You’ve been job hunting for the past couple of weeks, and you finally got a call back from the place where you really wanted a position. They want you to come in for an interview, and you’re very excited! You arrive with time to spare and soon find yourself face to face with the job recruiter. He seems to like what he sees, and you start to feel pretty confident that the job is yours. He hands you a sheaf of papers to look over and sign, and you eagerly began to comply. You stop short when you read that your signature is needed to grant permission for the employer to run a background check on you, and jerk to attention as you hear the recruiter say that you have the job, contingent upon the results of your background check. “Why do I need a background check?” you think worriedly. You just aren’t very comfortable with the idea of someone prying into your personal life, even though you have nothing to hide.
Background checks have become necessary for many reasons. An employer has the right to know if someone he is considering for hire is telling the truth on a job application about his education and previous employment, has a criminal record of any type, or is really a United States citizen. Depending upon the type of job you are applying for, your potential employer can have a background check done on you that can reveal a host of other information. What sort of details does a background check uncover? Besides the usual education, job, and character references, a good employment background check can give the particulars of your driving record, criminal record, and credit record.
And, that’s just for starters. Other information about you that can be revealed includes your medical records, including any drug tests, bankruptcy records, evidence of property ownership, whether or not you are listed on any state sex offender records, and records of any time you may have spent in jail. Job recruiters are also beginning to seek out job hopefuls on the Internet. All that information about yourself that you have listed in your MySpace or FaceBook profile could be very interesting to a potential employer!
You probably feel that this is a serious invasion of your privacy. But, that’s why you are asked to sign a form giving the company you are interested in permission to obtain information about you. As far as the information you may have placed on the Internet about yourself, about the only way to keep anyone, potential employer or not, from looking you up is to make your MySpace or any other social network profile private, accessible only by those you have chosen as your friends.
There are some questions which by law, any potential employer is not allowed to ask you, and they are usually pretty good about sticking to this rule, for they know they could be fined if someone were to report them for doing so. Your age, marital status, whether or not you are pregnant or plan to have children, and your sex and racial background are all questions which technically are not allowed, although almost every job application does ask for your age and sex. You are given the opportunity to volunteer the information about your age and sex. If you refuse to answer, though, generally your application will not be considered.
Of course, you could always refuse to sign the form giving the company permission to do the entire background check. If you do that, though, you might as well kiss that potential job goodbye. Companies like team players who cooperate with the rules. And, believe it or not, these background checks do help to protect you and your fellow employees by keeping criminals and sex offenders out of the workforce. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Unless you will be working with children, or in a job that entails handling money, your background check will more than likely be brief – just a rudimentary check of the facts you have listed on your application. A credit check has become more commonplace than it once was. If you have poor credit, there is a chance you may not be considered for the job. This is one of those instances where the behavior of a few has impacted a host of innocent people. Someone who wants to get a job and better their life after perhaps a long illness and many medical bills will be denied that job because of a few late payments to the hospital.
Employee background checks are here to stay. Generally, they are nothing to get alarmed about, and are helpful in ensuring that the job force of this country remains strong and secure.
Contact: www.bcpro.net or mail@bcpro.net