Background Checks

Let me be clear–this is not a political article but an opportunity to take lessons from Presidential elections and apply them to job hunting.

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In 2008, two candidates faced very different outcomes when their backgrounds were checked by the news.

Governor Sarah Palin did not have a thorough background check when she was interviewed by

representatives of Senator John McCain before selecting her to run with the Senator as his Vice Presidential nominee.

Thus, after she left the adoration of the convention and started to interview with the press, we all discovered that she had a fatal flaw (lack of knowledge) that made her unworthy in many of our minds to be Vice President.

Senator Obama faced a very different background check. Generally, the mass media liked the Senator and, dare I say, favored him for President. Thus, they chose to ignore how Obama lied about Senator Clinton’s positions on health care reform and Nafta, his view of opponents as people who clung to their Bibles and guns, his relationship with Bill Ayres and Tony Rezko. They let him slide on other points that seemed inconsistent with things he said.

Why? he was generally well liked.

Today, Governor Romney is being assaulted with attacks that have nothing to do with his positions on issues but based upon his employment at Bain Capital.

Was he involved with outsourcing jobs by Bain portfolio companies? When did he leave Bain? Why did the paperwork filed with the SEC still refer to him as CEO when he was running the Olympics? Was he really running the Olympics?

To me, these are nonsensical distractions that have been answered (He was not involved with outsourcing, he left in 1999, he was on leave from Bain, someone else ran the firm and he never returned to Bain after the Olympics [corroborated by a major Obama fundraiser who works for Bain]; and yes he ran the Olympics).

No matter, the mass media is off and running on these non-issues because the Governor is just not as likable as the President (By the way, on a separate subject, tell me 5 things the President will try to do if re-elected. I’ll spot you one thing–raise taxes on certain people; tell me four more).

Thus the sharp lesson to learn is to work on your likability. You won’t simply be hired based upon objective criteria like skills but whether someone likes you, too. The likability factor allows people to overlook “sins” or flaws in your experience

© The Big Game Hunter, Inc. Asheville, NC  2012

Do you think employers are trying to help you? You already know you can’t trust recruiters—they tell as they think you need to know to take the job they after representing so they collect their payday.

Job hunting is a rigged game with you the mark.

You will and will be in and day you and I and will and is in an and in and in and you and is in and he and or the you and you will be in a in the bar a

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter has been a career coach and recruiter for what seems like one hundred years.

JobSearchCoachingHQ.com is there to change that with great advice for job hunters—videos, my books and guides to job hunting, podcasts, articles, PLUS a community for you to ask questions of PLUS the ability to ask me questions where I function as your ally with no conflict of interest answering your questions.

Connect with me on LinkedIn http://bit.ly/thebiggamehunter

For the longest time, employers would do simple background checks. They have a potential employee complete a job application where they were asked for three professional references. Before the employee was hired, the three would receive a telephone call and tell the potential employer that the job applicant was a wonderful individual who would do incredible things for them, just as they had done before.

For a while, polygraphs or lie detectors became part of the standard arsenal of checking until, fortunately, legislation was passed in many states eliminating it as a tool (they were notoriously inaccurate).

In a recent poll, 77% of employers surveyed were searching the web for information about new hires and 35% had eliminated a candidate based upon something they found there.

A few years ago, a manager I was working with at a hedge fund Googled the name of a job applicant for a technical position and found a posting where they had written that they were still working in technology only because they had suffered large trading losses and wanted to join a company where they could learn what they did wrong–in other words, learn how my client traded and steal the model. Suffice it to say, the candidate was rejected.

Companies are examining listings on Facebook, Twitter and Google+to determine whether the job applicant might have done something inappropriate.

And, as they have for years, many more are doing background checks including checks of your financial responsibility (credit checks).

So, remember that picture in the belly shirt with the beer in your hand toasting the photographer you posted on Facebook five years ago? And guy, remember that picture that was taken of you streaking through the frat house when you were 19 that’s still on your webpage?

Take this stuff down before it takes you down.