Quote:
Originally Posted by lottamoxie
What exactly gets checked during a "typical background check?" Not Defense Dept level of background checking, but the typical corporate employment situation for a mid-level manager?
I know they check the following:
1. credit scores and/or any financial issues including bankruptcy
2. prior criminal convictions
3. traffic infractions/moving violations
4. prior employers
5. claims against worker's comp or disability
6. citizenship
What other records?
Are they looking up Social Security Records? Bank balances? Mortgage Statements?
And what about employers from over a decade ago who are no longer in business and haven't been for over a decade? I worked at a couple tiny companies that closed their doors many years ago (over a decade). I don't even have my W-2 statements that go back more than 7 years because tax law only requires keeping 7 years worth of records.
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A background check is a composition of reports. There's no such thing as a "standard" background check. It's whatever information they want to research on you based on the type of position and what they want to know.
1. Only if they are doing credit history, which they need to justify being able to do and need to pass a site inspection to be approved for.
2. Not just convictions, they can see if you've been charged/acquited/plead guilty to lesser charge as well. They can also see current open cases on you.
3. Traffic violations yes, but only if they run an MVR report which costs more money because it's an additonal report. Usually they won't spend the money to run this on you unless the position requires you drive (sales, drivers, truck companies, etc).
4. Employment Verification, yes. They'll verfiy that you actually worked there, the dates of employment, the salary, and if you're eligible for rehire (that is why they ask those questions and if you lie they will find out). If they go more in-depth, they may INTERVIEW the previous manager, ask if you got along with others, left on good terms, tardy/late, hard to manage, rate you on a scale of 1-5, etc.
5. Workers Comp History cannot be used pre-offer and cannot be used in the decision of whether to hire someone. They can only run work comp history on you AFTER THEYVE OFFERED YOU THE JOB and they can only use the information to make sure you're physically fit to do the job. Meaning if you had a back injuriy in the past, they would send you to a doctor to make sure you can lift 50 lbs (or whatever is required). They have to try and work around it meaning give you a hand truck or assistant to help you lift things and
accommodate the position to you. They can't refuse you the position unless it absolutely requires that you have to be able to do something for the job and a doctor says you physically can't do it.
6. They can, but 99% don't. What they DO run is a Social Security Trace. Meaning they run a report on the SS# you give and they can pull up all names, dates of birth, and addresses lived under that SS#. Usually it will always be your name or any previous names (example: maiden name) and your DOB and all of your addresses. They do this to see if you lied about an alias name or if you lied about where you lived. County Court Criminal Records are filed by NAME and DOB....not SS#. They do this to make sure they search you completely. One of the added benefits is that it's easy to tell if you're using a fake SS# because people who sell them usually sell them to a dozen other people, so the Social Security Trace ends up pulling up 12 foreign names and DOB's and it's easy to realize that this is a fake SS# that was sold and the applicant is probably an illegal alien.
Other records:
education verifications - verify you went to school and graduated.
Multi-Jurisdictional - Searches certain criminal databases (Nation Sex Offender list, Interpol wanted list, etc.)
Federal National Search - some crimes don't fall under county jurisdiction and call under Federal District Court (across state lines, white collar crimes like embezzlement, IT related crimes like hacking).
Civil Search - Find out if you've been sued or if you've sued other people, divorce court suits, alimony, etc.
Professional Licenses - Verify you are a licensed doctor or lawyer or any professional license that people may lie about.
There are no social security records. Financial info may be in a credit report, but I'm not sure.
If employers can't verify you worked there because of that situation they just say "unable to verify". Doesn't go against you. Most searches for employment only go back 7 years. Some truck driving companies go back 10 but a lot of that info is in a national database already anyway.
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