The National Association for Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) has embarked on a bold journey to expand from a U.S. based professional association to an international alliance of professional background screening firms. The goal of NAPBS is to be the source of industry standards and best practices and be the recognized voice of the professional background screening industry worldwide.
In 2007 NAPBS established an International Committee to explore the feasibility of creating an international alliance of background screening firms. W. Barry Nixon, CEO, PreemploymentDirectory.com and Robert Capwell, Chief Knowledge Officer, Employment Background Screening, Inc. (EBI), were appointed as Co-chairs to lead the initiative.
The vision of NAPBS for creating an international alliance includes the following:
• Establish a worldwide support network for professional background screening firms to collaborate, share information, provide education and resources;
• Foster the development of country-specific business standards, professionalism, legal and ethical business practices that will significantly enhance the credibility of the background screening industry and expand business opportunities;
• Create a professional association presence within countries and/or regions that establishes an official representative of professional background screening firms to government entities to provide input and counsel and to influence government actions and legislation that will impact the industry.
To date, our efforts have been very successful with the creation of alliance groups in Africa, Asia, Canada and the United Kingdom/Europe.
In addition, the International Committee has established three working sub-committees to assist in these efforts. The sub-committees, their mission, goals and accomplishments are as follows:
Education Sub-Committee
The mission of the International Education Sub-Committee is to continuously increase the knowledge and understanding of NAPBS members about legal requirements, sources of information, cultural nuances, processes, tools, as well as ethical and best practices for implementing international background checks. The sub-committee will use educational sessions at NAPBS Conferences, as well as other learning tools to accomplish its goal of achieving an informed membership.
The following are accomplishments achieved from the hard-work and volunteerism from our members.
• Offered two international sessions focused on country specific screening at the 2008 annual conference
• Offered four sessions focused on country best practices and international updates at the 2009 annual conference.
• Offered a session on Global Data Privacy Compliance at the mid-year conference
Recommended Practices Sub-Committee
The mission of the Recommended Practices Sub-Committee is to further the strategic goal of NAPBS as the catalyst for the establishment of ethical and legal business practices for professional background screening firms worldwide. In support of the mission, our sub-committee’s goal is to initiate the development of a common set of ethical and legal business practices for professional background screening firms that provide data and services to other background screening companies in another country. We will accomplish this goal by working with the international chapters of NAPBS to develop a common framework and core set of practice that should be universal to all background screening firms and to identify those unique practices to a particular country or region.
The following are accomplishments achieved from the hard-work and volunteerism from our members.
• Drafted in late 2010 an International Recommended Best Practices Guidelines which will be the foundation of establishing global principles worldwide.
Communications Sub-Committee
The International Communications Sub-Committee is responsible for establishing on-going means to keep both the International Committee members and NAPBS member informed about what is happening with our Committee. The Committee is also responsible for maintaining an Orientation Package to give new members to the International Committee and welcoming new members. Their responsibilities also include public relations and serving as the driver and focal point for adding International information to the NAPBS website. The Committee will serve as the International Committees' liaison with the greater NAPBS Media Relations Committee.
The following are accomplishments achieved from the hard-work and volunteerism from our members.
• Developed a new member welcome packet.
• Established a communications outreach to provide assistance with regional and country specific communications
• Provided a medium of communications through the NAPBS Journal and the NAPBS Thursday Letter
• Assisted in developing ongoing press releases
We thank you for your interest in our committee and we hope you will assist us by volunteering your time and energy to this great cause. We ask that each committee member volunteer on one of the committees above or work directly in-country with our partners across the globe. Please contact us at your earliest convenience for further information!
Robert Capwell
Chief Knowledge Officer
Employment Background Screening, Inc.
rcapwell@ebiinc.com
W. Barry Nixon
CEO
PreemploymentDirectory.com
wbnixon@aol.com
