Lawsuits and loss of business or income are two major reasons why an employment background check might be run on a potential job candidate. The days of taking a resume at face value are long gone. People either exaggerate heavily or outright lie on resumes and job applications. Trust is not a given these days, it has to be earned. An employment background check will allow the hiring manager of a company to know several things: first, is the resume information accurate and secondly, what type of person the job candidate is and how well could they perform the job.



Usually the first thing in an employment background check is verification of references. Job candidates usually must provide several business references, including someone from their previous employment. What your references say will give hiring managers a good indication of what your work ethic is and accomplishments. With personal references, this could be friends or a pastor at church. Personal references often give insight into a job candidate's character.

In order to run a more in-depth employment background check, prospective employers must provide the job applicant with a form separate from the application itself. That form must be signed to give the company authorization to run the employment background check. So what type of information is usually garnered in one of these checks? It usually depends on the type of job that is available. For instance, if the vacant position deals with children, senior citizens or developmentally challenged people, searches through sex offender databases would be normal as well as a search for criminal records.

If you base what you do on inaccurate information, you might be unpleasantly surprised by the consequences. Make sure you get the whole employment background check story from informed sources.

The social security number of the job applicant would also be investigated in an employment background check. Are you who you say you are? That is what employers want to know. And if someone is applying for a job where large amounts of money are dealt with like banks or casinos, a credit history could be an appropriate part of the employment background check.

What if the job opening deals with driving? School buses, bus lines, large trucks, eighteen-wheelers, courier vans, delivery trucks, farm machinery, construction equipment ... anyone operating vehicles and machinery are subject to having their driving records pulled from the Department of Motor Vehicles as part of their employment background check. After all, traffic tickets, moving violations and driving while intoxicated or under the influence are causes for concern for potential employers.

There is some information that is not released in the course of an employment background check. Under the federal law called the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), any type of medical information obtained would have to have the express written permission from the job applicant. Military records also cannot be disclosed. With verification of education in an employment background check, the only information that can be disclosed without authorization would be a name, address, attendance dates and the extracurricular activities and degree earned. This information can usually found in college or university directories anyway; therefore it is not confidential information. However, grades, transcripts, disciplinary problems and financial aid information are private and not available for public consumption.

With an employment background check, companies can get a better understanding of the job candidate. It is a good investment of money and with the report compiled about the candidate; companies can potentially save a lot of money down the road by avoiding lawsuits, embezzling of funds and other crimes.

There's no doubt that the topic of employment background check can be fascinating. If you still have unanswered questions about employment background check, you may find what you're looking for in the next article.