What Do A Job Look For In A Background Check

Hither's What Employers Expect for When They Run a Background Bank check

What do employers look for in a background check ?

When it comes to the pre-employment vetting processes, every employer will approach things differently, depending on their size and resource, their industry, and the job or jobs they need to fill up. There are many types of groundwork reporting services an employer tin can order, all of which provide different data types from diverse sources. Generally speaking, a pre-hire investigation will check for a criminal tape, verify resume information, such as past employment, educational credentials, and professional licenses or certifications. Maybe appraise other types of information, such equally a driving record or credit history.

Read on to learn more about what shows up on an employment background check.

The Employment Background Check

Employers run history checks on their candidates for diverse reasons. For example, past reviewing a person'due south criminal by, a hiring managing director tin appraise the level of take a chance that a candidate might pose if given the job at paw. In some cases, a person's criminal past may even preclude them from working a specific type of job, such as a registered sex offender interviewing for a teaching position. On the other paw, verification checks of employment, education, and credentials are an essential step for helping employers determine whether their candidates are qualified for the job at hand.

What Employers Can and Volition Await At

Beneath, we take recapped the most common types of employee groundwork verification, as well as the kind of information each of those checks will typically return. Do note that, while employers are typically allowed to consider the data highlighted below every bit part of the pre-employment procedure, that privilege is not absolute. Employers must follow the tenets of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) when conducting searches, which include very detailed steps for obtaining a subject field'southward permission before looking into their by.

Also, the specific laws and regulations surrounding the information in each category may vary depending on state or local jurisdiction. We accept highlighted checks that tend to be more than regulated and, therefore, limited.

Piece of work history

Work history is one of the top items that hiring managers consider when assessing candidates for a vacancy. The idea is that someone's employment experience can offer a proficient sense of how qualified they are for a item job. Some jobs call for candidates to have a specified number of years' experience working in a specific manufacture or type of position. In other cases, employers will not be nearly as detail about piece of work history. Nevertheless, they will still consider employment history to determine what skills or hands-on experience applicants may bring to the job.

Employment verification checks piece of work differently than many other types of groundwork checks. No database tracks where people have worked over the years. While candidates self-provide this data on their resumes and/or job applications, verification checks are an opportunity for employers to vet that information for inaccuracies or falsehood—an important stride given the commonality of dishonesty on resumes.

Since there is no job history database, these checks always involve direct contact with previous employers. At backgroundchecks.com, we contact past employers on behalf of the hiring team to verify key information on the resume, such equally dates of employment and job championship.

Credit check

Some employers consider a candidate's credit history as function of the pre-employment check procedure. These types of checks are prevalent in finance-related jobs, such equally cyberbanking or stock trading, to appraise a candidate's financial habits. Some employers believe that, by evaluating how a person handles coin in their personal life, they will know how to grade that person's overall financial responsibility in the professional realm. A credit check that reveals poor credit can sometimes be a sign of risk for an employer filling a role involving accounts, treatment money, or other financial matters.

Employers should tread carefully when using this blazon of screening, however. While financial literacy and responsibility are essential skills for some jobs, there has been some contend in recent years about how much insight a candidate'south credit record can lend to this type of position. Medical bills, unemployment, and especially pupil loans are factors that can bear upon a person'due south credit detrimentally. Particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused substantial spikes in unemployment rates nationwide, disqualifying someone for bad credit may be seen equally only exacerbating the problem.

Information technology is also worth noting that credit assessments for employment purposes are illegal in some areas. In 11 states – California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington – plus several other jurisdictions (including Washington, D.C., New York Metropolis, Chicago, and Philadelphia), employers are heavily restricted in their ability to use credit screenings when making hiring decisions. Employers should exist aware of their local and state laws when considering this type of assessment.

Criminal records

Criminal searches are the cornerstone of virtually verification processes. These records can include "red flags" such every bit violent offenses, sex activity crimes, embezzlement convictions, DUIs, or other history that could return someone a risky hire. Employers will look for this type of data to protect their legal interests, equally well every bit their customers, other employees, their finances, and more. For example, an employer hiring for financial accounts and sensitive personal information would want to avoid hiring a candidate with a history of embezzlement or identity theft, lest they take advantage of their position to commit similar crimes. Employers who overlook this type of relevant criminal history in filling a task may face up negligent hiring lawsuits if the person they hire ends up facing further accusations for their beliefs on the chore.

At backgrounchecks.com, we offer various criminal searches, including a canton bank check, a land repository search, a federal court search, and an instant search of our proprietary multi-jurisdictional database.

Contrary to pop belief, there is no single, key database for criminal information. Records almost criminal charges or convictions are oftentimes filed at the canton courthouse level. Still, they may also be filed at U.Southward. District Courts (in the example of federal crimes) or reported into state repositories (in the instance of country records searches). We recommend a multi-faceted criminal exploration, incorporating county checks in places where the candidate has lived recently. Nosotros also offer searches of our Us OneSEARCH database, which includes more than 650 one thousand thousand criminal records from all fifty states and all U.S. territories.

Driving record

When hiring for jobs that involve operating vehicles, employers will frequently include driving record checks every bit office of their candidate vetting process. While motor vehicle history is not relevant to all jobs, it is one of the nigh critical metrics for delivery vacancies, trucking jobs, positions that involve operating heavy construction machinery, and other similar types of employment. A history of unsafe driving – from lots of speeding tickets to suspended licenses and DUI convictions – is a safety and liability risk for employers filling these types of positions.

References

Though sometimes confused with employment verification checks, reference checks serve a different purpose. Employment verifications determine whether resume information is accurate, while professional references are people who tin can speak to a candidate'southward character, chore performance, skills, and overall piece of work way. Often, employers volition ask that candidates listing ii to three references as part of the job application. Reference checks involve contacting those individuals directly to learn more than about the candidate.

Verification Checks

Beyond work history and references, verification checks can also check a person's educational credentials and professional person licenses. Education checks involve contacting a college or university to verify that a candidate attended, besides as dates of attendance, degrees or certificates received, and any honors attached to those degrees.

Professional license verifications ensure that a person holds the license(s) necessary to piece of work in a specific field in a particular country. Examples include educational activity licenses, licenses to do law, nursing licenses, or licenses to exercise medicine.

What Employers Cannot look At

While dissimilar types of employment background checks can reveal much information nearly a candidate, there are certain types of information that employers are not immune to admission—even as part of checks that might seem to reveal that information. Examples include:

School records

While education verifications will indicate whether a candidate earned the college caste they claimed on their resume - these checks won't testify a full school record. Employers won't know which courses the candidate took, for case, or what grades they received. School records from further back—high school, for example—are too not accessible to employers.

Armed services records

There is no type of history checking service available to individual employers to access a person'southward military machine record. While candidates may voluntarily offer information most their military service, if applicable, employers should not plan to vet that information, check for details about a person'southward military machine history, or expect for evidence of discharges.

Medical records

Much of the information gleaned through an employee or candidate investigation is technically part of the public tape. Medical records do non fall into this category: they are private documents, with privacy ensured by doctor-patient confidentiality. Employers should not look to learn about medical history through background screening.

Criminal history

While criminal history is at the center of many pre-employment vetting protocols, that doesn't hateful employers have free reign to access or make hiring decisions based on the full scope of a person's criminal tape?. Records that accept been sealed or expunged, for case, should not characteristic on a bank check report and cannot be used to bar a person from employment. Many states also accept laws that restrict the utilize of arrest records in hiring, that specify a criminal history lookback flow of seven years, or both. Employers should take care to acquire the laws of where they practice business to avert whatsoever compliance issues in how they use criminal details in their hiring decisions.

How to Prepare for an Employment Background Check

Request "What do employers look for in a background check?" is a smart strategy for job seekers wishing to fix themselves for the employment screening process. Here are a few steps that candidates can keep in mind to avert any surprises:

Understand what previous employers might say well-nigh y'all

Opposite to widespread assumption, almost employers will stick to answering just uncomplicated point-of-fact questions when chosen for an employment verification check. Task titles, employment dates, the reason for leaving, eligibility for rehire: these topics are objective talking points that 60 minutes managers are willing to reply. More freeform questions, such every bit a past employer's comment on grapheme or piece of work ethic, are challenging territory. 60 minutes managers or one-time supervisors will ofttimes pass up to respond them to avoid legal claims of defamation from their previous employees.

Obtain your records

Job seekers concerned about the verification process are ofttimes encouraged to run investigations on themselves. At backgroundchecks.com, we even offer a self-check service. This strategy provides an opportunity for a candidate to see their tape and get a preview of what their hiring director will see. Running a self-bank check can be a valuable mode to make certain that an expungement has gone through or simply to accomplish peace of mind.

Check your credit

Like a self-cheque for criminal history, a cocky-bank check for credit can give a sense of what employers might encounter and what conclusions they could draw from that information. Job seekers volition sometimes use these self-assessments to determine if they demand to provide whatsoever explanations well-nigh their history that may help provide context for less-than-flattering results. Annotation that every consumer is entitled to a complimentary credit report from each of the iii credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) each year.

Ofttimes Asked Questions

What tin disqualify a chore candidate on a groundwork bank check?

The answer to this question volition vary from one employer to the side by side. Factors such every bit the manufacture where the employer operates, industry regulations, country and local laws, the job in question, specific company policies, and fifty-fifty the leniency of individual hiring managers tin can touch the reply. The nearly common disqualifiers in the vetting process tend to be either severe felony convictions (violent crimes, sex offenses, etc.) or blatant dishonesty of the job seeker. These factors register as "red flags" well-nigh no affair the manufacture or company. However, as previously discussed, other factors tin be disqualifiers as well, depending on the chore—such as a history of dangerous driving, for jobs that involve driving, or bad credit, for financial-related positions.

How does a background check verify employment?

At backgroundchecks.com, nosotros conduct employment verifications by contacting a candidate's past employers and asking key questions about employment dates, chore titles, and other information.

What can be revealed in a groundwork check?

A "background check" is, in fact, multiple checks or searches of diverse data sources, intending to provide a detailed and broad-reaching view of a job candidate's past. A pre-rent screening visitor can check a person'due south criminal by, driving history, past employment, education, and professional licensing. Information technology as well includes references, civil courtroom history, address history, Social Security Number, aliases/alternate names, credit, bankruptcy history, social media presence, and more.

Michael Klazema

Nearly Michael Klazema The author

Michael Klazema is Main Marketing Technologist at EY-VODW.com and has over ii decades of experience in digital consulting, online production management, and applied science innovation. He is the lead writer and editor for Dallas-based backgroundchecks.com with a focus on human resource and employment screening developments.