Is It Necessary to Run a Background Check?

There are no established screening requirements; the level of search depends upon your industry and the position you are seeking to fulfill. However, a good starting point would be a Social Security number trace to confirm that the applicant’s given information is accurate, as well as a SSN validation pull a full list of alias and address history. From here, you are able to run a range of additional searches.

How detailed of a search is dependent on the employer. The most common place to start is criminal history, which are available at the county, state, and federal level. A database search is a recommended cursory check, as it pulls up any files from a database of more 400 million records provided by counties across the country, as well as the Department of Corrections, Administration of the Court, national and international terrorism sources and sex offender registries of all 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam.

You may want to supplement this search with an on-site courthouse search, which is available via Now Checking You at both county and federal level. These searches uncover any records not submitted to the database and/or can uncover very recent activity. Our three tiered package options are suggested bundled services that provide increasing levels of searches.

For upper management positions, verification searches are a good way to validate that the applicant does indeed have the stated credentials to perform the job. An education verification confirms dates of attendance at the stated school and degrees received. This service also seeks out “diploma mills??? that sell diplomas with no schoolwork necessary.

Additional search types include credit reports and motor vehicle records. The credit report useful for assessing the responsibility level of the candidate, as it provides information regarding the applicant’s credit history such as bankruptcies, tax liens and accounts in collections. There are two types of motor vehicle records: the Commercial Drivers License (CDL) check and the non-CDL check. Both include name, state, expiation date, restrictions and any violation information. The CDL check includes additional information about clearances, issuances and CDL class. The non???CDL check includes factors such as the license status and general demographics. Employers may want to use this search even for its non-driver positions because state convictions for DUI and DWI can only be pulled through the motor vehicle check, thereby would not appear in a criminal background.

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