How to Select the Right Searches for Your Background Check
By Patrick K. Collard – Managing Member & Corporate Investigator
1-888-GOBACK-1 ext. 83 | patrickc@GObackgrounds.com
Selecting the right searches for your background checks all starts with your job description. You need a clear and concise job description to point you in the right direction. Without one you will end up wasting time, money and perhaps violating the applicant’s civil rights by ordering the wrong searches. If you don’t have a job description, you really need to consult your HR department or a HR consultant for the proper verbiage. Julie Wootton of San Diego HR Consultants, Inc. is a guest blogger for GObackgrounds.com and would be able to assist you in this matter. She can be reached at julie@sdhrconsulting.com.
Once the job description is in place you need to consider a budget and what it means to perform a “reasonable” amount of due diligence. The average U.S. background check at GObackgrounds.com is about $75. This is really a small price to pay considering negligent hiring lawsuits being awarded are well into the six figures.
I remember a prospective client from Texas wanted to run background checks on his volunteers for a basketball camp at the local YMCA. In the end, he did the background checks himself for the 50 volunteers and was really proud that he got a Sex Offender search for $0.50. Doing your own background checks is not recommended, because you open yourself up personally to a lawsuit versus just your company taking the brunt of the legal action. Secondly, if I was a parent and found out that they only spent $0.50 to check out a volunteer that was teaching my kid basketball I would not be too happy. A $0.50 background check is not considered “reasonable” due diligence by the courts, especially since they were done in-house.
You have your job description; you have your budget set, now comes the selection process. Simply chose those searches that are germane to the job description keeping aware of the cost incurred with every search type. There are innumerable combinations, but there are some stalwarts that always compliment a background check. A SSN Trace is always a good search to order because it can develop a past address history and aide in your criminal searches. By ordering a County Criminal, Instant Single State Criminal and a Federal Criminal concentrating on the jurisdictions developed by the SSN Trace and information identified by the employment application/resume will give you the start of a very powerful background check. Of course you can always substitute in an Instant Multi-State Criminal for the Instant Single State Criminal if the applicant has lived in multiple states. Now it’s really just a matter of being germane to job description. I can select a Driving Record if the applicant will be and an Out-Side Sales Representative and be driving in the course of business. A Credit Report, Education Verification and a Professional License Verification could be ordered for an applicant who is applying to be a Chief Financial Officer. Past Employment Verifications can be ordered anytime because they are always germane, but can be tricky to get good information. Select those search types that are substantially related to the job description; you’ll be compliant and within budget.
GObackgrounds.com has offices in Temecula, CA and Brookfield, WI and has been in business nearly 20 years as a licensed corporate investigations company specializing in employment background checks and due diligence for investment purposes. For further details please see www.GObackgrounds.com or contact Patrick K. Collard directly at 1-888-GOBACK-1 ext. 83 patrickc@GObackgrounds.com.
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