Trust, but verify
Trust, but verify: a Russian saying that was taught to, and used by, Ronald Reagan now resonates well in our digital age. How so? Read on.
Our individual digital footprint is our responsibility – each post, video and blog finds its way into the dark recesses of the internet hibernating away until someone goes hunting for them. Who would that hunter be? A potential employer, bank, insurer or anyone who wants to know if you are as good as you say you are. Increasingly, as an employer, it is important to verify information prior to making an employment decision. Trust, but verify.
Verification can be done by a good old-fashioned, sit in front of a computer and search sort of way or by hiring someone who can rapidly provide an overview of a potential new hire. Not all vetting companies are equal, however, and while (of course) we would say this, you do need to be careful to ensure that anyone you are working with on screening future hires is also up to scrutiny. It would be a cruel irony to look into the background of an employee using a company that was not up to basic trust requirements. We have worked hard to exceed these trust requirements meeting both GDRP and NZ Privacy Law.
Back to the “trust, but verify” concept. In bringing someone new into a team there needs to be consideration to how that person will perform the role, how they will contribute to the team culture and what skeletons they may have in their closet. Hiring a senior executive only to find that five years ago they posted a number of racial slurs will damage your brand and does question the trust you could place in that person. Examples of the need to verify are easy to find – take for example the employment of Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson who was found to have embellished his credentials, an embarrassing mistake for the tech giant who should have had the resources to verify (https://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/05/13/yahoo-ceo-plans-to-quit-as-company-tries-to-appease-hedge-fund-manager/?sh=78e7e6797088)
Similarly, news anchor Brian Williams made up ‘the news’ about his role in Iraq damaging both his reputation and that of the news network that employed him (NBC).
These are both examples of large, well-financed enterprises being impacted by the dishonesty of employees, for smaller companies who have less ability to both investigate (verify) and then rectify the damage caused by errant employees can be more catastrophic.
There is no doubt that the organizers of the 91 st Academy Awards would have wished that they had vetted well-known actor and comedian Kevin Hart prior to appointing him as host. Shortly after his appointment was announced controversial tweets from his past resurfaced. Even though the homophobic tweets had been deleted from his account they were uncovered and shared widely on social media. Hart later stepped down from the host role but the impact of the tweets had a negative impact on his career and on the reputation of the Academy Awards.
