One of the really interesting things to me about background checks is what services people use and why they choose to screen certain employees in certain ways.

Just for a quick example, a former employer of mine used to screen everyone exactly the same no matter what the position entailed. So a financial controller gets the same level of scrutiny as our janitor. The amount of background checks some lower level staff went through was excrutiating to them. The janitor candidates would shake their heads at the amount they would have to go through. We lost many others because of past credit problems as well.

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By Jack Thomas

Today’s installment comes to us courtesy of the Des Moines, Iowa Register. Tim Martin, a Prairie Meadows trainer is puzzled by the labor issues surrounding his barn. The industry has become dependent on immigrant help, due largely to the fact that the jobs are so low paying. American workers just do not want the jobs, and the animals must be serviced at an affordable cost. Read more…

New Series- The Nifty Fifty
By Jack Thomas

Welcome to the first in an ongoing series of articles revealing the intriguing and sometimes just bizarre stories surrounding the arena of background check related stories from across the country. Weekly, I will be sharing stories from one or two states. Please check back often to see if you’re state has made the list yet! Read more…

I realize that a limited number of times, I may be sarcastic in my posts. You may have not noticed this because it is hard to detect sarcasm on the net.

So you’ll just have to take my word that when I say that the Fair Credit Reporting Act is your friend, you’ll take me seriously this one time. Because I am telling you HR person and hiring managers scared of these initials (and I know who you are), the FCRA will bail you out in times of trouble. You just have to play by the rules.

Quick primer on why you need to know anything at all about FCRA: Read more…

Since the September 11th bombings the FBI has made some surprising discoveries. Hundreds of terrorist suspects and insurgents that have been rounded up in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa have criminal records here in the United States. Many of the suspects have multiple felony records including drug, assault and weapons charges. Read more…

This legislation that was signed by the governor is exciting news to the background screening industry. In past, the school districts have only been able to run their background checks through the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. Read more…

In this article, the Department of Children and Family Services failed to conduct a pre employment background check on an employee after he was arrested on suspicion of child pornography. This article underscores the importance of conducting background checks on all employees. While there may not have been any sexual related offenses in the applicant’s background, the check may have revealed some other disqualifying information. A proper background check will verify the applicant’s social security number, and then determine their residential history. This residential history is used to search for any felony or misdemeanor convictions.
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Using civil records in the background screening process of a potential employee can be very enlightening. It can help you make assessments about a potential employee before hiring them and should be of use to any business.

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Idaho Department of Motor Vehicles has added the ability for individuals, employers, insurance companies and car rental companies to check the status of any licensed driver from the state of Idaho. The search requires the name, including middle initial, DOB and either the driver license number or the Social Security Number. The results will return whether the license is valid and if it is commercial or non commercial. If an individual has a suspended license, it will allow them to reinstate, if eligible.

The report will not indicate any violations or personal data. Here is the link to access this free Idaho drivers license check.

I have written several articles in the past on how to conduct your own free background checks. I wanted to make this article as comprehensive as possible on how to conduct your own criminal check for free. If there are things on your record that you would like to check on, this is the proper way to do it. First get yourself organized. Start by getting all of your previous addresses together so it will be easier to look up information.

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