subject: Job Applicants Must Prepare for Criminal Background Checks [print this page] Job Applicants Must Prepare for Criminal Background Checks
Getting a job first begins with your resume, but if you want to stay in the application pool, you need to stay a few steps ahead of yourself. When it comes to applying for jobs, this means being away of what to say to a hiring manager in an interview, and what he or she will see in a background check. Although preparation for an interview involves researching the company and creating a list of questions, criminal background checks are not as straightforward. If a company decides to screen your background, do you know what they will find?
Not all criminal background checks are the same, but 90 percent of all hiring companies use them. In general, background checks examine your past, including education, work history, criminal records, past addresses, and previous names. More investigation may be done in some instances, and your credit history, driving records, and professional references may be examined. Are you sure all of these portions of your history are not questionable?
In order to prepare for a criminal background check, contact a background investigation company to run a screening of yourself and see what comes up. Additionally, check your credit history for any marks. Identity theft can affect background and credit checks, from unwanted credits cards and outstanding balanced to positions you have never held. If you see a discrepancy in any of these areas, dispute them and attempt to get them clear.
All criminal background checks begin with your basic personal information, which is gathered through your social security number. All names you have used and all addresses of residences from the past seven to 10 years will be displayed. These piece of information assist with the rest of the background check, particularly the criminal history portion. A standard criminal check examines all records from all towns and states where you have lived over a certain period of time. A company requesting a more thorough investigation, however, will request your fingerprints and search for records in a national database.
Education and work history, as well, are seen as a test of honesty with a background check. Companies that conduct criminal background checksresearch all places you have worked and all degrees earned, and your employer compares this information with your resume. If you stretched the truth or made up your past, these parts of a background check indicate a lack of honesty and will take you out of the applicant pool.
