When the hiring manager read this statement he immediately hired the candidate. How often is the hiring manager pleased when he or she reads?
NO DEROGATORY INFORMATION FOUND
Should one accept this notification at face value? No!
The candidate had embezzled more than $250,000 from her previous employer. Upon conviction, the judge sentenced her to prison and ordered restitution.
Who do we fault for negligent hiring? Was it the Background Investigator, the Human Resources Specialist, or the hiring manager? If your answer is “All of them,” you would be right.
What went wrong?
The candidate submitted a resume containing disingenuous and fabricated information. What it did not contain was the employer she had victimized. The Human Resources Specialist, the hiring manager, and the contract Background Investigator had all reviewed the resume.
The background investigator called the telephone numbers listed for former employers and references. In all cases he reached voice messaging. Multiple calls were made with a request for a return call. Of the several “employers and references” not one returned a call. The background investigator did not talk with a single reference.
A criminal records search was made only in the county where the candidate lived even though all three people knew she had recently moved from a different part of the state. No Record Found. The candidate had a criminal conviction in the previous jurisdiction.
Do you see a pattern developing? Not one item on the application or resume was verified.
The background investigator’s report was sent to Human Resources. The H/R Specialist forwarded it without comment to the hiring manager.
The hiring manager had eyes only for “No Derogatory Information Found.”
The H/R Specialist and the hiring manager had read the candidate’s resume. They had personal knowledge that the she had worked for years at XYZ, Inc. in Europe.
XYZ, Inc. was not listed on either the resume or the application. Why, because of the embezzlement conviction. Human Resources and the hiring manager must share in the blame. The hiring manager had even told his H/R Specialist; “I want to hire Jane Doe because of her experience at XYZ, Inc.”
Why did neither challenge the resume? Why didn’t the Background Investigator, H/R Specialist, or hiring manager question the lack of verification?
A frank examination of the background investigator’s report raised numerous red flags. It took less than a day to expose the falsehoods in the resume and employment application. The former employers listed on the application and resume were shell companies created by the applicant to help facilitate the embezzlement.
You may ask, “Wasn’t it challenging to find the European conviction?” It wasn’t difficult at all.
A good question one should ask, “What don’t I know?”
This is an example of process over veracity. Every person involved in the hiring process failed to do their job.
Your comment, “ask ‘What don’t I know'” reminds me of a comment I heard this year at the SFWC. The speaker told us that when we are writing a biographical story, we should “Look for the silences.” Finding what doesn’t appear on the surface may give us the real story.