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The Past Revealed: Background Checks

Employers tend to conduct background checks before hiring new people. It is a specific process that involves knowing the information about the individual’s past.

In today’s society, it is no longer difficult to access information. This is because the advent of new technology allows us to retrieve a lot of kinds of information.

Contents of the Background Check

Most background checks contain criminal and incarceration records. Criminal and incarceration records include litigation records, driving and vehicle records.

Furthermore, background checks include education verification, employment verification and credit card check. Some include detailed drug tests, licensing records and financial information.

These are just basic elements to a background check. Other things can be added to make the background check more specific.

Some even conduct interviews with the written personal references of the employees. They may be their former employers, family members or friends.

Reasons for Conducting Background Checks

There are several reasons why companies conduct background checks. First is to find out if the person has done any criminal activity. This would essential if the position requires customer relations or handling money.

Most companies also conduct credit checks. It serves as a indicator for the persons reliability.

Not only done in companies, in the United States, there exists the Brady Bill where background checks are done for those who want to buy guns, explosives and restricted firearms.

Other reasons for background checks may involve a suspicious neighbor or perhaps when one is hiring a new nanny. It can also be as serious has going into a background of a possible new business partner.

Requirements before conducting a background check

There are many laws and guidelines that should be followed in conducting background check. Some of these laws are as follows:

o Fair Credit Reporting Act. This law ensures that when credit reporting is done, correct and updated data is used.

o Drivers Privacy Protection Act. This law regulates the release and sharing of information from DMV records. Thus, the release of driver and vehicles records are part of these laws.

o Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This act is also involved in employment screening. This regulates the information the employer can or cannot access. It stresses keeping the information private.

o Other state laws and guidelines. Depending on which state you are in, there are specific laws and guidelines pertaining to background checks.

Controversies Regarding Background Checks

Not all people are comfortable with background checks. Sometimes, there are tendencies that one unearths information of illegal activity. One must be aware that the information is 100 percent true. Some may perhaps be wrong or irrelevant.

An important factor when looking for sources is to what degree is your source credible.

The Deal with Background Checks

Although not everyone approves of background checks, the fact remains the same, that background checks are useful. It gives an overview of the personality and working habits of the person.

Remember to assess only the relevant information to prevent having information overload about the person. Time is always a factor. Some perceive background checks to be too time consuming. This may only occur when you get too much information about the person.

Background checks are now usually standard protocol not only to most companies but also at home when hiring household help. Thus, background checks are not only for big companies. It is something for the average household.

Background checks protect your family. Check up on nannies, coaches, daycare providers and more. www.PersonalSecurity.TV

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Background Check Basics

Criminal Background Check Basics  
If the basic tenet of the Hippocratic Oath Is “First, do no harm” then perhaps the first guiding principle of Human Resources Managers is “First, make no bad hiring decisions”. In that connection, the first line of defense employed by businesses to protect their employees, their assets and the public is a criminal background check. While the cost of a reasonable criminal background check can be less than fifty dollars, most businesses know the cost of a ”Bad Hire” is incalculable. The question then always becomes “How do I conduct the best background check for the least money”?
The Basics
This is sometimes hard to believe, but there simply is no single data base that allows an employer or a background check company access to all of the criminal records in all of the states. Even the NCIC, which is a criminal data base available only to law enforcement agencies, is not a complete data base of criminal records. Reporting of records to the NCIC is dependent on the states or other courts forwarding the data. It is often not current (as much as two years behind for some states) and rarely has current disposition information.
Multi-State Criminal Background Check
This is the closest thing to a national criminal background check data base that is available to employers and has become the standard primary background check requested. The results of this report are available instantly and should always be the first report ordered. This report usually includes about 80% of the criminal records from 46 states that have been reported by the three thousand-plus counties to the various state data bases. This report usually also includes a check of the sex offender registry in most or all states. Please note that, if the sex offender failed to register, he may not show up in this records check. Moreover, the following important data base searches are often a part of the multi-state criminal background check. OFAC Blocked List (Terrorist Watch List-Office Of foreign Assets Control) INTERPOL Most Wanted- DEA Fugitive List Denied Persons List Debarred List OTS List- (Office Of Thrift Supervision) Bank of England Sanctions List-  European Union Terrorism Sanctions List- NSOSFI – Canadian Sanctions List- Australian Reserve Bank Sanctions List
I would certainly recommend that any criminal background check begin with this search, since it casts the widest net available.
State Wide Criminal Background Checks 
What results can we expect when ordering criminal background checks from individual states who supply the national database? Compared to the multi-state criminal background check, many criminal records from forty five other states as well as a check of the offender registries are not being checked.  The data contained is often late, incomplete, or simply not reported from the originating court. Besides being somewhat expensive, even the primary state law enforcement agency’s criminal records data is often incomplete. We have seen many examples where employers regretted relying on the state’s law enforcement agency data base. Records that were simply not included as a part of the state law enforcement data base were easily found by plaintiff’s attorneys in the county records of the employee accused of assaulting another employee or a member of the public. They likely used the same employment application that was now a part of the proceedings and simply had the criminal records checked in the offending employee’s prior counties of residence. The theory of negligent hiring cases is partly based on “if you could have known, you should have known.”  You may be sure the employer wishes they had checked those same county records. Most background check companies would agree with our experience, which indicates that the quality and the content of the records from state agencies is significantly lower than for records obtained directly from the originating court records. Remember, the data in state repositories is second-hand information gathered from various courts and police departments statewide.  Some states have statutes that require various criminal justice agencies to report criminal records to the state repository but this is still not done on a complete and timely basis. This is particularly true in cases where the record is an arrest only with no conviction. Often, even felonies and misdemeanors that have been pleaded down to much lesser charges are simply not reported by the counties at all. Nonetheless, any employer would want to know about these charges. Many state record administrators have stated that they estimate that no more than 70 to 80 percent of all criminal data from the police and county criminal courts was actually ever reported to the state criminal record center. 
County Criminal Background Checks
No matter what other searches are ordered, we always recommend that, as a minimum, an employer add a search of the county or counties where the applicant has lived for the last several years.  The results from these searches are usually provided within 24 to 48 hours For the reasons outlined above, searches in those courts of origin are a critical element of any background check. County superior or felony-level court, which is usually located in the county seat, is the most commonly searched. This court contains the records for the felony-level cases that originate in that jurisdiction.  A manual county felony search at that location will reveal the following records: Felony charges that were pleaded down to a misdemeanor conviction. (except in some cases domestic court charges are never reported if probation terms are satisfactorily completed) Felony charges that resulted in a felony conviction and bench warrants issued by that court. Cases that are still pending final action for all cases.
Up-to-Date information
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that, before information may be used adversely in employment decisions, it must be verified as the most up-to-date and recent information available. Clearly, a county criminal background search in one or more counties is the only possible way to comply with this requirement. Even the FBI web site says “A record provided to the subject for personal review contains only information maintained by the CJIS Division and may lack dispositional data and/or arrest records that are maintained only at the state level.

http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/backgroundchk.htm?cm_sp=ExternalLink-_-Federal-_-DOJ 

Conclusion
While background checks have become a routine part of the hiring process, the importance of a quality criminal background check should never be underestimated.

A company’s future is in its employees’ past

Larry 7777 www.national-employment-screening.com

An employment background check usually involves a checking of previous places of employment, schools that have been attended and occasionally a criminal background. Discover how an employment background check may check certifications withhelp from a certified family mediator in this free video on background checks. Expert: Robert Todd Bio: Robert Todd is the managing partner and president of Robert M. Todd, PA and Family Law Solutions. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz
Video Rating: 0 / 5

Pros and Cons of a Background Check

First, What Is Background Checking?

As the name suggest, it is the process of scrutinizing the personal history of a person. This is done by consulting official and commercial records. In the past, one can do a background search by enlisting the aid of the police. Today though, private companies offer to do background search on people for a fee.

Background checking is usually done when a person applies for a job especially a delicate one. Usually, employers would hire people they can trust and if that means checking the background of participants, they would do it. The necessity of a background check is even more pronounced when a person applies for a sensitive position, such as jobs which will put them in close contact with children and the elderly. People who are applying for government posts also undergo background checks.

The Why

Consider these figures and you will see why it is important for companies and the government to employ background checks:

1 in 32 grownups in the United States has a criminal record

There are about 6 million threats of violence in the workplace every year

2 million workplace assaults happen every year

13 people die every week as a result of workplace violence

36 percent of applications are falsified

With those reasons, it is not surprising that companies do background check on applicants. There are jobs where a person is required to work around sensitive information especially in the government and that is another reason to run a background check on people applying for government posts.

The Why Not

While there are a lot of valid reasons for companies to check the background of applicants they are interested in hiring, there are also several factors why some companies forego this process. One reason is that it takes some time and money to do a background check. Thus, small companies tend to give up background checking.

On the other end of the spectrum, some employees are against background checking believing that it is a form of invasion of privacy. Another reason being put forward by people opposed to background checking is that people might not be able to land a good job for doing something stupid during their youth. Another could be the belief that a background check could result to illegal discrimination based on the past of a person or the people he or she is associated with in the past.

A background check usually involves checking out a driving record, criminal background and credit references. Find out how background checks may involve personal character references withhelp from a certified family mediator in this free video on background checks. Expert: Robert Todd Bio: Robert Todd is the managing partner and president of Robert M. Todd, PA and Family Law Solutions. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

The What and How of Background Checking

Some Information Included

Since a background check is done to delve into the past activities and record of an individual, it contains different information, some of which are listed below.

Criminal Records- for companies looking to hire an individual, they are sure to think twice if a person has a criminal record especially if it involves serious crimes.
Employment Records- surely companies would like to know where an applicant has been previously employed and if whether he or she left the company in good standing.
Litigation Records- companies would also like to know if a certain applicant has a penchant for filing discrimination lawsuits.
Education Records- since educational background plays a major role in terms of a person being accepted for a job, companies would like to make sure if an applicant is not lying regarding their educational background.
Driving Records- companies who are hiring applicants who will be tasked to drive would surely add this to their background check.
Result of Drug Tests- this is part of a background check for several reasons including corporate ethics.
Financial Records- this could include information regarding credit scores and bankruptcy among others.
Social Security Number or SSN- an applicant who includes a fraudulent SSN in his or her curriculum vitae might be hiding something from his or her past thus SSN checking is also part of a background check.

How Do They Do It

In delving into the past of an individual, companies offering background checks take four steps to deliver a complete background search.

The first step is to gather information about the person to be checked. Enough information should be gathered to have a positive ID on that person. Data includes full name, date of birth, current address and past addresses as well as the person’s Social Security Number.

These information are important especially the date of birth as it is an essential identifier when searching for criminal records or any record for that matter. The addresses are also important as it will give the company doing the background check the information as to where to find for local records.

For female subjects, companies doing the background check important information includes whether she is married or not. For married female subjects, noting all the last names used in the past and in the present is important as it is important in checking for criminal records.

The second step is to check the past addresses given by the subject. Checking the address can provide information such as aliases used by the subject in the past. A false address given could also raise red flags which could lead to discovering other information given by the subject.

The third step is to undertake the general record search. An example of this is going through the subject’s driver history record. Such records can give information if the subject has been arrested for DUIs and other violations. Some of these records though are restricted by some states, thus background checking companies need to secure a signed release before they can have access to such information.

The fourth step is to do the criminal background search. It starts with a local criminal background check thus it is important to secure the past and present addresses of the subject. For example, the subject might have committed a crime in a certain county he or she has resided in the past but did not disclose that he or she has lived in that locality then a background check without the right address would not be complete.

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