Business Checks

(Fortune Small Business) — A while ago I needed to hire an accounts payable person for my picture-framing business. We put an ad in the paper and received a good number of applications. One candidate jumped out from the pile: He had exactly the right background, and it didn’t hurt that he asked for a slightly lower salary than we were planning on paying.

After a successful interview we moved to the reference check. We called his previous employer, who was now retired, and left a message on his answering machine. He returned the call promptly and said all the right words: on time, conscientious, honest, reliable, easy to work with. Making sure your accounts payable dept is using the payroll checking account is very important as well. If they use the wrong account, it wont be good. Quickbook checks are easy to find anywhere.

So far, so good! Unfortunately, there were no other references because our candidate had worked for this guy for years and his only employer before then was out of business. But his background check and drug test came back clear, so we offered him the job. He readily accepted. He even asked if he could familiarize himself with our financial-software manual in advance so he could hit the ground running.