How Are Employers Viewing Background Checks?

Employers are viewing your background. You may be wondering whether your prospective employers are looking into your background. The simple answer to that is: “yes, they are”. They do this for a variety of different reasons. You may need government security clearance or have significant financial responsibilities. In addition, you may be working with vulnerable people and employers want to know if they can trust you.

Either way, more and more, background checks are becoming a standard procedure during the hiring process and it is vital that you are aware of this. A recent survey by Endora reveals the extent to which background checks are conducted – and why, sometimes, they aren’t.

While more than 98% of businesses conduct pre-hire background checks on potential new employees, less than one-quarter of businesses proactively screen current employees – exposing CEOs and Boards to significant safety, security and compliance risks.

Is it Legal for Employers to View My Background?

Thus, if you are curious whether there are employers viewing your background, there is nothing wrong with prospective employers conducting a full background check. You will usually have to give permission, which means you will be aware of these checks. Furthermore, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is there to protect your rights as well.

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) promotes the accuracy, fairness, and privacy of the information of consumer reporting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies, i.e., about check writing histories, medical records, and rental history records.

Employers viewing your background take into consideration the FCRA regulations, which also stipulates how old the information contained on these reports can be. This means that you should know yourself exactly what a prospective employer will find out about you. Should any of that information be less than positive, you may consider disclosing this before the search is complete.

That said, prospective employers also perform other types of background checks. One of these is to ask you for past references. These will usually be employment references, unless you are fresh out of school or college, in which case they can be academic or even personal references. These references are designed to get to know you as a person and worker.

What About Internal Privacy Policies?

Keep in mind that, even if an employer asks for the background information listed above, and it is legal, the former employer does not have to answer. Many companies limit what they will disclose about former employees. Sometimes this is for fear of lawsuits for defamation. Other organizations may not release information due to internal privacy policies.

The other thing that many employers will do is screen your social media profiles. This, they believe, will give them an even greater insight into who you are in your personal life.

Employers Viewing Your Background, What’s Next?

Be aware of the fact that employers will look you up before they hire you. Clean up your social media profiles, get copies of your credit report, arrest records, and “Google” your name for more information, etc. Therefore, to make it difficult for employers to view your background online remove any negative items you find about you.

1. Remove them yourself. Ask the website owner (s) to delete the damaging information about you.
2. Contact a removal team who works with a legal team to remove your negative data

Either of the above two methods will eliminate any doubt about what others will find when searching your name in Google. In fact, you should ask for a copy of your personal Lexis/Nexis Accurint Person Report, which is a free report. This report prepares you for what a prospective employer will see about you. If you don’t like what you see, then contact a reputation management firm, like Guaranteed Removal, to help you improve it.

Employers are viewing your background, unfortunately, if you have questions about how to clear your background quickly and safely, contact our professionals.