Overview:This workshop reviews legal and effective technique for the reference checking processes including how to verify education, spot worthless degrees and phony employment credentials. It will also cover the legal landscape concerning past employment references, including an employer's potential liability when providing information and when it is not provided.Other topics include best practices when asking for past employment information and helpful insights and best practices in obtaining past employment information. Other areas will include special issues such as handling verification of current employment, what to do if the past employer no longer exists, military employment and dealing with employment databases. New technologies and approaches will also be reviewed, as well as special issues involving international credentials and the role of social media sites and Web 2.0 in the processWhy should you attend: With hiring decision becoming more critical in challenging economic times, verifying past employment and education and obtaining references have become critical. Unfortunately, falsifying or inflating employment and educational accomplishments has become a significant problem for employers. It is easy to obtain a phony degree from a real school, or worthless diplomas from degree mills.There are even web sites that will assist in creating a fakes job history that appear very authentic. Legal limitations also create barriers for human resources professional when obtaining and giving past employment information. Many employers will limit their response to dates of employment and job title only. Areas Covered in the Session:Learn effective and legal strategies to verify an applicant's past employment and education accomplishmentsExplore why employment references create legal issues for employers and strategies for obtaining information and dealing with requests from other employersLearn why phony education credentials are problematic and how to spot degree mills