Background Check News

There are several websites out there offering fake references, diplomas, employment information and personal character interviews. The names of these sites alone are enough to leave you wondering if the person you are about to hire is being truthful or if they are “faking their way onto the job”.

Alibihq.com, absolutealibis.com, careerexcuse.com, careerhoax.com and careercheat.com are just a few that I have come across. These sits offer just about any lie you can imagine ranging from references from made up companies to false credentials.  If it sounds fishy, investigate the company/reference through pubic records and information available on the web.  These ficitious companies and educational facilities are just shells names.  Likely if you cannot find any records of these places online, they don’t exist and your applicant is trying to “fake thier way onto the job”.

What this means is that these inmates, newly released from prison, are going to be looking for employment in a market bloated with unanswered resumes. Companies that do not conduct background investigations are going to be targeted by these parolees because of their lax hiring processes. Obviously not all of these inmates are immediately looking to continue their deviance, but regardless, they will be applying for jobs that may give them access to your company assets or have direct contact with your clients.

In California alone it is estimated that 57,000 inmates could be released, all of whom will be required to find able employment. It is somewhat frightening to know that these people will be competing for jobs with the general population and in an environment without employee screening, they stand a chance of becoming employed over someone without a criminal record.

http://www.reuters.com/article/wtMostRead/idUSTRE5190CB20090210

Statewide criminal history searches are not the end all be all of employee screening. Many states don’t even offer this search and the ones that do don’t have 100% of all arrest data! I get calls all the time asking for this service alone. Don’t get me wrong, statewide criminal history searches are a great tool for employee screening, but they should never stand alone. County level court searches, especially in rural areas are an absolute must. District courts are also a good resource because many misdemeanor arrests that don’t show up in the statewide search will show up here.

The issue of using county level searches is further realized when working in a state that does not offer a statewide criminal history search at all. The most common of these that I have seen is Ohio. Despite not having the ability to search “statewide criminal records�, Ohio has an extensive amount of online court resources. The date from these searches is usually more detailed than most statewide searches that are out there. The only problem left is knowing where to conduct your searches….