10 Tips For A Better Criminal Background Check

1. Get Complete Information From Your Applicant. A background check will be based in part on the information provided by the applicant. If necessary information is left out – such as which campus of a state university was attended, or the city where they last worked – delays may result.
2. Order An Address History Search/SSN Trace. This search is a key component in any background check. By identifying the applicant’s residential history, searches for Criminal Records, Driving Records, etc., can be conducted in the proper locations. As an added bonus, the easyBackgrounds system auto-populates these searches in your order. In addition to former addresses, the results will confirm if it is a valid number, provide associated names, and includes the year and state of issue.
3. Include Aliases and Former Names. If a maiden name, former married name or alias has been used in the past 7 years, these should be included in the order.
4. Include Work Locations. People spend a lot of time at work or in the area of their employer. A complete background check should included criminal record searches in this area as well.
5. Credit Checks for Employment. If your applicant will be making financial decisions for the company, or their credit history is applicable to the job, consider including this search. This form of Credit Report does not include a credit score or account numbers and the inquiry will not impact his or her credit file.
6. Obtaining Birth Dates. We recommend requesting date of birth and SSN information as part of the Release Form. This keeps it separate from the employment application.
7. Get Names of Supervisor and Co-Workers. Human Resource departments will frequently give out only the most basic of information – start and termination dates, title, etc. If you can get the name of a Supervisor or a few co-workers, they are frequently less restrictive in the information they divulge.
8. Run A Statewide Criminal Search. We don’t recommend Statewide Criminal Searches as a sole source of criminal record information for a background check, but they are a good way to augment your County Criminal Record Search. If it’s available, it’s a relatively inexpensive way to cover a broad area.
9. Use Our easyForms and Career Center. This is the perfect way to streamline your background screening process. The Career Center can be customized to match your Website, logo and colors – you just don’t have to host it anymore. Post jobs, accept resumes and use easyForms to have the candidate complete an employment application online.
10. Get With The Times. The Web is how business gets done … quickly. If you’re not using a Web-based background check provider, you’re probably waiting longer and spending more for your reports.

Give easyBackgrounds a try.