Background Check News

Clients often ask “what kind of searches can you do�. The truth is that there are dozens of different searches that are available to an investigator as part of an employee background check. Some of the searches that are most commonly selected by our clients include:

Driving Records
Credit Checks
Criminal Records (County Level and State Level)
Social Security Verification
Residential History
Education Records
Civil Court Records
Workers’ Compensation
Bankruptcy Records
Character References
State Licensing Records
Previous Employment Verification
Sex Offender Records

For each corporation, HR Department or small business, the need for information is different. Each client is able to choose the searches that they see fit for their applicants. The question still remains; “what is a good set of searches�. My usual recommendation for a company without industry standards or an idea of what is really important is to conduct state and county level criminal record searches along with a national sex offender search and a name, address and social security number verification search. In conducting these searches, our clients feel confident that their applicant does not have any criminal records in the state or county in which they reside in. Additionally, because we verified that applicant’s social security number, name, date of birth and residential history, we are confident that we conducted searches on the correct person and that the applicant is who they say they are.

Background investigation companies have known about Facebook, MySpace and the dozens of other social networking sites for years. We often use these sites to look into an applicant’s personal life and make an estimation of what type of character that applicant has. Employers appear to be getting in on the action as well. Numerous news reports have documented the struggle between an individual’s privacy rights and the public availability of online information. Employers and background investigation companies argue that if an applicant puts themselves online for all to see, that there is no reason they should not be able to view that information and potentially use it to make hiring decisions.

Whether you agree or disagree with the use of social networking sites as a hiring tool, you should be aware that information available online can and will be viewed by people outside of your group of friends. Included in the list of major social networking sites that are often used are Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Xanga, Frendster, LiveJournal and Flickr.

If you are an investigator, background screening company or employer, these sites are invaluable in determining if you are about to hire a class act or a class clown.

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….

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced today that it had reached a $40,000 fine settlement with the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation for immigration hiring violations arising from an I-9 audit conducted in 2007. ICE initiated the I-9 inspection after receiving information from the local County Sheriff’s Office which indicated that Krispy Kreme was employing dozens of undocumented workers at one of their doughnut factories in Cincinnati. According to the ICE announcement, the company has agreed to revise its immigration compliance program and begin implementing new procedures to prevent future violations.

As previously reported, ICE announced a major shift in work site enforcement this year by focusing on employers who fail to properly complete the Form I-9. Last week, ICE issued I-9 audit notices to 652 employers across the country with a large percentage going to companies in the Los Angeles, California and Houston, Texas markets.

On July 1, 2009, several state E-Verify mandates will go into effect, affecting employers in Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Utah. Most of these laws were enacted some time ago, and are being implemented in stages as indicated below. Here is a quick summary of these new state requirements as of July 1, 2009:

Georgia: all state contractors and subcontractors must use E-Verify if the contract is for the physical performance of services within the state of Georgia. Previously, only state contractors with 100 or more employees were impacted.

Mississippi: all employers with 100 employees or more must participate in E-Verify. This law will expand to include employers with 30 or more employees in July 2010 and all employers in July 2011.

South Carolina: all employers with 100 employees or more must either participate in E-Verify or only hire employees who possess or qualify for a South Carolina driver’s license (or other state license with similarly strict requirements). This law will expand to include all employers in July 2010.

Utah: state contractors and subcontractors must use E-Verify or the Social Security Number Verification Service (SSNVS) if the contract is for the physical performance of services within the state of Utah.

Advanced Surveillance Group, a leading private investigative agency, has launched BackGroundCheckCentral.com. This new website allows HR professionals, business owners and others charged with hiring employee a one stop shop for fast, affordable employee screening services produced by private investigators.

In a field cluttered by employee screening services provided by large companies who rely on software to provide results, one of America’s premier private investigative agencies now provides employee screening conducted by detectives, not databases.

BackGroundCheckCentral is different. Most employee screening service providers are software firms that have developed programs that search through public records with little to no human oversight. BackGroundCheckCentral provides all of the advantages of the best in search technology with the essential component of having licensed private investigators conduct these searches, providing professional insight and review to each file. The result: far superior results in terms of detail and accuracy.

“It is both amazing and reckless for any company that provides employee screening services to rely on software and legal disclaimers rather than professional oversight when providing information about an applicant’s reported past. If the information is wrong, at the least, the applicant will be denied the job unfairly. At the worst, the client firm gets sued, pays a big award and ends up embarrassed in the press� said Paul Dank, Principal with Advanced Surveillance Group. He added “We have responsibility to protect our clients interests and those of the subject of the background check. Relying on a piece of software to do things right may yield the most profit, but it leaves the client exposed to some substantial risk and is simply the wrong way to do business. As licensed private detectives, we know how to search for information electronically and by hand, how to identify potential errors and when to take a second look or go straight to the source of information to confirm it. That’s the best of both worlds.�

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