While it is a good practice to utilize the state system to conduct a background check, what does the agency plan to do if the applicant is new to the state of Alabama? The state system does not include records from any other states. It also contains arrest records, which in it of themselves can cause an employer issues with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. I think that many employers miss this issue too when they rely simply on the state system, instead of contracting a third party background screening company to conduct a true county search based upon the residential history of the applicant. Read more…

What do you think a background check consists of? From speaking with people I think they get the sense that it is like CSI. We have computers and type in the persons name, and pages of information come up including photographs and that persons complete history down to their kindergarten finger paintings. I’m sorry to say it just doesn’t work that way. Some days I wish it did because it would make our jobs much easier, but it doesn’t. Read more…

Conducting pre-employment background checks, including criminal background checks, employment verifications, immigration status checks and sex offender registry searches, are an essential step in the hiring process. Although the information gathered in a pre-employment background check is of great use to an employer, this same information is often times highly sensitive, especially to the perspective employee. Read more…

How long does a background check take?

That depends on the components ordered and what type of check you are doing. For employment purposes a background check can take anywhere from 24 hours to 1 week. Our company generally gets a background check request back to the client within 48 to 72 hours. That would include a criminal record check, motor vehicle report, employment verification, and education verification.

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A criminal record does not necessary disqualify a job applicant from a position. Federal and state laws have strict guidelines concerning disqualifying an applicant for a position, and disqualification requires careful consideration on the part of the hiring manager.<!–more–>

Ensuring compliancy with federal and state regulations begins by creating a fully developed position description that clearly identifies skills, education, certifications, and security requirements mandatory to the position. You will also need to understand your federal and state requirements for particular positions. Most states prohibit people convicted of certain specific crimes from holding occupations such as home health worker, daycare worker, or teacher.

In addition, all job applicants should be required to complete a standard application in addition to submitting a resume. A standardized job application not only ensures that you can collect the information for a background and criminal record check, it also allows the applicant to properly disclose and explain a past conviction.

When addressing a criminal record, federal and state laws require that you show reasonable analysis of the following:

• Did the candidate properly disclose their criminal record? Did your background check correspond with the information provided?
• How does the type and severity of the conviction relate to the position? Do the security requirements of the position leave your company, employees, clients, or public vulnerable as it relates the candidate’s criminal record?
• What were the facts surrounding the conviction?
• How long ago was the conviction? Has the applicant made reasonable efforts at rehabilitation?
• Was the applicant employed before and after the conviction? Is the employment history consistent with the position description and requirements?

If after this careful analysis, you find that the applicant does not qualify for the position you must document why you did not choose the applicant. Requirements for notifying an applicant about your reasons for denying them based on a criminal record vary by state.

Ok, many people on the Internet search for "free background checks". Most places that offer free background checks make you pay at some point. I am going to explain how you can do a check for free (for the most part) on yourself or someone else.

Let’s clear the air here, if you are going to be running a background check then please follow all state and federal laws pertaining to them. For example if you are conducting the check for employment purposes then please follow the guidelines of the FCRA. Do not take this lightly as you can get into a whole heap of trouble.

Let’s start with the criminal record check. The best way to do this, as I have said before, is to go through the county courts where the person has lived. If you have the persons last address then check that county and the surrounding counties in that area I will give an example. Let’s say I want to conduct a criminal record check on my daughters new boyfriend and I know that he is from Cleveland, Ohio. I went to http://www.ask.com/ and typed in Ohio County Maps. I happen to know that Cleveland, Ohio is located in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. Ask.com gave me a good county map of Ohio and from there I can determine the closest counties around Cuyahoga. Check out a copy of the map here http://www.dot.state.oh.us/map1/cntymap.asp .

The reason I want the closest counties to Cuyahoga is because I am going to be checking them for criminal records on our subject as well. Why, you ask? Well because most people that commit crimes tend to do so within their comfort zone, meaning within a certain distance of their house.

So from our example we can see that Lake, Geauga, Summit, Medina and Lorain Counties all surround our target county.

Next we need to figure out what court house we are either going to call or check online. Most courthouses are online these days and you can find a good list of them here http://www.crimcheck.com/freerecords.htm .

Ok, I now have My subjects name, the county he lives in and the surrounding counties of the county he lives in and a list to find the court houses in those counties. Now we need to find out if he has a criminal record. In this instance I used the name Michael Smith. Click the image at the top of this post for the example. As you can see the results all have addresses by them, that is one way to determine that you have the right subject.

Now you can go to all of the other counties on your list and do the same thing. Warning: As you can see from our example there is more than one Michael Smith. Make sure that you have the right subject before you start making accusations or using the results as evidence.

You can even go one step further and check for misdemeanors within the city courts of the counties that your are checking. I would normally just check the city where the subject lives and the county seats of the surrounding counties. If you have comments or questions please feel free to post them here.

I will be covering motor vehicle records and driving records in my next article so stay tuned!

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