Author Archive: blogger

The realm of human welfare or social work has some particular specialties that include primarily children, family, education, public health, physical and psychological well-being and drug addiction. It has been seen that the scale of job prospects related to social welfare has only increased over the past years, this has even been validated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that a social worker had around 642,000 jobs in hand back in 2008. The graph has certainly aggravated presently.

Since majority of individuals working in the circle of social betterment has some concerns regarding the industry they wish to be associated with, it has even been evaluated that around 54% of individuals were then working in the health and human welfare industries while the remaining 31% worked in government sponsored agencies at various levels. With this entire report of job opportunities available for people working in the social development continuum, it explicitly indicates that job prospects are at no dearth, when it comes to looking for a stable and financially secure professional career.

The nature of a profession such as social welfare services is such that employees are assigned to work in cities as well as suburbs. It is expected for a social welfare employee to find a job in rural vicinities, as the space to exhibit their professional concerns and skills is more extensive as compared to an urban area, which is already quite developed. This indicates that social welfare is a profession, which comes with a lot of responsibilities and challenges.

Earlier, it was believed that not all specialist areas of social betterment thrived in terms of job opportunities, and not all offered the same amount of professional working security. However, today, all areas of social work are increasing job opportunities, particularly by the private social welfare organizations. In fact, the increase of employment in this industry has been around 22% which is promising. This is likely to increase with the time owing to the aging child boomer populace which will, over the span of time, demand better health and social services.

Apart from the physical stability, mental & psychological stability and drug addiction are areas which are rapidly augmenting with job prospects. An increase of 20% has also been predicted by specialists as there is going to be a strong demand of services to counter such deteriorating circumstances.

Last but not the least, children and family along with education are areas that are actually excelling areas in the field of human welfare and betterment. In order to bring about a change, an anchor lies in the hand of social services, augmenting the protection for children and their families while at the same time, emphasizing on the local prevalence of education is what is going to instigate a progressive developmental scale in the society. Some of the specialized areas elaborated on indicate the fields that can be explored by social welfare employees to bring a progressive change in the society.

The pre-employment background check is becoming more and more common place. As employers work to protect their places of employment from individuals that aren’t the best for the job or could pose a dangers to others, these background checks happen to be the tool of choice. After all, your past can say a lot about the person that you are and the person that you are likely to be, too. Yet, if you don’t have anything to hide in your past, should you really worry about what happens when a background check is done on you?

You Don’t Want It

Even for many individuals that have nothing in their past to be worried about, this type of privacy invasion is enough to bother them. In most cases, you can refuse to have one done, assuming that it isn’t a legal requirement for the position with the home such as when you are working with children or in the police department. Yet, doing this could potentially stop you from being hired anyway. Someone that refuses a background check is okay, but someone else that applies for the same position with the same qualifications and passes that pre-employment background check with flying colors is more likely to obtain the position.

Another concern that many have is the fact that the information on their pre-employment background check could mistakenly provide the wrong information. Perhaps there is information on your background check that is wrong. You could be suffering without realizing why. Or, perhaps it will uncover something that is potentially harmful but shouldn’t have anything to do with the current position in question. Sometimes, information can be taken out of context by the investigator and it could, ultimately effect your position with the company. Even some information that may be illegal for the investigator to consider in the hiring process could turn up. Although they technically can not use this to not hire you, it may leave them with a bad taste in their mouths, which could sway them the other way for other reasons.

Background checks are a potential nightmare for some individuals. If you have nothing to worry about, or so you think, you should still run a background check on yourself to determine if there are any potential problems lurking there. Doing so can at least give you peace of mind. Everyone needs to know what is in their background check.

Defining questionable “employment gaps”

Questionable employment gaps are periods on a resume or job application that can’t be verified. Some of the most popular false claims used to cover employment gaps are:

– Freelancing
– Business Owner
– Fictitious Out Of Business Company

A clever and sneaky employee can get these lies past an employer who is not conducting a careful and thorough employee background screening. Most employers do not have the in-house resources to verify these claims. When an employer conducts a background check on their own they will usually only get information on the position held, dates of employment and if the candidate is eligible for rehire.

Fortunately, even for freelance and closed businesses, there is a paper trail. Genuine freelancers and business owners must apply for a fictitious business name and a business license. This is a requirement for most cities regardless of where the work will be performed. For a freelancer, a business license is required even if he or she works from home.

Unfortunately, tracking this information can be confusing and time consuming for most personnel departments and small business owners. Getting the most accurate information is usually best left to a professional pre-employment screening firm, such as Accu-Screen, Inc. They have the resources and experience to readily search and provide the most up to date and accurate information.

Questionable “employment gaps”

Employers need to be careful not to jump to conclusions because freelance and business information may not be readily verified. When this occurs, the employer should request clarification from the job applicant. An employer should ask for references from past clients, projects worked on and milestones. Most freelancers and business owners should be able to give you business references, detailed information on projects and accomplishments.

Similarly, for a situation where a business is no longer operating, a job seeker should be able to provide verification of employment. Verification can include paystubs, tax return, offer of employment letter or proof of any type of recognition received, while employed at the company.

A red flag should be raised if the job seeker can’t provide additional information to verify claims of freelancing, owning a business or a company that is no longer open for business.

Problems with employees who lie about “employment gaps”

When an “employment gap” is discovered, an employer needs to be concerned about the reasons for it. Periods of employment gaps that can’t be verified may be associated with:

– Incarceration
– Involuntary termination

Some job seekers are unlucky while others are just plain deceitful. A professional employment background screening firm, such as Accu-Screen, Inc., can help get to the bottom of these issues by obtaining the most appropriate and accurate information.

When an applicant has these issues in their past or fails to report them, an employer should proceed with caution. These issues need to be handled confidentially and with diplomacy. The issue should be addressed and clarification should be reached before a job offer is made.