Background Check Expert Lester Rosen to Present at PIHRA Pacific West HR Conference in Pasadena CA on September 22

Online, September 15, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Novato, CA - Author, speaker, and background check expert Lester Rosen, President of Employment Screening Resources (ESR), the San Francisco area firm that literally "wrote the book on background checks," will present two sessions at the 53rd Annual Professionals In Human Resources Association (PIHRA) Pacific West HR Conference & Exhibition in Pasadena, CA on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. The first session, "Everything HR and Recruiting Professionals Need to Know about Background Checks," is 11:10 AM to 12:10 PM while the second session, "Pitfalls and Landmines in Using the Internet and Social Network Sites to Screen or Recruit," is 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Visit http://www.pacificwesthrconference.org/conference_sessions.cfm.

"To avoid the financial and legal nightmare of bad hiring decisions, employers have increasingly turned to pre-employment background screening," explains Rosen, author of 'The Safe Hiring Manual - The Complete Guide to Keeping Criminals, Imposters, and Terrorists Out of Your Workplace,' the first comprehensive book on employment screening. "However, screening is subject to intense legal regulation."

* The first session, "Everything HR and Recruiting Professionals Need to Know about Background Checks," (Wednesday, 9/22/10, 11:10 AM to 12:10 PM) will review the hot button screening issues for 2010, including discrimination lawsuits, privacy, the use of social networking sites, legal compliance, best practices for employers and recruiters, and international background checks.
* The second session, "Pitfalls and Landmines in Using the Internet and Social Network Sites to Screen or Recruit," (Wednesday, 9/22/10, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM) will reveal potential legal landmines and practical risks involved with using social networking sites for screening as well as strategies to stay out of court.

"Employers and recruiters have discovered a treasure trove of information on job applicants by searching the internet and social networking sites," says Rosen. "However, the use of these sites can present legal risks, including privacy and discrimination issues."

Both sessions have been pre-approved by the HR Certification Institute (HRCI) for one (1) general recertification credit hour toward PHR, SPHR, and GPHR recertification. The speaker, Rosen, is an attorney at law and a consultant, writer, and frequent presenter nationwide on pre-employment screening and safe hiring issues. He was the chairperson of the steering committee that founded the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) and served as the first co-chairman.

The Pacific West HR Conference is from September 21 to 23, 2010 and held by PIHRA, the largest chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in the country with more than 5,200 members representing more than 3,000 firms.