subject: What Employees Should Be Aware Of About Personnel Record Screenings [print this page] Generally whenever you fill out an application for a job vacancy at a company, you have to agree to what is known as an employee qualifications investigation. These history checks are generally an in-depth inspection of your background via on the web sources and with selected government or private bureaus. In the past couple of years, these inspections have become even more in depth.
Unfortunately, a potential job may be lost by an employer looking at wrong data that may be on your credit rating report. Former employers, co-workers, legal charges and even your health-related records could be cause for concern. Online social networks might give away rather critical aspects of your personality. By scrutinizing these sources, employers may consider you unsuitable for their organization or the job in which you are interested in.
You could be protected under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This act covers you if a future employer has been made aware of details on your background which leads to you to not get a job. However, there are loopholes in this policy.
Specific permission from you should be obtained before such history screenings can be done. The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse guides hiring companies as to what type of screenings are allowed. Credit history records, trial records and criminal offenses tend to be some records that may be checked. Academic qualifications, social security numbers, military records, legal sexual charges and character referrals are amongst the checks that are allowed to be completed.
These screenings can be completed by employers on their own, or other chosen entities such as a consumer report agency. Employers state that between 30-40% of work applications include bogus information. This is why employers need to seek out confirmation on this kind of information about potential workers. If the job consists of working with disabled people, children or senior citizens, there are legal and federal requirements as well.
A would-be worker needs to convince a hiring organization that he or she is up to the tasks of the job. The majority of records inspections are done through evaluating legal records, credit data and with previous employees. This allows the company to confirm some of the details on the application and resume. Previous experience, qualifications and in some cases legal records are the areas where job applicants put down wrong details about themselves.
According to the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, there are strict standards by which employment verifications are to be conducted. If companies do not perform the background screenings on their own, they are free from the demands of this act. The hired check provider is responsible to conform to these policies. Documents that are not authorized to be checked are civil lawsuits and records of arrests and civil judgments after a period of seven years. Most records older than seven years are included. Criminal convictions, however, are excluded from this. As a job seeker, you should stay informed about what your credit and public history record includes so that you are able to point out possible blemishes in advance to a prospective employer.
