Background Check Includes
Introducing the Information Included in Background Checks
Almost everyone realize the importance of conducting background check. Obtaining necessary information about someone you are about to deal with or the company you want to do business with is highly prioritized before meeting with the person or company.
With the threat of security risks hanging over everyone, from personal to international scale, background checking has gained recognition as a safety net.
Before we go on singing praises about background check, however, let us go down to basics. We must know the definition and content of background check, its types and what it includes and excludes.
Definition of background check
Background check is the procedure of poring into commercial and official government records about a person. If a person applies for a job involving security issues, the employer takes significant steps, even spend money to conduct a background check on him.
Background check is also done before employing someone for state and government office jobs and jobs involving children, elderly and disabled.
According to tradition, the police should have done background check. However, background check has now become a paid service of a private business or firm.
Pertinent information obtained in background check includes:
• Past employment records
• Credit record and worthiness
• Criminal record and/or history
Doing a background check helps in making better-informed decisions, rather than less-subjective evaluations about persons who might bring on a potential security risk.
Other kinds of background checks are conducted depending on a particular case of illegal discrimination, privacy rights violation and identity theft cases.
Types of background check:
• Pre-employment screening – conducted to validate potential employee’s submitted data. It is a cost-effective and practical way of minimizing incidents of employee indecency and inappropriate actions. It is also a safety net procedure to avoid negligent hiring liability cases.
• Background credit check – usually obtains s person’s financial standing and consumer habit
• Criminal record check – goes into a person’s history if there are any criminal conviction, substance abuse case, sexual harassment offenses and other criminal wrongdoings.\
• Screenings regarding government security clearances
Possible data included in background checks:
1. Incarceration and criminal records – This is information about a person who has been convicted of a crime and has been confined in prison.
2. Litigation records – data about lawsuits filed by a person against another individual or a company.
3. Driving and vehicle record – information about the person’s driving records and violations committed.
4. Drug tests – this information is needed to identify the capacity of an employee to respect corporate ethics, measure potential employee’s performance, and keeping workers’ compensation premiums down.
5. Educational background records – data primarily used to identify the potential of an employee
6. Employment records – the information from this may range from confirmation of facts given beforehand by an employee and verification of employee’s character during his previous employment.
7. Financial information – this may include credit history, liens, bankruptcy reports.
8. Licensing records – aside from verification of a license issuance to a person, it could also hold personal information, complaints, disciplinary notices and investigations.
9. Military records – contains specific reports on behavior during service and specifies discharge reports, which an employer may be interested in.
10. Social Security Number (SSN) – may turn out with fraudulent records, if ever any exist.
11. Polygraph test
12. Interpersonal interview results
However, when conducting background check, one must abide by the governing state and federal policies on utilizing background checks.
One must also know the proper use of information obtained and the limits to information that can be accessed. The main theme when doing background check is to be legally responsible.
Source: http://www.positivearticles.com/blog