Stephanie Harper of Career Mag TV offers valuable information to job seekers from how to pull your own criminal record to checking your personal credit. Good information if you want to do a background check on yourself before going to get that job.
Stephanie Harper Conduct Your Own Background Check on YouTube

This article brings in to question the value of credit checks for employment screening. The applicant in this story states she was denied employment based on a bankruptcy. Many people worry that they will be treated differently should they file for bankruptcy. The truth of the matter is that if you file for bankruptcy  it is illegal for you to be fired or denied employment on the grounds that you have done so.  Section 525(b) of the bankruptcy code clearly states that this sort of discrimination is illegal.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.creditcheck15mar15,0,7190741.story

This case seems to beg the question? Is criminal history alone enough to predict future behavior. Most background checks only cover a seven year scope for employment and criminal history. The Federal FCRA allows for checks beyond seven years however there are approximately 14 states that do not so most employment screening companies will default to a seven year scope. Other metrics should be considered, personal references for instance are often overlooked as they are assumed to be of nominal value. But a properly conducted personal reference can uncover important information such as a gap in employment.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/10/ohio.state.shootings/

I just released a free report on the importance of understanding the potential pitfalls of social media background checks. If you’ve already read it, let me know what you think below – otherwise check it out here:

The Potential Pitfalls of Social Media Background Checks

Ted and Jim Mantel have fun talking about Crimcheck.com and Christmas.

I have spent 30 years in the field of Law Enforcement , Retail, Industrial and Personnel Security as well as HR and Business. In That time I have seen employee theft go from a 10 Billion dollar a year problem to a 100 Billion Dollar drain on American businesses causing up to 1/3 of U.S. business bankruptcy. Here is a great article which illustrates the cost of dishonesty to ones career!Workplace Honesty: It\'s the Only Policy

More employers should be protected when telling the truth! I came across this news story which underscores the need for some basic protections for employers. Many states have shield laws which ostensibly give employers protections when revealing potentially derogatory information about former or current employees during an employment reference check. This protection applies so long as the inormation given is Job related, based upon credible evidence and Made without malice. Including an excerpt of your states law on the verification request can be helpful.

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When the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission started noticing an increase in discrimination suits based on background checks, the agency decided to warn HR Morning Your daily dose of HR

via Recruiting: EEOC warns about background checks.

Employers frequently call our offices to request FBI fingerprinting as a pre-employment screening service for their company, but are dismayed when told that this service is only available to employers required by state and federal legislation to have fingerprint based background checks.

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I don’t know how many people watch CSI and other crime dramas, but it must be a lot!  I cannot tell you how many people think that when we do a background check that there is a “magic” computer that is accessed to find out everything on everyone!  Heck they even have a picture of you in your third grade play.  I played the woodsman in a Spanish version of Little Red Riding Hood…I was quite a hit.  In any event, no such computer exists; at least not completely.  Some states and law enforcement agencies have managed to collect information from a number of sources but these are usually only regionally or locally accessible.  The fact is, investigating someone’s background is not as easy as you think. Read the rest of this entry »