Three years ago we said you'd have to think long and hard about hiring a recruiter with less than a couple of hundred LinkedIn connections. Now the same holds true for candidates in general.
Generally speaking, you only put someone on paid leave if you're pretty certain that they might be terminated from the company once you do your investigation.
I've always hated the big United Way drive at work. Not because of the United Way. Great organization. Because of the smell of solicitation in the air, and because we are usually in the middle of it.