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I do about 40 background checks on people a year as part of business. Almost half of them turn out to be worthless. Unless the person you are checking has an uncommon name, you will get many many false positives. Depending on the type of background check, you may get a lot of false positives even if they have an uncommon name. Unless the person has lived in the same area/State for 3+ years you may not get anything. A background check in the hands of someone that can not read between the lines is kind of a loose cannon.
If a google search did not provide any real information such as a facebook, linkedin, or other type of internet page with their name attached such as donating money to a charity or something than I agree with others, I would be a little concerned about who they are hiding from or what they are hiding from.
I can pull a search on my name, and all kind of pages come up, including all my known internet pages, such as twitter, linkedin, Facebook, but also some associations and such where I signed up for one thing or another like my alumni association, a copy of my voter registration (yes the card I filed about 18 months ago), information on my relatives and past addresses, and even some really old criminal information from some guy on the east coast with the same name as me, while I have never even been placed in handcuffs. He also has a facebook page and twitter account that comes up in the search, with each of us having different public pictures.
Now if someone cannot figure out that the guy on the east coast is probably someone very different than me then I would not want to date them as they are not very smart, but even with a perfect record there is plenty of info out on me.
Now just to check I did a google check on a friend of mine who has not known information on the internet. I found a pic of him with his wife and kids, a few sites with his current and former addresses, a list of several of his relatives, history of his court cases, and that is for a guy who will swear that there is not information about him on the internet.
I've looked myself up online and the info is mostly very OLD. It shows every place I've lived for the past 25 years and still lists my ex as 'related' although we've been divorced for 17 years. You'd think they'd have more updated info but it's probably a good thing they don't. It doesn't state exactly where I live NOW, which is fine with me. Well, it does, but nothing is in chronological order.
One of the sites shows all the places I've lived for the last 22 years and shows my dad as a possible relative. Dad died in 2004.
If someone was arrested and the arrest made the news, that would show up in Google.
Also, certain types of jobs mean the person has a big internet presence. So if the person is say an artist, there's nothing wrong with checking out their work or what not.
I've been googled by friends and dates, and I have done the same. So if they find out whatever on me, I have absolutely no problem.
If a google search did not provide any real information such as a facebook, linkedin, or other type of internet page with their name attached such as donating money to a charity or something than I agree with others, I would be a little concerned about who they are hiding from or what they are hiding from.
I can pull a search on my name, and all kind of pages come up, including all my known internet pages, such as twitter, linkedin, Facebook, but also some associations and such where I signed up for one thing or another like my alumni association, a copy of my voter registration (yes the card I filed about 18 months ago), information on my relatives and past addresses, and even some really old criminal information from some guy on the east coast with the same name as me, while I have never even been placed in handcuffs. He also has a facebook page and twitter account that comes up in the search, with each of us having different public pictures.
Now if someone cannot figure out that the guy on the east coast is probably someone very different than me then I would not want to date them as they are not very smart, but even with a perfect record there is plenty of info out on me.
Now just to check I did a google check on a friend of mine who has not known information on the internet. I found a pic of him with his wife and kids, a few sites with his current and former addresses, a list of several of his relatives, history of his court cases, and that is for a guy who will swear that there is not information about him on the internet.
I agree. Most working professionals you can find out at least a few things about them on google, including their social media profiles. If they have no social media profiles and absolutely no internet presence, what is the person even doing for work? Are they working on the books? Not that you necessarily have to list your employer in your online profiles, but if you find nothing about a person online that is a red flad (the person may be working off the books or other illegal things).
Location: RI, MA, VT, WI, IL, CA, IN (that one sucked), KY
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NyWriterdude
I agree. Most working professionals you can find out at least a few things about them on google, including their social media profiles. If they have no social media profiles and absolutely no internet presence, what is the person even doing for work? Are they working on the books? Not that you necessarily have to list your employer in your online profiles, but if you find nothing about a person online that is a red flad (the person may be working off the books or other illegal things).
This is my line of thought. I know few professionals that both have:
a) no linkedin account
b) no mention of them on the company website
c) no mention of them on some association or charity or alumni group page
I Google to find out whether or not the guy I'm dating or interested in has a significant other. I don't regret it. I've found that any number of guys I'd been dating or who had been trying to date me had wives or girlfriends by Googling. Experience has unfortunately taught me that I can't leave it to chance.
I google people too. Not just dates, but if someone tells me interesting things they've done professionally I'll often google their name. It's sort of why people have linkedin, twitter, and facebook to begin with.
I agree. Most working professionals you can find out at least a few things about them on google, including their social media profiles.
Or hobbies (photography, creative writing, etc). One of the guys I initiated contact with has his website listed in his profile and also sent a link to it in his first message to me. That conversation died out though (on his end) which is fine. I realized after I sent the first message I also contacted him a few years ago when I first tried OLD and he said he didn't think we'd be a good match but asked if I was interested in being a FWB. I'm about 99% sure it's the same guy. He has a feature I'm usually very much not attracted to.
I just did a google search check on myself. My last name is rather uncommon.
Not much comes up. A youtube page for someone with my name living in Australia. A link on FB and Linkedin to people with my same name (but no direct link to my profiles) and some vauge hits on my address and age where most are incorrect or out of date.
If anything, i'd say my google search is rather boring and you'd be hard pressed to find out much about me.
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