Credit Checks

• Companies review credit reports listed at the three major credit bureaus: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Accounts that are more than 30 days overdue, bankruptcies and tax liens are items reviewed on the reports during company background checks. Employers also check to see if arrests, lawsuits, and auto and/or home repossessions are listed on prospective employees' credit reports. Bankruptcies and repossessions remain on credit reports for seven years. Employees must sign a form that gives their consent for employers to review their credit report as part of company background checks. The prospective employee's name, street address, date of birth and Social Security number are required to get the credit report. Typically it takes 15 days for employers to receive the credit reports.
  
  

Criminal Background Checks

• Company human resource professionals, generally recruiters or service center staff members, run criminal background checks on potential hires. Tri-county criminal background checks cover the county the prospective employee resides in and two other nearby counties. Felonies and misdemeanor convictions filed against professionals in counties not listed on the report will not show up in the background check. Hence, some employers run state or national criminal background checks on potential hires. State police departments conduct tri-county and statewide criminal background investigations. The Federal Bureau of Investigations and the National Security Agency conduct national criminal background checks. National checks reveal crimes that people commit across state lines. National criminal background checks can take up to 30 days for employers to receive. The National Sex Offender Registry is another resource that companies use to conduct background investigations. The registry lists the name, address and the type of sexual offense, including molestation, a person commits. Dates offenses occurred are also listed in the registry.
  
  

Prior Employment

• Employers contact a potential hire's former supervisors and managers to measure how reliable, skilled and proficient the worker is. They also contact former supervisors and managers to verify that the potential hire was honest when they told them they worked on certain projects, saved the firm a certain amount of money or supervised staff. Through these conversations, prospective employers also discover whether a potential hire is easy to get along with, combative, a leader or creative.
  
  

Educational Checks

• High schools, colleges and universities listed on a potential hire's resume or/and employment application are contacted by employers to get the potential hire's grade point average. Schools are also contacted so employers can confirm that the professional actually attended the schools listed on the resume.