Background screening eliminates bad hires

By Kim Kerr

L.TEARLY all executives have a difI \ ferent opinion as to what keeps their organization in a leadership position. These answers can range from innovative products and services to competitive pricing and advertising.

But, the most important factor in the success of any organization are the people who show up to work everyday. These employees not only interact with key customers, media and executives, but also serve as the public face for the business.

Finding the right people to employ for any organization is usually one of the most frustrating and costliest elements of running a successful business. As the employment market continues to tighten, discontinuing background checks is a common response among employers who are not looking at the "big picture."

When considering the expenses associated with recruiting, hiring and training-typically $7,000 to $10,000 per candidate-turnover becomes a bottom-line problem many organizations cannot afford to ignore. Simply stated, employee turnover will be drastically reduced if the proper screening is implemented at the begin- ning stages of the interview process.

Company executives and human resources professionals also have to address employees who lie about their backgrounds during the interview process. According to the Wall Street Journal,34Vo of all job applications contain lies regarding experience, education, and the ability to perform essential functions of the job-proving that a resume is only as good as the paper it is written on.

Additionally, the latest statistics released by the U.S. Department of Commerce state that internal employee-related thefts occur 15 times more often than external theft. Employee fraud costs companies more than $400 billion annually, proving the importance of hiring the right person for any business, regardless of size. It can be a frightening reality to think that one wrong hire could be so detrimental to a company, but it is even more frightening to know that this could have been prevented with one simple stepscreening applicants prior to offering employment.

For years, employers have searched to find a fast, inexpensive and reliable wav to verifv a candidate's back- ground and credentials during the interview process-especially during times of explosive market growth, when multiple employees need to be hired at once. In the past, businesses would spend days or weeks and a great deal of money to determine a candidate's past employment and criminal history. But times have changed, and so has the process.

Today. it is even more important to get the right information at an affordable price. Speed and efficiency can make or break an important hire, meaning there is no time to waste on unqualified candidates or employees who misrepresent themselves during the interview process. Every employee who is excused following the initial probation period puts a strain on profit margins, and could also pose as a threat to the overall reputation of the organization.

New technologies, such as online background screening. are increasingly being used to help employers identify and weed out undesirable candidates. These applications offer faster, more affordable background checks since they leverage breakthrough data management technologies and massive data repositories that contain billions of existing public records documents. Employers can identify unacceptable job candidates before investing valuable time and money.

Like any other acquisition or major transaction that a business would face. staffing is heavily reliant on innovative tools and resources that enable speed and efficiency and increase profit margins and productivity. Today's online screening technologies not only help employers be more confident with their hiring decisions, but also help to increase the profitability and image of an organization.

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Pony Lumber Closes Down

Pony Lumber, Tacoma, Wa., shuttered its stud mill in late September due to market conditions.

President Walt Wirfs informed the local newspaper that he has no plans to restart production.

Wirfs and Veber Partners, a Portland, Or.-based merchant bank, purchased the facility two years ago from Louisiana-Pacific.

More Hawaiians Select Steel

Three powerful forces are making steel framing more popular in Hawaii: rising costs, Formosan termites, and earthquakes like the one that hit the islands October 15.

Builders here reported little or no damage to their steel-frame structures after the earthquake, according to Mardie Torres, executive director of the Honolulu-based Hawaii Pacific Steel Framing Alliance. "Most developers here realize the cost-effectiveness of steel as well as the many attributes it has," said Torres.

At least TOVo of Hawaii's new homes are built with steel frames-far more than any other state. "Steel lends itself well to production housing. It's lighter and very efficient," said Adam Sutton, v.p., Haseko Construction. Oahu. His company is building 5,000 new, upscale homes with steel, mostly because of cost savings. He said that the frames are partially assembled off-site, then put together on the lot in five or six days.

Although homes in Hawaii are often framed in steel, most builders continue to use wood roof trusses. The reason, said Torres, is that the labor force still hasn't evolved enough to accommodate widespread steel-frame roofrng. He predicts that will change as more consumers request steel. "The perception now is, 'I would like to have a whole home made of steel."' said Torres.

Oregon ExpertMarkets Hurricane Plne

A timber industry consultant based in Corvallis, Or., has been hired by the U.S. Forest Service to find creative ways to market Gulf Coast timber infected by blue stain fungus.

Dubbed "hurricane pine," the infected southern pine logs are sound but they do have ribbons of blue running through the normally clear, white grain of the wood. "I think it has a very elegant look," said consultant Catherine Mater. "It's not just blue stain-it's blue stain with quite a story behind it."

Her firm, Mater Engineering, finds new markets for wood products that were once discarded as waste. When the same fungus atteked pine fuests in Canada scveral years ago, snrdies corylcted by Mater's company led to fqmation of the Denim Pine Association. "We've expanded our marketing focus to always look at the unique and unusual ad crhat we call custom grades for wood," she said.

In the Gulf C@st, she is soliciting firms that have a large prcscooc in the area and are contributing to recovery efforts tbat night srypdt the wood product. She said,'I believe we can sell that to them, and in doing so, frankly, give tbem higher visibility in t€rms of providing financing for tbe cleanrry."

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Deck, that will be coming soon," said founder and president Heath Van Eaton. "Our product names indicate that the product is made of wheat straw from the prairie."

Van Eaton said the product he developed is stronger, retains color better, is more sustainable, and looks better than wood composites or vinyl products. "We have testing data to prove that our product fades less and is stronger," he said. "As far as appearance, you can eyeball the product and see that it mirrors the wood-like appearance, but it doesn't fall apart like wood does through the aging and environmental exposure process."

In addition to performance advantages, claimed Van Eaton, "in most cases, our product sells for less than our competitors' [products]."

Coperion Corp., Ramsey, N.J., helped refine the new products. "They are one of the equipment suppliers, and process and engineering groups for us," said John Mitchell, Heartland's v.p. A number of investors, plus grants from the state of Wyoming, provided funding.

Van Eaton said he picked Wyoming because of low taxes, a good quality workforce, and locally available raw materials. "We have an abundant supply of straw in the region, and next year we have people listed to supply us as we grow," he said. "It's all regional from western Nebraska to southeast Wyoming."

Van Eaton said that the future appears bright for the new company. "We are finalizing product distribution with some of the biggest distributors in the U.S.," he said. "I want the product to be available everywhere. We are getting inquiries from all over the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Australia. We are also receiving inquiries from people who want to license our technologv."