Background Screening

Mr. Barry Nadell
Senior Vice President
Background Screening Division
Kroll
www.kroll.com
NYSE :MMC

SecurityStockWatch.com: Thank you for joining us today, Barry. Please give us an overview of your background and your role with Kroll.

Barry Nadell: I have been involved in the background screening industry for more than 10 years, first as the founder and president of InfoLink Screening Services in Los Angeles, and now as a senior vice president at Kroll. I am also a board member of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners, having served as co-chairman of the board in 2006.

In 1994, I started InfoLink to provide background screening to employers throughout Los Angeles, California, and the surrounding area. By March 1995, we had grown to provide screening services nationally. In reviewing the industry, I gained great insight into the federal and state laws that govern background screening, and began advising clients on how best to perform pre-employment background checks while adhering to the law. I have written numerous articles on the subject, spoken at various conferences and human resources associations, and provided expert commentary to the media. I eventually wrote a book that summarizes the background screening laws in all 50 states, and in fact began working with California legislators in 2002 to help revise some of these laws.

In March 2006, Kroll, the world’s leading risk consulting company, acquired InfoLink to augment its rapidly growing background screening division.

SecurityStockWatch.com: Please give our audience an overview of Kroll’s Background Screening Services.

Barry Nadell: For more than 30 years, Kroll’s Background Screening division has helped organizations verify the backgrounds and résumés of potential new hires. We screen job candidates at all levels, from executives to entry-level staff, at organizations of any size and in every industry. Our comprehensive solutions are tailored to meet the screening needs of corporations, educational institutions, volunteer groups, or government agencies.

SecurityStockWatch.com: We read your recent press release with great interest with respect to the fact that, “Employers are seeing an increasing number of “red flags” in job candidate background checks” May we have an overview of the report? Is the report available online?

Barry Nadell: We've seen a year-over-year increase in criminal record hits (from 8.5% to 9.1%) and discrepancies in past employment verifications (from 36.5% to 49.4%) and education verifications (from 14.1% to 21.6%). I attribute this upward trend to four primary contributing factors:

• Companies are digging deeper, following best practices to obtain more comprehensive, multi-jurisdictional background checks.
• In the past, many companies were screening only managers. Today, more companies are screening all of their employees, temps, vendors and consultants.
• Background screening and drug testing are no longer used only by large organizations or companies whose industry regulations mandate their use. Today, companies of all sizes and industries screen their employees, vendors and consultants.
• The expanded scope of services and technology advancements in the background screening industry are making background screening methodology more sophisticated.

The full report is available online at http://www.kroll.com/about/library/hit_ratio/.