Greetings!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be attending the ASTRA 14^th Annual Reception Nov. 17^th and 18^th. Come visit our booth.

Reference Checks are a great way to get an idea for an applicant's personality and work ethic. Yes, resumes and experience are important; however, paper does not always tell the whole truth. The people who have worked with an applicant can sometimes tell you more about them than a resume. Private Eyes, Inc. offers personal and professional reference checks with standard or customized questions.

Privacy is extremely important in this day and age and passwords are the gateway. Coming up with a strong password can be difficult. Check out our 2^nd article for the 5 elements of strong passwords.

Technology is moving forward and we need to stay at the fore front. E-Signatures are a great way of keeping up with the constant changes. Many companies are adopting E-Signatures.

There are many reasons why you should check the references of prospective employees. Often, applicants' resumes and application forms are incomplete or even contain misrepresentations that could lead to a bad hiring decision. So, if you check references, you can help eliminate undesirable applicants, identify the best candidate, reduce turnover and training costs, and even prevent liability for negligent hiring.

(Download free Hiring model policy including HR best practices and legal background.)

At a minimum, carefully conducted reference checks can help ensure that your hiring decisions are more informed. Generally, reference checks should be made before the offer of employment is extended so that you have as much information about a candidate as possible. However, it may be difficult to get a reference-giver to provide helpful information because of their fears of defamation claims and restrictive corporate policies allowing only the release of a former employee's "name, rank, and serial number." The following five strategies can help your organization conduct effective reference checks:

1. Length Matters: The longer your password, the harder it is to crack. Use a minimum of eight (8) characters.
2. Mix it Up: Include upper and lowercase letters, punctuation, and numbers. Select a letter to capitalize at random; try to avoid the first letter.
3. Avoid Dictionary Words or Proper Names: These are easy to guess. If you are going to spell-out a word or phrase, remove letters, replace them with numbers, or deliberately misspell the word or phrase. For example, "I Hate Peas" can become "eyeH8pEEz".
4. Avoid Personal Information: This includes birthdates, names of family members or pets, and address information. Try an acronym instead. Example: "You can't teach an old dog new tricks" becomes "yctaodnt".
5. Change Passwords Often: A good rule of thumb is to change passwords every six months.

Use of electronic signatures is seeing an uptick in 2008, eight years since Congress passed the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce (ESIGN) Act, according to the Electronic Signature and Records Association (ESRA).

E-records and signatures are fast becoming a way for businesses to differentiate themselves among competitors, especially for businesses in the financial sector such as mortgage and other lending firms, noted Jerry Buckley, one of the counsels to ERSA, during a June 2008 news conference advocating electronic records and signatures.

He cited a six-fold rise in e-mortgages over 2007, adding that five of the top 10 insurance carriers in the United States offer electronic signatures. These developments indicate "a significant turning point in the adoption of electronic signatures."

Electronic signing was one of the top 10 information technology initiatives for the insurance industry in 2008; 77 percent of mortgage lenders indicated they will implement electronic signatures, he added.

The auto industry is also driving the adoption of electronically signed contracts in processing car loans, and online travel agency Expedia is using web-based electronic signatures to turn around available hotel inventory more quickly, according to ERSA's June 2008 newsletter.