Jobseekers hoping that a new year – and a new decade – will bring better luck in finding work can finally celebrate some potentially good news regarding future employment trends.

According to the study “2010 Job Forecast” by online jobs website CareerBuilder.com, more employers expect to hire new workers in 2010 than in 2009. The survey of more than 2,700 hiring managers and human resource professionals in November found that 20 percent – one in five – said they would hire full-time, permanent workers in 2010 compared to 14 percent of employers who said they planned to do the same in 2009.

In addition, the study revealed only 9 percent of employers said they intended to cut jobs next year, compared to 16 percent who said they would fire workers in 2009. A majority of respondents, 61 percent, predicted staffing levels would remain the same.

Regionally, the study found employers in the West planned to increase hiring more in 2010 than the other regions of the country, as nearly one-quarter – 24 percent – intended to add full-time workers compared to 21 percent in the Northeast, 20 percent in the South, and 16 percent in the Midwest.

With regard to hiring by industries, the study showed 32 percent of information technology (IT), 27 percent of manufacturing, and 23 percent of financial services employers plan to add full-time, permanent employees in 2010, followed by employers in professional and business services (22 percent), sales (21 percent), healthcare (21 percent), transportation (18 percent), and retail (15 percent).

As for which job types employers planned to hire for in 2010, one-third (33 percent) of those surveyed answered technology, followed by customer service (28 percent), sales people (23 percent), research/development (18 percent), business development (17 percent), accounting/finance (15 percent), and marketing (14 percent).

No matter what region, industry, or job type, most jobseekers will have to undergo a pre-employment background check. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 80 percent of employers perform some type of pre-employment background check on prospective employees. In order to make sure that the information contained in their background checks is current, accurate, and secure, many jobseekers are performing “personal” background checks on themselves so they won’t lose out on any job opportunity because of mistakes and inaccuracies in their personal information.

MyBackgroundCheck.com – the nation’s leading supplier of applicant-supplied background checks – offers “personal” background check services to individuals to use as jobseekers to gain employment in a tough economy. For more information on how personal background checks can help jobseekers find work, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 800-300-1821.

Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

While many identity theft cases have been reported on this website during the past year, there are a few stories that rise above the others in terms of uniqueness and how they impacted the ongoing debate on how to combat identity theft. Here are five interesting identity theft stories from 2009:

• May 2009: As if finding work in tough economic times wasn’t already hard enough, this story from WHAS-TV Channel 11 in Louisville, Kentucky showed how a jobseeker named Michael Anderson discovered first-hand how identity theft can turn the dream of landing a job into a nightmare. Unfortunately for Anderson, another man with the same name, date of birth, and social security number kept showing up when potential employers ran pre-employment criminal background checks – and this OTHER Michael Anderson had an extensive criminal record that included indecent behavior with a juvenile and assault. As a result, no one would hire him.
• July 2009: In what has to be one of the longest cases of identity theft on record, the Associated Press (AP) reported the shocking story of Tom Lesh, 66, of Coos Bay, Oregon, who had suffered from identity theft for 35 years – in other words, over half of his life. Lesh said he has known since the 1970s that his identity was stolen by a friend of his brother and he had spent, in his words, “thousands of hours” over the decades since repeatedly trying to clear his name and correct his financial records and credit history by writing letters to credit card companies, banks, and government agencies – and even appealing to the alleged identity thief’s mother for help.
• August 2009: In case there are still those who believe identity theft only happens to people with little or no financial acumen when it comes to matters of money, an exclusive report from Newsweek revealed that the nation's chief banker and the man credited by some with saving the world from another Great Depression, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke, was just one of the hundreds of victims of a sophisticated identity theft ring that stole over $2 million from consumers and financial institutions across the country, proving identity theft can happen to anyone.
• September 2009: A report by the Seattle Times showed that identity theft victims could strike back at criminals who steal their identities by telling the story of how Michelle McCambridge, a 23-year-old retail store clerk and college student, helped bring down an identity theft ring after a chance face to face meeting with the woman who stole her identity. The fast thinking McCambridge had the store security cameras zoom in on a fake ID the identity thief was presenting with another woman's name, an action which set in motion a federal investigation that ultimately brought down an identity theft ring.
• October 2009: An article on the website for the Lexington, Nebraska newspaper The Lexington Clipper-Herald tells the story of an identity theft victim who ended up in jail twice for a crime he didn't commit, once after being robbed and calling the police for help. Joe Salazar, 38, of Omaha, Nebraska, spent a night in jail after calling the police to report a burglary at his home, and he also spent two weeks in jail – including last Christmas and New Year's Day – after being pulled over for speeding, all because the identity theft victim had an arrest warrant for failing to appear for sentencing in a drug case meant for an identity thief using Salazar's name.

These are just a few of the literally millions of stories about identity theft. According to Javelin Strategy & Research, identity theft and fraud increased 22 percent in 2008, affecting nearly ten million Americans. Overall, approximately 1.8 million more adults fell victim to identity fraud in 2008 as compared to 2007, the first year-over-year increase since Javelin began collecting data in 2004.

To help protect against identity theft, “personal” background checks – where people perform background checks on themselves – can ensure that personal information is current, accurate, and secure. While many background check firms only service businesses, MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – offers individuals affordable “personal” background check services. Over one million individuals have purchased background checks through MyBackgroundCheck.com.

For more information about personal background checks, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

How much would you spend for a background check? How much should you spend? In certain cases – such as being a Vice-Presidential candidate potentially “a heartbeat away from being President” – the cost would, and should, be higher.

But $50,000?

An article in the Los Angeles Times reports that – according to her new memoir, "Going Rogue" – Sarah Palin claims the Presidential campaign of Senator John McCain had her cover $50,000 of the cost of the background check that vetted her as the Vice-Presidential candidate for the Republican ticket after she and McCain lost the 2008 Presidential election, a charge disputed by a former campaign aide.

The Times reports that in her book Palin said that no one had informed her she would have to take care of any expenses related to the background check process, and she writes that when she asked the McCain campaign if they would help her financially, she was told that the bills for the background check would have been paid if the McCain had won the presidency, but since he had lost, the bills for the background check were her responsibility.

While the idea of making someone pay $50,000 for a background check seems hard to believe, the idea of job applicants paying for their own, albeit less expensive, background checks is not so strange. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 80% of U.S. businesses perform some form of background checks before hiring job applicants. In the current down economy, and since they would most likely have to undergo a background check anyway to find work, many jobseekers are taking the initiative and performing “personal” background checks on themselves in order gain an edge on their competition and show prospective employers they have nothing to hide.

While most background check firms only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com provides consumer requested background checks for job applicants to show employers or to use in current jobs as teachers, healthcare providers, volunteers, or other employment that deals with vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with special needs. Personal background checks also allow individuals make sure their personal information is up-to-date, accurate, and secure from identity theft and fraud.

And these background checks will cost A LOT less than $50,000.

For more information on personal background checks, please visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

For most jobseekers currently looking for work, the more exposure they get through resumes, applications, and networking – both online and off – the better their chances are of finding work.

Unfortunately, according to an article in the Contra Costa (CA) Times, exposing personally identifiable information (PII) such as names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers (SSNs) and driver’s license numbers also increases the chances of jobseekers suffering from identity theft.

The Contra Costa Times reports that the World Privacy Forum – a nonprofit, public interest research group – receives many phone calls each week from jobseekers who have been victimized by identity theft while searching for work, a problem that should only get worse in a bad economy.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), over 50,000 Californians reported being victimized by identity theft in 2008 – the second highest rate in the nation – and employment-related identity theft beat out credit-card fraud and accounting to rank first with 20 percent of all identity theft complaints to the FTC from the state. Overall, the damage caused by identity theft in 2008 was nearly $50 billion.
 
In the article, the World Privacy Forum offers several tips for jobseekers on preventing identity theft, including:

• Avoid vaguely worded job offers;
• Choose job search sites and resume databases with good privacy practices;
• Never put a SSN on your resume (federal or state jobs are exceptions) but provide it when at an interview or when asked permission for a background check;
• Don’t scan IDs or driver's licenses for a job offer, and;
• Post a resume directly on the Web site of the employer or company you wish to work for.

Another way for jobseekers to protect sensitive personal information from identity theft is by performing “personal” background checks on themselves to ensure their employment data is current, secure, and accurate. Besides protecting against identity theft, these background checks can also be used by jobseekers for employment purposes, since most employers these days – 80 percent according to the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) – require job applicants to undergo some type of pre-employment background check before hiring.

Where can jobseekers find "personal" background checks? While most background check firms only service employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com – the nation’s leading provider of applicant-supplied background checks – helps both jobseekers and potential employers keep personal information safe from identity theft during the pre-employment background check process.

For more information on how personal background checks can help protect jobseeker data from identity theft, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. Follow MybackgroundCheck.com on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

pr@mybackgroundcheck.com

An article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) – “More Job Seekers Scramble To Erase Their Criminal Past” – reveals that many jobseekers looking for work in a tight job market are rushing to legally clear criminal records that would appear on pre-employment background checks that delve deeply into their sometimes checkered pasts.

According to statistics cited in the WSJ article, millions of American jobseekers fear their criminal pasts will show up on background checks. While over 50% of American men had been arrested in 1967, that figure is now an estimated 60% due to arrests made in connection with domestic violence and illegal drugs, with the annual number of arrests for possession of marijuana more than tripling to 1.8 million from 1980 to 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ).

At the same time, the WSJ article notes that background checks have become more affordable and commonplace since the September 11 terrorist attacks, and more than 80% of companies performed background checks in 2006 compared with fewer than 50% in 1998, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). In addition, the article asserts that background checks can help lessen employer liability from workplace theft – which cost retailers over $15 billion last year according to the National Retail Federation – and workplace violence that costs billions more in legal costs and lost work hours.

In the WSJ article, two men – both veterans – were used as examples of jobseekers with criminal pasts affecting current employment opportunities:

• An Air Force veteran was refused temporary employment because a background check by the temp agency turned up a 1986 conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (when threatened, he once pretended a silver brush was a knife). More than 20 years after a "no judgment" finding by the judge and a $60 fine, the man is still fighting to erase the arrest from criminal records and background checks.
• A veteran turned jobseeker back from Afghanistan after serving in the Army for 15 months was unable find work with the New York City Police Department because of a 2002 conviction of illegal possession of a gun found on a background check, this despite scoring in the 98th percentile on his civil-service exam. The man is now serving another overseas tour.

With unemployment is currently above 10% and potential employers choosing from the largest talent pool in decades, the WSJ article clearly shows that a growing number of American jobseekers hope to boost their odds in a tough job market with “clean” background checks by clearing their criminal records of minor crimes through legal means, a process known as “expungement” in which official records of minor crimes may be shredded, erased, sealed, or blocked from view.

Along with expungement, jobseekers can make sure that their information on their criminal records is current and accurate by running “personal” background checks on themselves to see what potential employers will see. By purchasing their own background checks, jobseekers take a pro-active step in their search for employment, stand out from the crowded field of applicants, and show potential employers that they have nothing to hide. While most background check companies focus only on employers, MyBackgroundCheck.com – a pioneer in consumer requested and applicant supplied background checks – offers jobseekers the opportunity to perform “personal” background checks on themselves to help them find employment in a tight job market.

To learn how personal background checks help jobseekers find work, visit www.mybackgroundcheck.com, email info@mybackgroundcheck.com, or call 1-800-503-2364. To follow MyBackgroundCheck.com on Twitter, visit www.twitter.com/MyBackgroundChk.

tahearn@mybackgroundcheck.com