Guide to Pricing and Costs of Employee Background Checks

Weighing your cost options for employee background check services

By Trisha Schulz

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Run employee background checks for free

You wouldn't want your business to depend on it, but there are free background checks that you can use if you need to. A free check is by no means extensive enough for most normal business pre-screenings, but you can learn some basic information about the applicant and verify some details on their application.

I recommend: Web-Investigation.com offers a free background check by signing up for a free account. Check out Abika for a number of free person searches including age verification and criminal background checks.

Perform an online background check or get appropriate software

The next step up in cost would be to handle the background checks in-house. You can do this a number of ways including purchasing necessary software or utilizing Internet resources such as databases. The databases you will access are generally fee based but would be cheaper than hiring an outside agency.

I recommend: Order, download and self-install your own background check software from iNet-Investigation.com. Or order a do-it-yourself online background check from HowToInvestigate.com.

Work with background check companies with pricing options

If you choose to hire an agency who specializes in background checks, select one that allows you to pay only for the checks you want performed.

I recommend: Whether you're looking for court records, a credit report or driver's history, TruDiligence allows you to check pricing on each individual service. American DataBank offers each check separately, listing price, turnaround time and whether or not a release form is needed to perform the particular verification service.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Whatever option you choose for a background check for employees make sure you're getting what you pay for. Sign on with a reputable company to get accurate as well as fast results.

Guide to Checking Backgrounds Before Hiring

Make sure potential employees don't pose a risk to your company

By Maggie Rauch

1. Stay within constraints as dictated by candidates' right to privacy.
2. Notify potential employees, when appropriate, of checks you are conducting.
3. Get as much information as you need before you bring someone onto your team.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Know the basics

If you aren't sure where to start with a background check on a potential hire, take the time to learn what's commonly included and what's off limits.

I recommend: Business Owner's Toolkit provides the basics on how to do a background check. The consumer-oriented Privacy Rights Clearinghouse offers an informative guide for small business owners on employment background checks. Although this guide is geared to California business owners, much of it applies to businesses in other states.

DIY or hire a pro

Determine if you're going to perform background checks in-house or if a screening service makes more sense for you. If you're only going to check on one or two very basic items – a person's credit history, for example – you may want to go it alone. For more comprehensive background checks, consider hiring a professional screener.

I recommend: For simple credit reports, the three biggest agencies are TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax. Professional services, such as ChoicePoint, offer more broad background checks. To search for a screener, try the online database of more than 400 companies maintained by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners.

Verify basic employment eligibility

As an employer, you're required to confirm your employees' eligibility to work in the United States.

I recommend: You can find a list of your responsibilities and the tools to meet them from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Keep it legal

Employers are legally required to obtain signed consent when conducting a background check through a third-party agency. However, if you're simply calling the references you asked an interviewee to provide, and you're independently searching for publicly available information, no notification is necessary.

I recommend: The Fair Credit Reporting Act governs the acquisition of consumer information; the full text of the FCRA is available here. Sections 604, 606, 613 and 615 address reports acquired for employment purposes. The Federal Trade Commission summarizes key points for employers.

Obtain criminal records

You can access criminal records from individual courts in jurisdictions where the potential hire has lived. Some courts post them online; others will ask that you pick them up at the courthouse.

I recommend: You should be able to find most municipal courts through this list of state judiciary sites, available from state and local government. If you're screening someone for certain positions (working with the elderly or handicapped, for example), you may qualify for access to the FBI's database maintained by the National Crime Information Center.

Do a blog sweep

In their spare time, potential hires of any age might maintain a blog or a page on a social site like Facebook.com or MySpace.com. These sites can say a lot about how they conduct themselves personally and professionally.

I recommend: Search blogs using Blog Search on Google. For MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, or Xanga, you'll need to set up a free account to search names of other users.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Background checks don't include screening for illegal drug use. However, some professional background screening services also provide drug screening services.
• •  Medical information can only be reported by a consumer agency if it's relevant to the job.
• •  You may be required to give a copy of the report to the job applicant prior to rendering a decision so he or she can contest any information.
• •  Criminal records going back more than a certain number of years may be off-limits for employment checks, determined on a state-by-state basis.

Guide to Using Employee Background Checks

Online background check resources for pre-employment screens

By Trisha Schulz

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Utilize background check companies to access employee criminal records

Although some offenses can be overlooked, you may want to shy away from hiring someone with an extensive criminal history as the past can sometimes dictate the future. Violence in the workplace and theft are real threats that you may have to deal with, regardless of who you hire, so take the extra step to perform a criminal background check to potentially prevent those situations.

I recommend: Log on to AAAinfoSystems.com or check out Accu-Screen to see how criminal background checks are conducted and what information can be obtained from certain sources.

Find a background check company that provides Social Security number verification

Public policy may dictate rules on documenting legal status of your workers. Protect yourself and your business with a check into an applicant's Social Security number. The lack of a SSN number or inaccurate information linked with the number should raise a red flag.

I recommend: A-check America and AccuCheck Investigations can verify Social Security number validity as well as give any names or locations associated with the number.

Conduct employee background checks for education verification

Resume fraud is becoming more of a problem as the economy forces individuals to do whatever it takes to land a job. Your business credibility depends on the hiring of qualified workers so you want to be sure to check out the applicant's education and previous experience. Keep in mind that the applicant may be liable if found to have submitted a fraudulent application.

I recommend: American Background Information Services supplies education verifications, along with employment, personal and professional references and professional licensing verifications. California-based A Matter of Fact performs education verifications, and explains strengths and weaknesses of the verifications and the sources used.

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If the job requires driving a company vehicle or driving on company time, it may be in your best interest to do a driver's license record search to find any traffic offenses or major crashes in the applicant's driving history.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Negligent hiring

Employers are guilty of negligent hiring when they knowingly hire an unqualified worker who, in the course of his or her employment, ends up injuring a third party.

I recommend: Business Owner's Tool Kit explains how performing employee background checks helps you avoid negligent hiring allegations. It also sets forth the five elements that must be proved in order for a third party to sustain a claim of negligent hiring against a company or individual contractor.

Consumer reports

Consumer reports provide information on a prospective employee's credit standing, general character and way of living.

I recommend: At Privacy Rights Clearing House you'll find out which laws employee background checks are subject to. Find out how a consumer report differs from an investigative consumer report.

NCIC

NCIC stands for the National Crime Information Center, the government database providing information to criminal justice personnel investigating crimes.

I recommend: The Federation American Scientists not only discusses the NCIC data base in detail, it provides information on access and use constraints for agencies performing employee background checks through criminal records.

County criminal records check

When you undertake a county criminal records check, you are searching through records maintained at a county court house, perhaps the most common type of employee background check.

I recommend: A Matter of Fact discusses the kinds of information you're likely to find when performing a county criminal records check, as well as practical advice on how to perform these searches and also the sources of the information contained in these records.

Employment background screening

It's quite common for HR managers today to perform an employment background screening, a thorough search into a job applicant's education, work experience and even personal history.

I recommend: If you're not sure whether employment background screening is necessary, read the discussion at Accuscreen. You'll find out about reasons for performing these searches that you may never have considered. Accuscreen also explains the legal considerations behind employment background screening.

Verifications

When HR managers talk about an applicant's verifications, they are referring to specific efforts they take to confirm all of the information an individual has put on a job application.

I recommend: At American Background, you'll find out what the five most typical verifications HR managers perform are and why they are important in the hiring process.