Looking for a job in corporate America? If you are, you might need to rely on your golf skills. It's common knowledge that golf is a huge part of the corporate culture and if you've “got game”, you have a better chance of getting hired, especially if your resume and background pass the “sniff” test.
Be careful, because some corporations have already been using an innovative background investigation solution that includes a relaxing, unassuming round of golf. Being a veteran investigator with over twenty years of experience and an avid golfer, PGA member and licensed private investigator, Lawrence Olmstead found he could learn a lot about people whenever he played a round of golf with them, especially if they didn't know he was an investigator.
“I have had people tell me how they cheated on their wifes, ripped off their employers, do drugs, have sex at work, lie on their taxes and much more during a round of golf,” said Olmstead. A typical round of golf takes anywhere from three to five hours in some cases and spending that kind of time with a subject can be very enlightening. After a few beers, Bloody Marys and a few cigars, people loosen up and will say all kinds of things to a “stranger”.
People reveal such things as integrity, sportsmanship, respect, confidence, responsibility, perseverance, courtesy and judgment during a round of golf. “I've actually conducted one golf background where the subject revealed he cheated on his wife, was currently stealing from his employer and totally lied on his resume to try to get a job. To make matters worse, he hit a errant shot and broke a window off a fairway and supplied the owner with false information on how to contact him to pay for the broken window.” Needless to say, we didn't need to complete anymore of the background investigation.
In another case an owner of a large mortgage company was concerned that one of it's employees was using the service of a document forger to produce information to push loans through. “A weekend golf outing with the subject and two other company employees was the perfect way to find out if it was true or not. After a few holes and asking the subject what he did for a living, Olmstead was able to not only verify fraud had occurred, but actually was able to get the forgers name, email address and telephone number.
There are many types of investigations that can be initiated or conducted using golf. Be careful golfers because you never know who's going to show up at your next round of golf.
Our process can save clients literally untold amounts for money for hiring the wrong person, civil liabilities, criminal prosecution and scandal.
“Our typical client is the large financial entities hiring professionals that will earn an income of more than one hundred thousand dollars a year and represent a company in a very high profile capacity,” said Olmstead.
For more information on investigations using golf, contact Lawrence Olmstead of Hollywood Private Investigations at:
(661) 492-4910
