A look back at 2011

As we close in on 2012, there is a lot to look forward to. However, first, let’s take a look back at 2011 – both for MYB and for the employment screening industry as a whole. Here are a couple of highlights, couple of low points and our how that has affected the employment screening world.

One of the highlights for Mind Your Business was Founder and CEO Karen Caruso being selected as the 2011 North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year by the US Small Business Association.

It was a true honor which really showed just how hard working, passionate and dedicated Karen is in her work. The desire to help people was what founded MYB and is the reason we continue to exist. For Karen, while “fiscal gains are inevitable for a successful company, they are certainly not a pre-requisite for us”.

The congratulatory letter stated “Your hard work, innovative ideas, and dedication to your community have helped you succeed. The SBA is pleased to recognize your achievements and your role in driving our nation’s economic growth”.

Another step forward for MYB was our successful move into social media. Social channels such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn –  as well as this blog – allow us to extend our reach, and our values, further afield.

One of the disappointments of 2011, however, has been how the economy has continued to struggle. Figures of authority have failed to agree on how to move the country forward and out of this stagnant economy – the effects of which are devastating. In the United States, the unemployment rate currently sits at 9.1%, with 14 million Americans out of work. It is expected to take five more years for the global market to return to it’s pre-recession levels.

What is a difficult situation for many actually puts businesses at an advantage. Part of making more astute hiring decisions often results in more stringent employment checks. More thorough background checks allows a business to ensure they hire the ideal applicant who ticks all the boxes. This leads to better protection of each business from hiring risks, and a more stable future.

Drug testing for those on welfare has been another aspect of 2011 well worth highlighting. With multiple states introducing legislation on this, the jury is still out as to whether it is actually saving taxpayers money. However, we predict that more states will continue to enforce such laws, as citizens like to see a hard line taken on how their tax dollars are spent.

Overall, 2011 has had it’s ups and downs – as is the case of every year. Nonetheless, at MYB we like to focus on the positive – of which there has been plenty.

We are very excited with the position we are in moving into 2012, and look forward to working with current, and new, customers as the new year rolls in.

Wishing you all the best, and a prosperous 2012!

Top 12 posts of 2011 from the MYB blog

As another year comes to an end, it’s time again for reflection. 2011 was the first full year of the Mind Your Business blog, so what better way to look back at the last twelve months than to pick out our top 12 blog posts?

So with a post for each month, here are our top posts of 2011:

January: One of our earliest posts in 2011 discussed how several states were considering introducing drug tests for those on welfare. What a massive topic of debate this has turned out to be over the last year:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/drug-testing-a-possibility-for-welfare-recipients/

February: This month saw our five-post explanation of NAPBS, and the relationship we have with them:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/napbs-myb-part-1-what-is-napbs/

March: Founder and CEO of Mind Your Business Karen Caruso was selected as 2011 North Carolina Small Business Person of the Year. A fantastic source of pride and achievement for both Karen and MYB:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/mybs-karen-caruso-chosen-as-2011-north-carolina-small-business-person-of-the-year/

April: An explanation of why, and how, employers will check references as part of the pre-employment screening process:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/why-do-employers-check-references/

May: Have you ever considered as to why drug testing is so important in the workplace? Find out in a excellent post we published back in May:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/drug-testing-workplace/

June: Taking a look at why background checks are performed, and what it is that employers are really looking for:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/background-checks-why-employers-want-to-know/

July: When you hear “background checks”, what type of check comes to mind? There are many different types of background check, and July saw a great post explaining all about them:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/types-of-background-checks/

August: We discussed what it is that makes a women-owned small business extraordinary:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/woman-owned-small-business/

September: Mind Your Business entered into the world of social media, and created a Facebook fan page. Three months on, and we can also be found on Twitter and LinkedIn:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/mind-your-business-on-facebook/

October: Karen Caruso had the honor to meet Barack Obama in October, as the President started a bus tour promoting his jobs bill with a visit to Asheville:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/karen-caruso-meets-president/

November: We delved into the history books for this one, coming up with a blog post on the history of drug testing and how it has progressed over the last few generations:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/the-history-of-drug-testing/

December: As we headed towards Christmas, we published a post with some great advice on how to protect yourself and your business over the holiday period:

http://www.mybinc.com/blog/ten-tips-holidays/

* * * * *

This is our top list, but what about you? Which was your favorite blog post over the past 12 months?

Seasons Greetings from MYB

Mind Your Business would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Seasons Greetings and a prosperous New Year!

2011 has been a fantastic year, and we are looking forward to the challenges and successes that 2012 will bring.

Almost a third of Americans arrested by the age of 23

Research published in the New York Times this week claims that almost a third (30.2%) of Americans have been arrested by the age of 23. Had you been posed such a question, what would your guess have been? No doubt a lower number than this.

“This estimate provides a real sense that the proportion of people who have criminal history records is sizable and perhaps much larger than most people would expect,” said Shawn Bushway, a criminologist at the State University at Albany and a co-author of the study, which appears in Monday’s issue of the journal Pediatrics.

What’s more surprising is that number of young people getting in trouble with the law correlates positively to the number of businesses performing background checks on potential employees. You would imagine the correlation to be the other way around.

That figure is significantly higher than the 22 percent found in a 1965 study that examined the same issue using different methods. The increase may be a reflection of the justice system becoming more punitive and more aggressive in its reach during the last half-century, the researchers said. Arrests for drug-related offenses, for example, have become far more common, as have zero-tolerance policies in schools.

The study analyzed data collected as part of the federal government’s  National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The 7,335 participants were nationally representative and ranged in age from 12 to 16 when they were enrolled in the survey in 1996. The first interviews were conducted in 1997. Follow-up interviews have been carried out annually since then.

The researchers found that the probability of a first arrest accelerated in late adolescence and early adulthood — at 18, 15.9 percent of the participants reported having been arrested — and then began to flatten out as the youths entered their 20s.

What does this mean for businesses?

Perform background checks. Think about it – are you currently hiring recent graduates? According to this study, almost a third of them could have been in trouble with the law. In an environment where there are few jobs but many job seekers, employers are in a position where they can pick and choose the best candidates. Don’t settle for gut feeling when a simple background can confirm or deny your confidence.

For more information on background checks, and how you could implement them at your company, get in touch with Mind Your Business, Inc. today.

Student drug testing plans continue in Ohio

The Lisbon school board is moving ahead with plans to develop a drug-testing policy, but whether there is enough support to produce a draft plan or implement it will depend on what emerges.

Ohio is one of many states who have started implementing student drug testing. Although not popular among the youth, the justification of drug testing is pointed out very simply by Lisbon school board member Jeff Elliott, who said: “As a parent, I would want to know” if my child was on drugs.

Elliott said drug-testing is required in almost every job, so in a sense this would prepare them for what awaits students in the adult world. Although testing would be tied to participation in school activities, the idea behind the policy is not to punish but to help those youths who tested positive, he said. ”I think we owe it to them. It’s a small cost if it saves a child.”

The policy was brought up for discussion at last week’s board meeting, the first held since a public forum on the subject was held on Nov. 21. The forum featured a representative from the Alliance school district who spoke about its testing policy, while school officials also discussed what they have learned from other districts with policies.

Superintendent Don Thompson said they conducted an informal survey among 180 adults at the recent Family and Civic Engagement Council meeting and 22 students in a high school sociology class. Describing the results as an “early perspective,” he reported 16 adults (89 percent) and eight students (32 percent) favored testing. It’s certainly no surprise that students don’t want this.

However, not everyone is in complete favor. Board member Gene Gallo said he does not necessarily disagree with the students’ position, and what they are saying may actually mirror where the majority of Americans stand on the issue nationwide. He said the focus of any policy should be on educating and helping the students and not punishment. “The challenge is doing it in a way that is helpful,” Gallo said.

The emphasis really is to help students who test positive, not condemn them. However, it’s also very difficult to change the attitudes of the children and their families. The school will do all they can, but at the end of the day the students go home – and the school has little way of affecting what happens there.

National League’s MVP fails drug test

Ryan Braun, who was voted the National League’s MVP only three weeks ago, has tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs. If the positive result is upheld, Braun faces a 50 game suspension.

Braun, 28, is challenging the results through a three-person appeals panel, saying in a statement that he is a victim of “highly unusual circumstances”  that triggered the violation. Braun’s positive test was first reported Saturday by ESPN.

The positive result came from a test during the playoffs, before Braun’s Brewers were eliminated from their NL championship series by the St. Louis Cardinals. The test apparently showed elevated levels of testosterone and was then sent to the World Anti-Doping Agency lab in Montreal for a more sophisticated test known as a carbon isotope test (CIR), which revealed the levels were caused by exogenous or synthetic testosterone.

For all baseball fans, this is another incident they will want to forget. It was only 8 months ago that we reported in this blog about Manny Ramirez retiring after failing a drugs test for a second time in three seasons.

Braun is going to appeal, but considering that no player has yet successfully appealed a positive test result in 13 tries, it seems unlikely.

Ten tips to protect yourself during the holidays

While many are looking forward to the festive season, not everyone is in the festive spirit. The holidays are a time when crime soars, as criminals take advantage of people dropping their guard. With people focusing on the holidays, they tend to place security at a secondary level – and fraudsters are keen to take advantage of this.

As County Crime Reduction Officer Paul Francis says: “Most of us love Christmas. It’s a great chance to let our hair down and relax with our loved ones…Unfortunately, no one loves Christmas more than the criminal, who can often find opportunity to profit from the misery of others.”

Whether it be home burglary, stealing identities, employee theft or charity fraud, it’s important to always be alert – particularly over the holidays.

To take a couple of news stories from the last week as examples…

DC police have made at least two arrests of persons who followed delivery trucks and then stole packages that had been left by the deliverymen, while charities are partnering in Oklahoma to prevent fraud over the holiday season.

With safety and security in mind, here are some tips to protect you and your organization over the Christmas period:

1. Keep any gifts you buy hidden in your home, making sure they cannot be seen by anyone who may be looking in from the outside
2. If you run a business and need help for the holidays, be sure to run background checks on any potential employees
3. Keep a close eye on your organizations inventory and finances
4. When out and about in crowded places (eg – shopping malls) keep your valuables close and in a safe place
5. Plan transport home from holiday events – pre-booking licensed taxis when appropriate – and never drink and drive
6. Businesses closing for the Christmas holiday should ensure that their list of keyholders is up to date so that police can contact them easily if their alarm is activated
7. Any businesses with physical locations should also ensure their security systems are in order and that regular visits are made to the premises over the holiday period
8. Don’t leave empty boxes outside for the refuse collectors. The boxes will let people know you have a new television, computer etc
9. If you are going away for the holidays, don’t make it obvious that there is no one at home. For example, get a neighbor to collect your mail so that it doesn’t build up
10. Look out for your friends and family. If you need a friend to watch your house or business for a couple of days, help them out and do the same. After all - generosity exemplifies the spirit of Christmas!

What do you think of our list? Are they any tips you would add?

Employment in North Carolina in trouble

While many are looking forward to the festivities as we head rapidly towards Chirstmas, this promises to be an unusually stressful holiday season for 70,000 people in North Carolina who are not only out of work but stand to lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the year if Congress doesn’t extend them.

As unemployment levels in North Carolina remain high, things are looking bleak for a lot of people. The N.C. Budget and Tax Center reports that more 500,000 jobs would have to be created in North Carolina to bring the state back pre-recession employment levels. Almost half the unemployed workers nationwide have been looking for a job for more than six months.

Loss of benefits for those who are unemployed will cause hundreds of thousands of people (the recipients and their families) to be in financial trouble at the start of 2012. News-record.com claims that “there’s a persistent and disturbing mythology on the Right that extending unemployment benefits provides a disincentive for people to look for work”.

“The suggestion that unemployment benefits make it less likely that people will look for a job is absurd on its face, not only because it’s based on the offensive suggestion that people don’t want to work. It is just not that much money.”

Nationwide, the average unemployment benefit comes to roughly a third of what the worker had been earning – a situation which certainly wouldn’t allow these individuals and their families to live comfortably. The Economic Policy Institute reports that the $45 billion cost of extending the federally funded benefits translates into a $72 billion positive economic impact. That means jobs, as many as 560,000 that would be created or saved by an extension of the benefits into 2012, 18,000 of them in North Carolina.

It seems that North Carolina is certainly suffering when it comes to levels of unemployment. News-record makes one suggestion here for getting us back on track as we head into the new year – but only time will tell.

Panhandlers in NC may face a background check

County Commissioners in Johnston County, NC, voted 6-1 on Monday to set limits on people who beg for money. In an interesting piece of legislation, panhandlers could soon have to undergo a criminal background check and pay $20 a month.

Under the proposed rules, panhandlers would be required to get a permit every 30 days through the sheriff’s office. The first month’s permit would be free, but panhandlers would pay $20 for each subsequent permit.

“It’s just gotten way out of hand,” said Marlene Hill, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Hill said some panhandlers knock on drivers’ windows as cars stop at red lights near the interchange of Interstate 40 and N.C. 42. ”It’s getting ridiculous,” said Danny Thompson, who lives in McGee’s Crossroads. “These people are coming from everywhere.”

As for the background check – permits will be denied if an applicant has been convicted of a violent crime or some other offenses. Nonetheless, with the consequence of breaking the rules just being a misdemeanor, it’s difficult to see how the county will really be able to keep control. Even with rules in place, Commissioner Tony Braswell said the county would not go out looking for panhandlers. “We’re not going to have any panhandling police out there besides what the sheriff’s office does in routine,” he said.

It seems to be a case of Johnston County trying to make it more difficult to panhandle there, rather than getting rid of it entirely. Perhaps a tactic of displacing panhandlers to other counties, where there are no permits required.

B2B tips in social media: MYB now on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter

As a B2B company who has only recently entered the social media world (you can now find us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter), we certainly understand how difficult it can be. We’re trying to reach businesses, brands and decision makers – so the user-orientated character of social media is a hurdle that all B2B’s need to overcome.

While it’s a little harder for us than your average B2C company, it also has it advantages and it’s definitely not impossible. We wanted to share with you our experience so far – as an employment screening service entering the realm of social media!

However hesitant you may be as a small business, or as a B2B, you can certainly make social media work for you. Here are few reasons why, and a few tips how:

Why?

• Social media allows brands to become more personal. By personifying your business you are allowing your customers (whether they be other businesses or consumers) to build a more developed relationship with you.
• You are able to engage with others in your industry in a more relaxed alternative to traditional lines of communication.
• Social channels help you to show your value to potential customers. It’s a great way to offer valuable information and content to others. Once those who find it useful build an affiliation with you, they are a lot closer to becoming customers and even advocates.

How?

• Choose the right channel for you. While it’s tempting to dip your toes into all the social network sites out there, the fact is that it’s better to excel in one or two than do poorly in many.
• Provide great content and engage with other brands. Success in social media won’t just come to you, you have to go out and get it. Answer questions, solve problems, create discussion. It’s your responsibility to get your brand name out there, the social platforms are just there to help.
• If you choose to go with Twitter, partake in Twitter chats. These are great discussions in which you can show your worth, and there are several that occur weekly regarding B2B.
• Consider advertising. Facebook advertising allows for incredible targeting, while LinkedIn ads can help you reach decision makers like no other advertising platform.
• Set out your objectives. Consider what you want to achieve by becoming active in social media – this will allow you to come up with a strategy for how you can achieve your goals, and how you will measure success.

Mind Your Business, Inc. has really taken the next step into social media, and we’re loving it! Become a fan of us on Facebook, or follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter and join in the conversation.

We look forward to seeing you there!