What To Look For In Employment Background Checks, A Matter of Fact
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What Do Employers
Look For in a
Background Check?


Discrepancies

Most employers are concerned about discrepancies between what an applicant claims and what is reported by schools, prior employers, etc. We find more discrepancies in Employment and Education Verifications than Criminal Histories. See, Background Check Statistics.

Negative Reports

Most employers also watch for negative reports such as a bad Driving Record or a Criminal History that would impact the applicant's job qualifications.

We Recommend

It is wise to attempt to verify anything that is important to job performance or that could impact the safety of the public, fellow employees, and customers. For the best results, we recommend a complete and comprehensive background check. For more information, see Comprehensive Background Check: The Best Background Check.

Only information that is related to the specific job requirements and is from a relevant time period should be used in judging an applicant’s qualifications for a position. The EEOC provides guidelines to employers on how to use criminal conviction information under Title VII (see Government Links: EEOC Policy Statement: Conviction Records under Title VII). Note: If an applicant lies about old information, that lie is a CURRENT problem. Various federal and state laws and regulations limit the use of some information an employer may obtain in a background check based on how old the information is.

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