Background Screening FAQs

Businesses want to hire great people, and the first step is to screen their employees. They work with background screening companies like Screen Corps to run checks on individuals, including searches of national, state, and local court databases. They can include checks to confirm an applicant’s education, work history, licensure, and more.

Most employers choose a screen that includes a verification of the applicant’s identity, a national criminal search, an international search, a check of sexual predator records, and a seven-year county criminal search. These searches are compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The process begins when an employer requests that a background screening company check national, state, local, and other databases for records on a job applicant. The search is conducted in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which ensures the protection of applicants.

Different employers have different hiring standards. In some cases, because the employer serves vulnerable people or is required by law, it may not tolerate any criminal acts. In others, the employer may have more flexible standards. One of the biggest red flags is when an applicant lies on a job application, and the background check shows that the candidate didn’t disclose past criminal acts or misrepresented their education or work history.

Many states limit the number of years a background check can review to seven.

Most people haven’t committed any crimes and are truthful about their work and education history, so many background checks have come back clean. Businesses do them, however, because not all background checks come back clean, and they want to keep their employees, customers, and businesses safe.

Businesses want to know that background checks comply with the FCRA and state and local laws. They want accurate results, and they want them quickly.

If you pass, the business will finalize your job offer. If you may not be hired because of issues identified in your background screen, you’ll be notified and have certain protections under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Go to this link to learn more.

Each company has its standards for what constitutes passing. Often, companies will define those requirements in a job description or discuss them with you during an interview.

Screen Corps integrates with thousands of databases across the country and around the world. Our rule-based workflow engine helps us return results quickly and accurately, and our team carefully reviews the results of our searches to ensure precision and compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

All businesses view background screening as an important safeguard in the hiring process. It’s essential to ensure that employees meet the company’s standards. At Screen Corps, we offer compliant solutions for various industries, including construction, hospitality, healthcare, startups, staffing, nonprofits, automotive, and government entities.

We’d all like to think that we’re great at spotting good people and bad ones. Most of the time, we probably are, but when we aren’t, the consequences to our businesses can be severe. If we aren’t careful, we can put our customers, employees, and finances at risk. A quality background screening company can search thousands of databases to identify any issues with a candidate and ensure compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.