As I roam the Internet for interesting blog topics, I am constantly amazed at how much confusion still exists about the whole subject of background checking.
One article cautions against using “stock vendor background check forms” because many fail to comply with the requirements of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Another article reminds readers that an FBI check may not be the best or the most accurate form of background check because it’s not always up-to-date. I just wrote about that problem in a separate blog!
Yet another CNN article trumpets the following headline: “Background checks: What exactly can employers find out about you?” The article goes into great detail, stating the obvious as though nobody has ever addressed the question before. Here’s a sentence worth quoting, “To cover their bases, many companies are hiring third-party screening firms to do a background check that goes well beyond checking your references and verifying your employment history.” We’ve been doing exactly that for employers for the last 35 years, so the article isn’t exactly a dazzling revelation – even though it was posted on January 5, 2015.
A related article talks about the problems of initiating a program to do background checks on all cab drivers after the rape of a female passenger in Mumbai, where large numbers of drivers in the city registered with incomplete addresses and even incomplete names!