellishments are likely to be uncovered, however, as companies become more selective and more diligent in the vetting process.”

I say it’s about time companies are more selective with their C-Level Executives.  Believe it or not, many companies screen their janitors more thoroughly than their executives.  For more on executive screening go here.

Photo Credit: jm3