Robert Irvine and Checking Resumes

The St. Petersburg Times has been keeping track of Food Network host Robert Irvine not only on the food channel, but also with his business he and his partner are opening for your dining pleasure.

At TampaBay.com, go to the blog section and type in Irvine's name. The St. Petersburg newspaper has been keeping track before February as this news story has unraveled. In fact, they were probably the first to know. If the only reason The Food Network is getting rid of Mr. Irvine is because of his credentials, shame on HR for not checking. How can you not check records in this day and age? If they checked and were lied to as well or given the "run-around," I can empathize.

I have been put in a situation where applicants have turned applications in to me and based on their credentials they will be hired. Then I check there references and if the references are determined to be legitimate then the applicant starts the job. What if the applicant has references that will cover for him/her? As an owner of a corporation, I have to hope that doesn't happen. You also have to hope that the references answer your questions. There is so many liability issues with anything one does or says.

I owned a transportation company. As an employer in the transportation industry, the Department of Transportation requires you to ask former employers about applicants to ensure safety over the roads. If the former employers don't answer you, you just let DOT/FMCSA know. In turn, if you are the former employer you are required to answer those questions or you can be fined.

The application for a CDL A applicant is precise and detailed. The government makes sure the employer is aware of all safety issues in the past. You even have a back up plan, where your insurance runs the potential employee's drivers license. If there are any wrecks or tickets this will tell all. Some insurance companies are harsher than others and will not insure drivers with certain violations or too many violations/points.

I can almost empathize with the Food Network if the man lied about credentials that couldn't be proven. In today's technological age, they should have been able to check. The employer wasn't doing their job. If something on credentials or past employment can't be questioned and answered, as an employer that should throw up red flags in the employer's head.

I had one employee and one potential employee that I had headaches over. Both could have cost me everything and cost someone else their life. That might be a little dramatical but when you are driving a big vehicle weighing over 30,000 pounds, you need to know what your doing and how to do it. I was very lucky in both situations. The first occurrence happened with my first hiring spree. I will call the applicant Don.

Don filled his application out completely. The insurance ran his license and he was clean for over seventeen years. Now with that kind of record, how could I not hire him? When I checked out his references and he only had two for the seventeen years, both said he did his job and he never had any driving accident that they knew of. Unfortunately, one of the references was his father and the other was an employer in another state. Neither of them told me and I didn't ask, if he was an over the road driver.

All I knew was he had driven dump trucks with equipment trailers attached. He was hired! The first day he started someone went with him to show him how to load vehicles and strap them down. We are in Florida so his driving test took place in Miami. The person I sent with him was totally impressed with Don's driving ability. He could put that trailer where most cars wouldn't try to go. So, his next task was to drop the other person off and Don was headed to Pennsylvania with truck, trailers, and autos.

By the time he got to Pennsylvania, I had learned he had never been over the road. I learned this because Don had a breakdown in my truck, with my equipment, and with vehicles that belonged to other people and I was responsible for them. The following 24 hours were the worst! I didn't know where he was or where my equipment was and whether or not I'ld ever see any of it again! The man could drive he just couldn't drive alone. He somehow managed to get back and the equipment was fine and the vehicles he left with had been delivered. Needless to say, he no longer had a job with my company. I am sure he is still using those same two references for jobs because no one has called me yet.

The second incident, I was much luckier. I will call this applicant Ollie. He never stepped foot into my vehicle. When I interviewed Ollie I met him at the police station. He of course gave me his application. I noticed he was limping but since on the application he put he had no physical hindrances I figured he must have twisted an ankle or something.

Everyone applying had to have a CDL A for three years with a clean driving record. His drivers license review confirmed he had. I told him once I checked all his references I would give him a start date. I called his references. The only one that talked to me immediately said they couldn't tell me whether he was a safe driver or not. They told me to put him in an open field and let him back into a simulated parking space. I asked if he drove for them and they said yes but they couldn't take the liability of answering or not answering my questions.

They told me my company needed to implement a driving test to include backing. I later found out from an employee of that company that has no authority to answer questions that Ollie just couldn't drive. They wouldn't let him take equipment off their lot. He couldn't back up to turn around. He always had to go circular. OMG! Was my thought. I called Ollie and told him my insurance wouldn't take him because they found he hadn't driven all three years he had his license. He asked "Did you find out about my disability with my leg?" Uh-oh! Thank goodness I couldn't hire him. I assured him I didn't know anything about a disability and asked him if he would have even been able to do the job. "Don't know" was his answer. I wondered if I had hired him and he got to his first stop how he would have strapped the car down in order to move it.

These two people were just as wrong as anyone for embellishing their resumes or applications. They could have cost someone their life. Lying can be quite serious. If you do it just to get a job and you can't hurt anyone else with your lie that's still not okay and you should be fired, but obviously the lie will eventually come out.