Finding a Good Background Check Provider

With everything conceivable being offered for sale on the Internet, it’s inevitable that there are varying degrees of quality for every product offered. This is certainly true of background check sites. Many promise to tell you everything about a person from the time of his birth, up to and including what he had for lunch every day, all for $20. Others purport to provide a complete background check of all criminal history databases for some equally low figure. Yet others charge a hefty sum but provide incomplete and/or inaccurate information.

In many ways, an incomplete or inaccurate background check report is far worse than never having one done at all. Consider the consequences for the small businessman who uses a cut-rate background check service that delivers an inaccurate or incomplete report:

1. The applicant has a major disqualification that is not shown on the report, and as a result, is hired   for a job he should never have been offered.

1. 2. The applicant is disqualified for one reason or another, but the information is incorrect, and a qualified applicant is rejected (and perhaps one less suitable is hired instead).
3. 3. The applicant is disqualified as a result of inaccurate information, and sues the employer for discrimination.
5. 4. The information is incomplete, and information which might have mitigated or balanced negative information is not noted; thus, the applicant is rejected.
7. 5. The information is incomplete, and information which might have disqualified the applicant is not noted; thus, the applicant who should have been rejected is not—thus complicating the hiring process as an unqualified candidate is not winnowed out.

6. The applicant lacks the credentials, licensing, etc. for the job in question and if hired, thus exposes the employer to significant civil and possibly even criminal liability.

The solution is to use a reputable background check provider that does thorough background checks. This will help the small business owner to feel confident that his hiring decisions are made using complete information. As employees are an absolutely vital part of most small businesses, the trend toward background checks has been growing; unfortunately, that has also led to the proliferation of many so-called background check providers offering shoddy service and an inferior product.