Q: Baxter International is pharmaceutical company based in Deerfield, IL - I am trying to verify employment for my candidate who states he worked at Baxter Int'l Manufacturing division in Accounts Receiveables located at 5354 Ehrlich Road, Tampa, FL phone# 813-956-1000. I have exhausted my search over the last few days and have come up empty and wonder if this place he worked at for the last 8 years exists? Please help - thank you!
A: I went to Baxter's USA website and discovered that the only location they have in Florida, is in Largo, Florida (the FL Keys, no where near Tampa). I also searched on the name Baxter in Florida at anywho.com and came up with the same thing. Your options, 1- Call the candidate, tell him your trying to verify his employment and the phone number isn't working and you can't find anything on the web. Flat out tell him if you can't get this verified, you can't hire him. He has to still have a friend in the company he could call and find out what the procedures are. A company the size of Baxter probably has an outside verification company that is used or they will direct you to the corporate hq for HR. If he comes up with a bs excuse as to why he can't do this, then he is telling you that he has been lying to you. 2. Or you could Send a letter with a SASE in it asking for verification of title, dates of employment and reason for leaving, give them the option of responding via fax phone or email and let them know that your decision is awaiting this verification. In my experience, if you run into this kind of problem while reference checking it is a huge red flag, but occassionally there is a logical reason, but you have to ask the candidate to find out for sure. Good luck