Due to the current economic climate, there are endless numbers of candidates

vying for the same positions. In order to get ahead, some applicants may exaggerate or falsify parts of their resume to make themselves seem more desirable. The following story serves as both an example and a warning: Don’t let this happen to you! Jean was very pleased. After a month long search, she had finally found the perfect candidate for the new accounting position. Betty seemed perfect for the job. She had graduated near the top of her class from a prestigious school and had even spent the summers interning at one of the largest accounting firms in New York City. After a cursory interview, she was hired. Within a month Jean started noticing problems with Betty’s work. She was regularly late and always seemed to leave an hour early. There were several large mistakes in the monthly invoices. Betty seemed less like the exemplary candidate she had presented herself to be and more like an unqualified

To Tell the Truth? Exaggeration and Falsification of Resumes

employee. Jean decided to look further into the claims on Betty’s resume. After making a few calls, Jean discovered that Betty had never graduated from the prestigious school from which she claimed to have a degree. She had attended college for several semesters but was deemed academically ineligible when her work was consistently below par. As for the internship with the powerful accounting firm, this too was a fabrication. Betty’s resume was full of lies! Jean was forced to let Betty go. The time, effort, and finances that she had put into hiring and training Betty had gone completely to waste. Jean started the search for a new accountant again, vowing to not make the same mistake twice! According to The Liar’s Index, asemi-annual survey conducted by anexecutive search firm, approximately 17% of executive-level applicants lie or exaggerate on their resumes. The lie rate for entry-level or mid-level applicants may be much higher: 30% or more! Education and previous employment are the

two most commonly exaggerated pieces of information on an applicant’s resume. So how do you prevent this from happening to you? When you examine an applicant’sresume, look for mismatched information. Did they list an addressin NY as their residence from 1999-2001 but then list a job in CA for the same time period? Note inconsistencies and follow up on these in the interview. Look for anygaps in their resume. Are there any

long periods where no employmentis listed? Have they gone from working for a large company to self-employment and back again? Does the applicant seem too goodto be true? Question them thoroughlyon their experience and education.If everything on their resume is true, they will be more than willing to discuss their accomplishments. For more information concerning employment and education verifications please contact Amy Sessoms at (888) 723-4263 ext. 7112.

Law is the first amendment to the Jacob Wetterling Act, named after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old girl who was raped and murdered by a twice-convicted child molester in her New Jersey neighborhood. Megan’s Law requires all states to maintain notification conventions that allow access to information about sexual offenders in a community. As a result of the Jacob Wetterling Act and Megan’s Law, anyone convicted of a sexual offense must register with their state of residence, informing the government of their whereabouts. Furthermore, convicted

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In 1994 the Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender

Registration Act was passed. This federal law was named after Jacob Wetterling, an 11-year-old boy who was kidnapped in 1989 and is still missing. The Jacob Wetterling Act, designed to protect children, requires all states to maintain stringent registration programs for sexual offenders, including the identification and registration of lifelong sexual predators.

On May 17, 1996, President Clinton signed Megan’s Law. Megan’s

Sexual Of fenders F i le

With the abuse of legal and illegal drugs in our society, it is necessary to screen potential and current employees for drug use. Test your knowledge. Can you tell which of the

following statements are true and which are false?

1. The National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that on any given day, 12-25% of employees between the ages of 18-40 would test positive for illegal drug use.2. The Research Triangle Institute estimates that the United States loses $26 billion annually because of drug abuse.3. In order to protect the safety of employees, customers, and the public, you may have a legal obligation to require pre-employment drug testing for at least some positions.4. Pre-employment drug tests will deter illegal drug users from applying 5. Pre-employment drug testing does not guarantee that your workplace will be drug free. Therefore, random testing is also recommended.

If you marked any statements false, you may need to reevaluate your drug testing program. The goal of pre-employment testing is to discourage illegal drug users from applying to your organization, and to identify those who do apply before they’re hired. Our advice is to require testing when illegal drug use or legal drug abuse puts the employee, co-workers, customers, or the public at risk.

Consider these risk factors: Is the employee directly responsible for public safety? Is the employeeindirectly responsible for public safety? Some examples of such professions are health and dental care personnel and security personnel. Does the employee work with children? Does the employee work with heavy equipment, chemicals, live electrical wiring, or other dangerous or hazardous equipment or materials? Is the employee required to climb or work at a potentially risky height (e.g. washing windows)? Is the employee responsible for valuable or breakable merchandise?

Keep in mind that your organization may run the risk of a claim of negligence if you do not test applicants for such positions. If you would like more information concerning drug testing please contact Angela Gilbert at (888) 723-4263 ext. 7146.

A Drug Test QuizHow much do you know about drug testing in the workplace?

Providing the legal community with criminal and civil research nationwide.

In order to make your research on www.courtsearch.com as easy and successful as possible,

we would like to offer the following research tips. As a CourtSearch client, you not only have instant access to North Carolinacriminal and civilrecords, but to Division of MotorVehicle Recordsas well. With the same username and password youuse to access criminal and civilrecords, you canalso access NorthCarolina motor vehicle records instantly online. Select NC Driving Records on the CourtSearch home page. Results are retrieved by enteringthe North Carolina driver ’s license number directly on DMV online or by clicking on the license number in a case file. The number is hyperlinked to DMV online. In both cases the record appears in seconds. You can order driving records in every state across the country and in Canada. Simply select the red order button and fill out the order form. At the bottom of the form select US Driving Records and specify how you would like the results returned to you. CourtSearch offers 2 research methods for conducting criminal searches: statewide and county. The statewide criminal name search allows you to search all 100 North Carolina counties simultaneously. One advantage of the statewidecriminal index is that it’s “soundexed”. Names that sound alike will appear in the results. For example, if you search the name GREEN,JOHN

castle branch news vol. 10 pub. 252

(Sexual Offenders continued)

sexual offenders who relocate must notify the government of their new address and register with that state’s sexual offender index. When employing someone who works with children, the elderly, or otherwise dependent or impaired adults, it is necessary to conduct a sexual offender index search. Sexual offenders prey upon the disadvantaged because of their inability to protect themselves. Companies that require employees to enter private residences need also include a search of the sexual offender index. If a screening package does not include a sexual offender index search, a business may be jeopardizing the safety of its employees and clients. Call a Castle Branch sales representative today at (888) 723-4263 for more information.

matches for GREENE,JON will return as well. We suggest you include last, first, and middle names if possible when conducting this search. In the statewide criminal index, search results will include name

matches with birth dates 5 years either side of the date of birth you enter. Records in which the clerk did not enter the date of birth will not be displayed. Youmay choose not

to enter the date of birth. If you don’t select a race, all raceswith name matches will be displayed.We recommend that you do not select a race as race is sometimes not entered in court records. The county only index is an ALPHA listing. Only exact matches for the name and date of birth you enter will be displayed, along with records that carry no date of birth at all. We recommend that you do not narrow the single county search with the date of birth or race. It is important to note that if information is missing or typed incorrectly there is a chance that a case may not appear based on search criteria. We recommend that you enter the last name and the first few letters of the first name for the county only search to eliminate the chance of missing a case. We are proud to serve the legal community. If we can provide any additional research assistanceor for information about settingup a CourtSearch account pleasecontact Christine Letsen at (888) 723-4263 ext. 7156.

In order to protect the safety of employees, customers, and the public, you may have a legal obligation to require pre-employment drug testing for at least some positions.

4. Pre-employment drug tests will deter illegal drug users from applyingfor jobs at organizations that require those tests.

5. Pre-employment drug testing does not guarantee that your workplace will be drug free. Therefore, random testing is also recommended.

If you marked any statements false, you may need to reevaluate your drug testing program.

The goal of pre-employment testing is to discourage illegal drug users from applying to your organization, and to identify those who do apply before they’re hired. Our advice is to require testing when illegal drug use or legal drug abuse puts the employee, co-workers, customers, or the public at risk.

Consider these risk factors:Is the employee directly responsible for public safety? Is the employee

indirectly responsible for public safety? Some examples of such

Castle Branch Company News

F O R F U R T H E R I N F O R M A T I O N , C A L L ( 8 8 8 ) 7 2 3 - 4 2 6 3

Angela GilbertDrug Testing Administrator(888) 723-4263 ext. 7146

Castle Branch is pleased to introduceAngela Gilbert as our new Drug Testing Administrator. Ms. Gilbertbrings 12 years of experience in the field of alcohol and drug program management and auditing to Castle Branch. Most notably, Ms. Gilbert consulted with Exxon in response to the environmental disaster involving the Exxon Valdez. Shew o r k e d w i t h E x x o n t o formulate a comprehensive alcohol and drug-auditing program for the company and its over 2,000 safety-sensitive contractors. The program was the first comprehensive substance abuse monitoring program implemented in the petroleum industry and has served as a model for other industryoperators. Ms. Gilbert has worked with mid-sized companies and multi-national corporations with both DOT and non-regulated alcohol drug testing programs. Castle Branch is extremely proud to have an individual of Ms. Gilbert’s caliber at the helm of our drug testing division. We hope your company will take advantage of her years of experience. For those clients with existing programs, Ms. Gilbert is available to review pricing, program efficiency, and policies. For companies without a drug testing program in place, Ms. Gilbert will develop and implementa tailored drug testing and substance abuse program.

Wayne StilesInvestigative Services Coordinator(888) 723-4263 ext. 7121

Wayne Stiles has recently joined The Castle Branch Investigative Group as Vice President and Investigative Services Coordinator. Prior to associating with TCBIG, Mr. Stiles amassed more than 30 years of investigative experience as a career FBI Special Agent, bank security director, and licensed private investigator. While an FBI case agent, he specialized in complex financialcases, including various frauds, embezzlements, securities violations, money laundering, and fraud in government programs. Mr. Stiles’ bank security duties included physical security,loss prevention and recovery, compliance, money laundering prevention, and employee security training. Highlights of Mr. Stiles’ FBI career include: assignment as aWatergate Case team investigator,supervision of several interagency task forces, foreign travel and liaison on international banking fraud cases, and bank security. He also played an integral role in the coordination of the senior management money laundering prevention committee and securityservices for banks devastated by Hurricane Andrew. Mr. Stiles is available to discussyour company’s investigative needs or reassess your current programs to better protect your business’ human, physical, financial, and intellectual assets.

We are pleased to announce two additions

Most employers perform a diligent and thorough screening of prospectiveemployees. Unfortunately, interviews,

background checks, reference contacts, and even financial responsibility checks, don’t always eliminate the problem of employee theft (shrinkage, etc.). Weeding out problem employees can be as simple as including honesty and integrity based questions on employment applications. These issues can and should be covered in pre-employment interviews. Surprisingly, researchers have found that when asked directly about thefts of money and merchandise, and their personal integrity in general, some applicants freely admit to wrongdoing at previous places of employment. Others have admitted to knowledge of thefts by co-workers, or to having a tolerant attitude of such behavior. Eliminating internal losses is a full-time managerial responsibility. The topic should be directly addressed in company orientation programs. Policies, procedures, job descriptions, internal controls, code of conduct/ethics statements, and authority levels should be firmly in place. New employees should be made aware of company policy regarding theft, including that such incidents will be subjected to rigorous criminal and civil prosecution. Management should also consider the value of dual control when assigning high risk duties. More than one person should have access to and familiarity with financial documents and activities. Consideration should be given to the establishment of a dual signature policy on companychecks based on a predetermined threshold amount. Blank check stock should be kept in a secure location and audited periodically. It is easy to overlook the disappearance of blank checks from the bottom of the box or from supposedly unopened boxes. Storage areas for high value items, inventory, and other critical material or systems should be under dual control (two persons needed for entry, either by combination lock or dual key systems). Key employees should be required to take earned vacation time. This allows other employees to be cross-trained and familiarized with critical financial functions. A key employee who never takes a vacation may be a red flag for management. Management should be aware of lifestyle changes among its employees, especially those in key financial positions. Uncharacteristic spending habits are sometimes indicators of unjust enrichment at the company’s expense. For example, an employee may appear to be living beyond his or her financial means. One of the most effective assets in combating employee theft is often employees themselves. Large businesses may consider implementing an employee tip line. A tip line is a dedicated internal telephone number where employees can report suspicious activity or fraud. A tip line providesanonymity to employees who might not otherwise come forward with their suspicions and observations. For additional information about our investigative services contact Wayne Stiles at (888) 723-4263 ext. 7121.

Employee Theft

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Billing Customer Service Beth Peterson - ext. 7110Castle Branch Customer Service Whitney Vaughn - ext. 7124CourtSearch Customer Service Christine Letsen - ext. 7156Director of CourtMail Tiffany Eargle - ext. 7144Director of Operations Derric Becker - ext. 7122Driving Records Customer Service Kathy Boone - ext. 7120

Drug Testing Administrator Angela Gilbert - ext. 7146Employment & Education Verifications Amy Sessoms - ext. 7112Investigative Services Coordinator Wayne Stiles - ext. 7121Nationwide Court Research Chris Johnson - ext. 7125Vice President of Sales Joe Finley - ext. 7116