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EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECKS
Employers are
becoming more and more cautious. That's why employee background checks
are becoming more and more routine. Regardless of whether you are checking
employee backgrounds for employment or for promotions, you want to get
a background-information provider that satisfies your security criteria.
There are many
companies online that offer background check services for your employees.
The costs for these checks varies from approximately $20 to $200. As
with most things we purchase, we get what you pay for.
A $20 background
check will likely be performed by a "bulk supplier" who has
access to various databases on pay-per-search databases. These will include
civil and criminal records and possibly some employment records as well.
The point to
remember when hiring an individual or company to do an employee background
check is that these databases are never complete. It's an easy task for
the "researcher" to search several employee databases in seconds,
and then report the result to you. But if those records aren't up date
and comprehensive, then you won't get all the information you desire.
What can you do?
First, recognize
the fact that employee background information provided to you by database
providers will be incomplete without an extensive search that includes
what private investigators call an "on the ground" investigation
of court records. This more extensive search entails locating the states
and counties in which the person has lived and having someone actually
go to the courthouses and search individual records of people with the
same name. Obviously these can be expensive. But in many instances they
are well worth it. It's your call.
But in other
cases a basic search of the person's criminal and civil background will
be 90 to 95% complete, and sufficient to give you the indicator that
you need to make your employment. It all depends on how central the person's
job is to your company, and how sensitive that job is.
Second, ask each
information provider how fully they can guarantee their results. You'll
be surprised how quickly they back peddle, and assert that screening
employee backgrounds is more of an art than a science. They'll guarantee
the results they do provide are according to public record, but they
won't guarantee that those results are conclusive or even correct. In
other words there may be other information out there not discovered in
employment background check. It may be old court records, old bankruptcies,
judgment, and liens, and so on.
It is then that
you have to make the crucial decision: How far do you want to go to investigate
the person? Paying hundreds more for a more thorough "on the ground" search
may end up not revealing more about the person, but it will give you
greater peace of mind. Again the call is yours.
Look closely.
Choose wisely. Know the facts about your employees and about the providers
too. Your success and the success of your company depend on it.
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