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CCH® HR MANAGEMENT — 12/06/05

Over 8 percent of applicants have criminal records; 26 percent inaccurately report past employment

The importance of applicant background checks and employment verification was made clear by a survey that revealed 8.3 percent of all job applicants have criminal records, while 3.3 percent test positive for illegal drugs and 26.4 percent have discrepancies in their reported past employment. More than 40 percent (41.6 percent) of job applicants were found to have unreported DMV information.

The survey, which relates the percentage of job applicants, by industry, for whom negative or derogatory information was uncovered during the pre-employment screening process, was conducted by InfoLink Screening Services to analyze January through June 2005 "hit ratios" for job applicants. Background check areas range from criminal records and DMV violations to education and drug testing.

Industries in the study include: automotive, business services, construction, finance, food services, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, non-profit, real estate, retail, staffing, technology and transportation. Applicants in the automotive, retail and food services industries were found to have the highest criminal record percentages. Further, applicants in the transportation, business services and automotive fields had the highest "hit ratios" for drug testing, while business services (10.9 percent) and automotive (8.9 percent) industry applicants had the highest "hit ratios" for previous workers' compensation claims.

Source: InfoLink Screening Services; www.infolinkscreening.com.

For additional information on this and other HR topics, consult CCH Human Resources Management or Personnel Practices/Communications.

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