“This offer is contingent upon completion of a successful background check…”
Do you use this statement on your offer of employment letter?
What should the applicant expect will be reviewed?
CRIMINAL RECORDS: Employers should set out a written guideline for what they will be searching. Time frame, severity and how it interacts with the position being offered. What standards are in place at the work-site. Government contract minimum requirements.
CREDIT CHECKS: Is this an appropriate search for the position (financial, management). What the company guideline establishes ( late payments don’t count, length of the delinquency, any extenuating circumstances).
EDUCATION, CERTIFICATION, LICENSURE: Do not lie. Make sure that what you are reporting is accurate. This is the most frequently part of the application where fraud is committed.
DRIVING RECORDS: They are public record and the results may affect hiring ever if the position does not require a valid license.
MILITARY RECORDS: Are limited to rank, salary, duties and awards.
DRUG TESTING: Is legal. IF the applicant is taking prescription drugs that will show up on the screening they should be prepared to proof of the legal use of said drugs (ADHD is an example).
REFERENCE CHECKING: Company policies may prohibit managers from speaking out but some do anyway. The advise to applicants is to be honest and remember the “electronic trail” where postings now are cause for concern. Clean up the tweets, videos, photos that are easy hits on the internet before you apply for jobs.
MEDICAL RECORDS: Are generally off limits. Only positions where everyone must submit to a physical exam can this be required. (It is part of the CDL certification)
(Note: adapted from CBS NEWS: Atty Johanna Harris)
