Comments on: Future employers may dig into your past. Be prepared.

By: simetra

simetra — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:08:55 +0000

Jamie-

I am a recruiter for an insurance firm. We verify employment that is reported by the candidate on our application. If the employer isnt mentioned, we have no way to check it. That said, the application includes a statement that the information provided is accurate and complete. If someone were to not report employment, get the job, and were later found to have lied by ommission on their application, they would be subject to termination. This is all spelled out on the application.

Regarding the substance of the background check, employment verification is just one piece of a background check, and differs from a reference check. Employment verification usually consists of verifying dates of employment as reported on teh application. In your case, if the employer is only verifying employment, you should have nothing to be concerned about regarding the situation you posted about.

What might be of more concern is if the employer conducts a reference check off your application. Most companies will no longer provide references for former employees because they can be sued. Most companies advise managers to not provide references as well. Ironically, the chances are slim that the issue you mentioned would actually be come up in a formal reference check if all parties involved in the reference check know what they are doing. Where you *may* be at risk is if your former employer isnt aware of the liability contained in providing references (2) if there is a rogue manager who won’t follow the no reference policy, or (3) if someone at your potential employer checks an informal reference through their network associations.

Hope this helps,
Sim

PS-Regarding the statement in the article above about being a motivated candidate, saving the employer time and money, etc—dont buy into it. No employer worth working for is going to accept a background check that is paid for by the candidate. (Can anyone spell C-o-n-f-l-i-c-t o-f i-n-t-e-r-e-s-t ? ) And as a recruiter, I’m going contact anyone who is potentially qualified–whether they are SureChecked or not.

By: jamie

jamie — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 08:31:15 +0000

what exactly is in the employment history that these employers get. will a job i didnt mention on my resume show up? theres a job i dont mention because i was accused of stealing from the cash register (didn’t) when the money wasnt in my control it wasnt AT ALL secure. (the lock was broken on the bank bag AND the safe it was kept in was broken).
any advice?

By: EmploymentGuru

EmploymentGuru — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:49:44 +0000

@S Parad
Not sure why you think there is some great difference in a “online background check” and a “employer background check”. Unfortunatley you are mistaken, employers use the same service to check your background as the services mentioned in this article. This should bring you some relief to know there is not some mysterious service employers have but an individual does not. Would that be unfair and strange if you could not get access to information employers have about yourself.

Nothing bogus here, no conspiracy, check your facts.

By: S Parad

S Parad — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 18:29:40 +0000

This is a bogus infomercial. Doing an online background check does nothing compared to what an employer background check does. As the saying goes, “You can fool some of the people…” Guess it brings in money so you win this one.

By: silas seet

silas seet — Tue, 06 May 2008 00:37:42 +0000

complete background check.