Customer: So, where in the world do you find your inspiration for these spritely monthly blogs?
Ann (grabs third full cup of black coffee, flicks what *may* be a cookie crumb from the rim): Well, this month I was reviewing what last year looked like, and how things have changed.
Customer (moves the edge of his seat, wild with anticipation, bites donut): Well?!?!
Ann (swallows coffee): Once again, it’s a brave new world, my friend.
Last years’ April blog was entitled: Background Checks in the time of the Novel Coronavirus and Stay at Home Order, and I opened with our Day-To-Day Challenges.
Last week, April 1, 2021, I got my first Pfizer vaccination. Last year, a vaccine was a pipe dream.
Last year, I opened April’s blog with:
My superstar attorney sent out “8 HR Lessons/Observations a Few Weeks into the Coronavirus Crisis:”
“#6: You may be able to accomplish more work remotely that you thought.” I’m reminded of a cartoon I saw recently, the caption was, “All those meetings could have really been e-mails.”
Man, we have learned a lot about working remotely and how teamwork (even remotely) makes the dream work.
Last April: I entered lengthy discussions about how to reach Human Resources to verify employment, and how a lot of schools were closed, and registrars were hard to reach—so please be patient.
This April: a lot of schools are reopening, HR seems to be humming (albeit many still remotely), and most courts are open.
Shout out to SJV (my criminal wholesaler) who worked diligently to get records out of New Jersey when it was the epicenter of COVID and the courts there were by and large closed. This doesn’t mean all the courts are open again (I’m looking at you, Kentucky) and some are still slow as molasses in January (I’m looking at you, Arizona and San Diego), but we’re getting there.
I had a conversation with our consultant extraordinaire, Kevin Bachman (a/k/a the CRA Doctor) a couple months ago. We mused what it would be like for background screeners when the world starts to reopen, and businesses would be re-hiring staff that they haven’t needed in a year.
I got a call last week from a client I had not heard from in over 12 months, a hotel in Anaheim that’s ramping up because Disneyland is re-opening. The golf courses and municipal organizations that didn’t hire last year have already starting their seasonal hiring. People who were laid off from manufacturing jobs in 2020 are coming back.
My first thought? Is this really happening? Vaccinations? Businesses re-opening? Flashback to 2008—when the great recession hit, I believe that background screeners were the canaries in the mineshaft. We knew something was happening before the rest of the world whispered “recession.” My sales were down, business fell off dramatically.
Could background checks be again the predictor of economic recovery from COVID-19? I will not make any predictions (or did I?).
What I know for certain is that 2021 looks a lot different than 2020. I am grateful and humbled by the clients I get to work with on a daily basis, my staff who are the most amazing, dedicated group of people around, my family and the rest of the team. We felt our way through one of the worst natural disasters ever and we’re pulling through—together.
