We’re here to help you out! Exactly what’s included in an employment background check is up to the employer. However, depending on industry and job position there are different things that an employer might want to include. Employment background checks can range from a simple verification of your social security number to more complex searches that include your work history, credit, driving records, criminal records, bankruptcy information, education history, and reference checks.

Let’s go over some of the things that are most commonly found in employment background checks and then show you additional add-ons that can be included.

1. Social Security Validation

This is almost guaranteed to be included in every employment background check. A social security validation is run to ensure that an applicant’s social security number is legitimate. This check will also help find all names, aliases, dates of birth, and address histories associated with that social security number. This may also help employers find locations that an applicant has lived under other aliases that can reveal criminal records that wouldn’t have been found otherwise.

2. Criminal Records Check

Criminal records checks are also very commonly included in employment background checks (including our National Baseline Search). These checks will search both national and county records for any criminal history. What does that mean? Any felonies or misdemeanors that are on your record will show up here.

However, just because you have a felony or misdemeanor doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be discounted from a potential job. In fact, ban-the-box laws are in place in many different states and counties to help prevent discrimination based on criminal history. This law prevents employers from asking an applicant about their criminal history before making a hiring decision.

Criminal record checks can be very important! Depending on the records found and job position, certain positions of trust and security can strongly benefit from knowing and discussing an applicant’s criminal history.

3. Address History & Identity Checks

Address history and identity checks are included in our National Baseline Search and generally performed to ensure that all of an applicant’s information is correct. These searches help find any addresses, DOBs, or birth/death indexes that match with the applicant. One important aspect of these checks is they help verify findings from other searches or uncover hidden aliases/addresses that an applicant may try to hide.

4. U.S. Terrorist Watch List & International Most Wanted List

Searches of these two lists are included in our National Baseline Search and most basic employment background checks. These searches help weed out candidates who could potentially be threatening to your organization and are especially important for security and high-profile positions.

5. Sex Offender Registry Search

A sex offender registry search will check both national and specific state’s live sex offender registries against an applicant’s information. This search is included in our National Baseline Search and very common in most employment background checks. A Sex Offender Registry Search is especially crucial for positions of trust or those that deal with young children. Running this search is pertinent for employers to protect themselves from negligent liability suits.

(This search is also crucial for volunteer screening! Sports, nonprofit, and religious groups should be performing screening as well to protect their organizations and volunteers.)

6. Employment & Education Verifications

Employment and education verifications aren’t always included in employment background checks, but are very useful to employers. These verifications often include a phone call to verify previous employment and education history is correct and/or searches of databases that house this information.

7. Social Media Check

This is a search that has becoming increasingly common to find on employment background checks. Social media checks go through a potential candidate’s social media accounts to look for any potential red flags. These red flags could include finding hate symbols or images of violence, frequent posts complaining about their current or past jobs, or images of themselves partying really hard.

The main idea behind social media checks is that it helps employers find details that are often missed in a traditional hiring process. Social media checks can help employers get a better understanding of an applicant’s true persona. Please make sure that your social media checks are being performed by screening professionals that can perform FCRA-certified and legally compliant searches.

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Have more questions about employment background checks? Or are you looking to start background screening soon? Please don’t hesitate to reach out, we’d be happy to help!

The post What’s Included In An Employment Background Check? appeared first on Blueline.

Many people assume that they are immune to this potential threat because they are careful with their information or they assume that they will be made aware in some way if their identity is stolen, but this isn’t always the case.

In fact, a 2018 Identity Fraud Study conducted by Javelin Strategy and Research found that one million minors had fallen victim to identity theft over the past year with 66% of those million being under the age of seven. If hundreds of thousands of children under the age of seven doesn’t serve as a great example that anybody can fall victim to identity theft, then we don’t know what does. These thieves would then load up the minor’s identity with huge amounts of credit card debt which can cause serious issues for the child as they enter adult life.

The 2018 study warned, “fraudsters are getting more sophisticated in their attacks using stealthier and more complex schemes”. They don’t expect the identity fraud crisis to go away anytime soon either. In fact, they said they expected this epidemic to continue to grow with 1.3 million more victims in the U.S. this upcoming year. That’s hard to wrap our minds around considering there were already 16.7 million victims in 2017.

Those statistics average out to be around 1 in 15 Americans or a new victim every 2 seconds. If only the chances of winning the lottery were that high… This problem doesn’t look like it’s going away anytime soon. And with your likelihood of being a victim only increasing, we strongly recommend that you verify your identity is safe. Sixteen percent of victims don’t find out that their identity has been stolen for three years!! That’s a lot of time for these thieves to cause you some serious pain and problems.

We want to help you keep you, your children & your families’ identities safe! There are a couple things that we think you should be doing in order to protect your information and limit your chances of becoming a victim:

1. Limit how much information you share. Sharing information online can be dangerous. Limit how much you share or make sure your accounts are private!
2. Strengthen your passwords. Add numbers and symbols to your passwords and make sure they’re not something that can be easily guessed.
3. Monitor your financial statements and bank account often. Set up alerts with your bank to make sure you’re made aware of any unusual activity.
4. Be wary of unsolicited emails. Don’t click on links in any emails that you don’t trust or where you don’t recognize the sender.
5. Regularly perform a SSN trace or identity theft check. Performing this check regularly will help you verify that your identity hasn’t been used for anything without your knowledge.

Blueline Services offers a full identity theft check that pulls from over 300 different data sources (both public and private) for a one-time fee of only $7.95 with no added costs or subscription requirements.

If you’re interested in running a check to make sure your identity is safe, check out our secure theft check with the link below:

Check Your Identity Now

The post Are You A Victim Of Identity Theft? Check Your Identity Now appeared first on Blueline.