Ohio State Shooting: Background Check Missed Prison Stint or Did It?

Criminal Records Checks Can Legally Go Back Seven Years

The shooting that occurred on March 10, 2010 at Ohio State that claimed two lives is a tragedy.  Without question.  But headlines reporting this event are glaring.

From CNN.COM

“Background check missed suspected shooter’s prison stint.”

From The Lantern (online)

“Background check missed shooter’s criminal past.”

From The Columbus Dispatch (online)

“A killer’s lie missed

OSU wouldn’t have hired Nathaniel Brown had check revealed his past”

Before one can blame a background check, or a background screening company, for a prior conviction to be left undiscovered one must look at the information that can be legally obtained.  Criminal Records checks go back seven years.  That’s it.  Under Federal mandate, via the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Criminal data older than seven years is not allowed for pre-employment screening purposes.

The shooting that took place at Ohio State involved a man, Nathaniel Brown, that had been incarcerated for five years between July 1979 to March 1984.  His pre-employment background check, conducted by a known and reputable screener, took place in September 2009, twenty-five years after Brown’s release from prison.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Angela Bosworth, an executive at the firm that provided the pre-employment background check, suggested: “it’s possible the criminal record wasn’t found because ‘there is a discrepancy between the date of birth reported by Mr. Brown and used for his pre-employment screening and the Department of Corrections record that has recently come to light.’”

Bosworth’s comment sheds light to a larger issue:  The legitimacy of information provided by an applicant.

There are four key pieces of information required for a pre-employment background check:

• Social Security Number
• First, Middle, Last name and any AKA’s
• Date of birth
• Drivers License

Most background screening companies run a Social Security Number Trace to verify names, addresses and counties lived in.  From this report a Criminal Background Check by County can be run.  A date of birth is critical to verify back to the Social Security Number and name given, AND provide a correct date of birth.  A Motor Vehicle background check could provide a date of birth as well.  An incorrect date of birth could cause a discrepancy to arise, but even if the date had been correct a criminal background check can only go back seven years.

In the end this shooting is an obvious tragedy, especially for family members and friends of the victims, but to point a finger at a faulty background check is shortsighted.  Every applicant for every position should be required to go through a thorough background check, but if the Federal Government does not allow a screener to go back past seven years in a criminal records search, events such as this will continue.

Nanny Checks:  Protect Your Children

Society’s most precious asset is its children.  Parents and guardians cannot afford to be derelict in their responsibility to provide the very best care.  Economic pressures often require duel income households and increasing divorce rates produce large number of single parents providing care for their children.

In some households, a nanny provides the best solution.

Nannies can address individual needs of a child and attend to them in the familiar surroundings of their home.  However, the impact that a caregiver has on one’s child and their development cannot be underestimated.  A nanny represents the family’s values and parental goals.

In the nanny selection process a pre-employment screening can help reassure a parent they are making an educated choice.  A thorough background check begins with a social security number trace.  This information provides address information and known AKAs over a ten year history.  Subsequently, one can determine which counties need to be investigated  with a criminal records search.  If the nanny candidate is required to transport children from school to home or various afterschool activities, a driving record should be reviewed.  Other valuable reports include a statewide and national sex offender registry search,  a national criminal records check (this search option is often used as a supplement to a criminal check at the county level) and verification of previous employment.  Additionally, a complete reference check will solidify the value of a background check and further the safety of a child.  Finally, a credit report can determine financial responsibility of a candidate, civil records check will uncover lawsuits filed against or by a candidate, federal court records will typically unveil white collar crime and a statewide liens & judgments search to insure solvency.

Hiring a nanny can be the right choice for some.  It is an important decision, one that should be made with careful consideration of potential consequence of a bad selection.  Nanny background checks are a valuable tool in gaining the information one requires to make an informed hire.  It protects the family, the children and the nanny.

PreScreen Solutions currently offers Nanny Checks at 20% off list price for all new customers.  Contact them today at (888) 488 – 0057.

Tenant Background Checks: Cost and Savings

How important is Tenant Background Screening? On a scale of 1 to 10? Maybe an 11?

With the slow recovery of from the Great Recession people are still renting in great numbers. Even with steady work, an $8,000 tax credit and low priced homes on the market, it remains a challenge to purchase a home. However, in fairness to my many realtor friends, it is not impossible. Individuals that qualify are buying second and third homes and renting them out. And people are renting them.

So here is the thing: Are you doing a rental screening on these secondary properties?

Most multi-family units conduct screening of some sort. It protects current tenants and the property owner, as well as the renter. Rental background checks come in many shapes and forms but should include the following:

• Rental Credit Report with Fico Score -

Why? Another obvious one.

• Evictions Records Search -

Why? Obvious, right? A search of evictions and unlawful detainer records, in states and counties where information is available, may contain court filed, plaintiff and defendant names, case numbers, filing dates and judgment details

• Bankruptcies, Judgment and Liens -

Why? Another report that points to financial wherewithal.

• Sex Offender Registry Search, National and State -

Why?  Another obvious one.

• County Criminal Records Search -

Why? – Utilizing the Social Security Number Trace to discover county of residence one can then conduct County Criminal Records Searches based on those counties.

• National Criminal Records Search -

Why? This is a key supplemental report that will show any negative activity that occurs outside a county of residence.

• Social Security Number Trace -

Why? This is a critical tool used in discovering residency patterns. A SSN Trace shows county of residence as attached to a particular SSN. One can trace county of residence and show years at that a specific residence. In addition, potential AKAs and alias used against that SSN will be shown.

It is important to understand the background of those that rent YOUR property. It is an important asset that should be protected. The equity in rental properties often serves as a retirement fund for the owner. Yet, if you rent to the wrong individuals not only do you risk loss of income but value in that home. You can also endanger neighbors surrounding that property. A thorough Rental Tenant Screening can help insure a safe environment as well as an on-going financial return.

One should also consider the same steps when renting a room or a “mother-in-law” apartment.

Knowing who you rent to is extremely important, for obvious reasons. But a renter should do more than just meet an individual and have them fill out an application. Recently a friend of mine did only that and after several months of non-payment had to deal the repercussions and cost of eviction. The damage to his property amounted to several thousand dollars. The renter, a seemingly nice and responsible individual, had previous evictions as well as judgments. That’s an expensive lesson to learn.

Background checks have become an integral part of the pre-employment process at over 80% of American companies.  A background check is relatively simple and, for most, somewhat painless.  A candidate provides information via an application and/or a resume, signs a consent to be checked, gets a drug screen and waits.

Typical pre-employment checks review the following reports:

• Social Security Number Trace
• County Criminal Records
• Sex Offender Registry
• Employment Credit Report
• Driving Records
• Education & Employment Verification

To some this may appear to be invasive but it is employer’s responsibility to ensure a safe work environment for existing employee’s as well as new hires, and verify the information by the candidate is accurate and honest.

Honest?

According to research from the Society for Human Resource Managers “53% of people lie on their résumé in some way” and continues to add, ”the education section of an application or resume is the most likely to be fraudulent.”

During difficult economic times when jobs are scarce and competition high, the desire to embellish a resume is hard to quell.  There is a significant difference between enhancing one’s job description or computer skills and claiming a four year college degree.  Yet, some candidates will claim a degree without completing a program or conferring a degree believing that HR departments do not have the time to complete education verification.  However, an increasing number of companies are adopting post-hire screening programs as part of an annual review process.  In 2006 the CEO at Radio Shack resigned because he got caught lying on his resume and a post-hire background check caught it.

Complicating the issue of resume cheats are increasing numbers of diploma mills.

Wikipedia entry on diploma mills is as follows:

… an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some such organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity. Some degree mills have slipped through the (CHEA) government regulated education system due to lack of funding and/or proper house and congregational monitoring.

A list of diploma mills can be found here and clearinghouse for accredited colleges and universities can be found here.  The list of diploma mills grows daily and will continue to do so as long as states such as California continue to have lax or non-existent enforcement programs.

Using ten dollar words to clean up the description of a crappy position and polishing it into something infinitely brighter is not at issue.  Everyone knows it happens.  But resume cheaters that claim positions or degrees they cannot legitimately claim will eventually be caught.
In a more recent article about Resume Cheats, Inc. Magazine disclosed some interesting facts.

“…employers said they’ve automatically dismissed candidates who submit a trumped up resume. Those that continued to consider these applicants said they seldom end up hiring them.”

“…resume liars tend to exaggerate the responsibilities of a previous job, followed by additional skills and inaccurate employment dates.”

“…By industry, hospitality, transportation and IT had the highest rates of bogus resumes, while the public sector had the lowest…”

Human Resources know you are out there.  Skepticism is a finer trait of a hiring manager.

For more information on Background Screening contact us at info@prescreensolutions.com.

Risk Mitigation, Background Screening and Making a Successful Hire

Hiring a new employee is costly and time consuming. In healthy economies shortage of qualified applicants exists and in poor economic times one can face with an abundance of applicants. Each economic condition provides unique challenges, but in both good and bad times, the cost of a bad hire can be significant. Common practice suggests that the calculable cost in employee turnover ranges between 50% and 200% of an employee’s annual salary. A recent article suggests that a better calculation might be “Total employee turnover cost + Costs of hiring new employees + Costs of training new employees.”

As part of this calculation, there are six factors, listed below, which pertain to pre-employment considerations:

• Advertising the position
• Bonus signing
• Relocation pay
• Time for interviewing
• Travel expenses
• Pre-employment assessments

(Note: Do not forget to figure in the usual background screening expenditures.)

Additionally, there are post-hire training costs:

• Training materials
• Technology
• Employee benefit set up
• Time for trainers

Certainly the above calculation is exclusive to the hiring a new employee but there is an incalculable cost in keeping a bad hire in place.

The article, The Cost of Keeping A Bad Employee,the author states, “if your company is larger than 10 people, there is a really good chance that you have at least one bad employee.”

The affect that one bad seed has on those around them is significant. A bad employee can create an environment of disharmony and can spread their ill will throughout an organization. If this process continues unabated the overall affect on the company can be devastating. Productivity could decrease, moral may disintegrate and the potential of good employees leaving the company is very high.

Another serious consequence of hiring a bad employee is the potential for fraud.

From, How Damaging Can a Bad Employee Be to Your Business?: “Theft can be as straight forward as peeling cash from a till, or as complex as hiding funds and transferring them through electronic means. Theft doesn’t just have to be of money, it can be stock or services too.”

Retail and hospitality organizations are well aware of fraud in the form of product shrinkage. It is often built into their cost of doing business. Other businesses are less aware and often caught by surprise when a fraudulent act emerges.

Overall, the cost of a bad hire is extensive. Not only is there a replacement cost but the risk of infecting an entire organization. Once a bad hire is identified they should be terminated as soon as legally possible. This may take time, but it must be done. Reassigning a bad employee to a non-essential role may be a short term fix until dismissal can be accomplished.

Fortunately, there are steps one can take to reduce the risk of hiring a bad employee. Numerous articles populate the internet on the subject and “best practices” evolve on a daily basis.

The most important aspect of a hiring process is “knowing” the applicant as completely as possible. This task requires several steps.

• Pre-Employment Assessments. A company that utilizes applicant tracking software often can implement assessments to understand the likelihood of a candidate succeeding at a given task within their potential role with a company.
• Background Screening. The cost of a thorough background check is 1% of the cost of hiring a replacement employee. Utilizing a variety of reports one can verify an candidate stated qualifications as well as illuminate any potential “red flags.”

Key components of a background check include:

• Social Security Number Trace
• County Criminal Records Check
• Driving Records Search
• National Criminal Check
• Sex Offenders Registry
• Credit Check
• Drug testing
• Employment & Education Verification

• Multi-tiered interviews. A candidate should be interviewed by anyone he or she may interact with on a daily basis. These individuals may include the hiring manager, Human Resources, supervisors, peers and subordinates. Each potential colleague will have specific and unique perspectives on the candidate’s qualifications, skills and interpersonal communication skills.

Once a candidate is in place their manager must maintain personal interaction as well as an open-door policy allowing for a relationship to develop. Knowing your employee is key to understanding their motivations. The warning signs of a bad hire are many and noticeable. It is critical to stay in touch with staff to maintain a solid working environment. In addition it is important to have an annual review process that may include 360 degree assessments, peer reviews, and post-hire background checks.

Despite ones best efforts, a bad hire could occur. However, if proper screening and hiring practices occur and a manager stays in close contact with staff, the likelihood is decreased significantly.

---

Contact PreScreen Solutions for more information on Pre-Employment and Post-Hire Screening.

Child Safety Tips

Nanny and Caregiver Background Checks are valuable tools to use when one hires an outside source to take care of their children or elderly.

Understanding a caregivers background adds valuable information to the selection process. At-risk populations rely on family to take care of them and to protect them. In regards to children, specifically, there are steps one can take. Below are many helpful tips garnered from the Heidi Search Center.

Prevention always starts at home. Use the following tips to help educate children on safety and awareness.

CHILDREN SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO:

• Know his/her full name, as well as your name, address and telephone number, including area code. Children should know how to use the telephone.
• Never say they’re alone when answering the phone – instead, offer to take a message or say their parents are busy.
• Never answer the door if they are alone. Never invite anyone in the house w/out permission of a parent or baby-sitter.
• Never take candy or gifts from strangers or anyone else without asking a parent first.
• Never play in deserted buildings or isolated areas.Move away from cars that pull up beside them if they do not know the driver.
• Know that no one should touch any part of his or her body that a bathing suit would cover.
• Avoid shortcuts through empty parks, fields, laneways or alleys.
• Run home or go to the nearest public place if they are being followed and yell for help.
• Tell you if someone has asked them to keep a secret from you.
• Tell you where they are at all times or leave a message at home.
• Know they can talk to you and call you to pick them up at any time.

PARENTS SHOULD:

• Avoid clothing and toys with your child’s name on it. A child is less likely to fear someone who knows his/her name.
• Check all potential baby-sitters and older friends of your child.
• Never leave your child alone in a public place, stroller or car, even for a minute.
• Always accompany young children to the restroom in public places.
• Always accompany your child on door-to-door activities.
• Point out safe houses with the Block Parent sign where children can go if they are in trouble.
• Create an environment where a child feels safe to talk to you. Let him/her know that you are interested and sensitive to their fears.
• Teach children that the police are their friends and that they can rely on them if they are in trouble.
• Keep an up-to-date color photograph of your child, as well as a medical and dental history, and have your child fingerprinted.
• Stay involved in your child’s life by communicating daily to prevent your child from running away.

Source: Heidi Search Center

---

For more information on Nanny Checks and Caregiver Screening please follow the link. First orders always receive a 20% discount.

Background Checks Will Catch Resume Cheats

Background checks have become an integral part of the pre-employment process at over 80% of American companies. A background check is relatively simple and, for most, somewhat painless. A candidate provides information via an application and/or a resume, signs a consent to be checked, gets a drug screen and waits.

Typical pre-employment checks review the following reports:

• Social Security Number Trace
• County Criminal Records
• Sex Offender Registry
• Employment Credit Report
• Driving Records
• Education & Employment Verification

To some this may appear to be invasive but it is employer’s responsibility to ensure a safe work environment for existing employee’s as well as new hires, and verify the information by the candidate is accurate and honest.

Honest?

According to research from the Society for Human Resource Managers  “53% of people lie on their résumé in some way” and continues to add, ”the education section of an application or résumé is the most likely to be fraudulent.”

During difficult economic times when jobs are scarce and competition high, the desire to embellish a resume is hard to quell. There is a significant difference between enhancing one’s job description or computer skills and claiming a four year college degree. Yet, some candidates will claim a degree without completing a program or conferring a degree believing that HR departments do not have the time to complete education verification. However, an increasing number of companies are adopting post-hire screening programs as part of an annual review process. In 2006 the CEO at Radio Shack resigned because he got caught lying on his resume and a post-hire background check caught it.

Complicating the issue of resume cheats are increasing numbers of diploma mills.

Wikipedia’s entry on diploma mills is as follows:

… an organization that awards academic degrees and diplomas with substandard or no academic study and without recognition by official educational accrediting bodies. The purchaser can then claim to hold an academic degree, and the organization is motivated by making a profit. These degrees are often awarded based on vaguely construed life experience. Some such organizations claim accreditation by non-recognized/unapproved accrediting bodies set up for the purposes of providing a veneer of authenticity. Some degree mills have slipped through the (CHEA) government regulated education system due to lack of funding and/or proper house and congregational monitoring.

A list of diploma mills can be found here and clearinghouse for accredited colleges and universities can be found here http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/Search.aspx. The list of diploma mills grows daily and will continue to do so as long as states such as California continue to have lax or non-existent enforcement programs.

Using ten dollar words to clean up the description of a crappy position and polishing it into something infinitely brighter is not at issue. Everyone knows it happens. But resume cheaters that claim positions or degrees they cannot legitimately claim will eventually be caught.

In a more recent article about Resume Cheats, Inc. Magazine disclosed some interesting facts.

“…employers said they’ve automatically dismissed candidates who submit a trumped up resume. Those that continued to consider these applicants said they seldom end up hiring them.”

“…resume liars tend to exaggerate the responsibilities of a previous job, followed by additional skills and inaccurate employment dates.”

“…By industry, hospitality, transportation and IT had the highest rates of bogus resumes, while the public sector had the lowest…”

Human Resources know you are out there. Skepticism is a finer trait of a hiring manager.

Background Check The Ice Cream Man

From blocks away you can hear the ice cream man’s call. A warbled melody of “Turkey In The Straw,” or some other musical oddity, crying out to children’s ears. Within seconds a chorus of “ICE CREAM MAN! ICE CREAM MAN!” sounds. Kids throw down their baseball bats, climb out of pools, leap from the couch and race outside. The truck turns the corner. Kids panic. They rush back to their parents for coins or snatch money from piggy banks. Anything for a Big Stick, 50/50 Bar or Bomb Pop.

I remember those days.

Parents of my generation can look back upon the summer ritual of flagging down the ice cream man as a fond memory. A quarter bought a red, white and blue Bomb Pop. Ice cold to the touch, you tore the wrapper off, tossed it to the street, squealed in delight when you tongue momentarily stuck to icy goodness and smiled brightly as your lips turned a bright red or blue.

Mom or dad may have watched from a distance as you made your purchase. Most likely they didn’t bother. They had nothing to fear. In those days everyone trusted the ice cream man.

Times change.

Struggling in an age of paranoia, parents today will march right out to the truck, make the purchase, eye the ice cream man with suspicion and keep their kids out of reach. Public perception of the ice cream man has turned sour. Perception is reality and every ice cream man is a potential pedophile. One need only look at the battered truck, peeling labels and smoke belching from an exhaust pipe.

Times change, indeed.

Recently, Tennessee lawmakers decided to study background checks for ice cream truck drivers over the summer. According to an article at CommercialAppeal.com there is need “to work out matters such as who should pay for the background checks, who should conduct them and penalties for violations.”

Any employee of any company should go through a comprehensive background check that includes the following:

• Social Security Number Trace
• County Criminal Records Search
• Motor Vehicle Records Search
• Nationwide Background Check
• Sex Offender Registry check, both statewide and national

The same should hold true if the truck is operated as an independent contractor. Anyone that interacts with children in a potentially unsupervised way MUST be background checked. The legislature in Tennessee, or any state, should mandate a thorough background check as a part of the licensing process.

A thorough criminal background check as part of pre-employment screening or even post-hire screening is a low cost endeavor when compared to the incalculable human cost that could occur. For more information on background screening and specific practices contact PreScreen Solutions or visit their web site at PreScreenSolutions.com.

Are You Dating A Sex Offender?

A female friend of mine, Stella (fake name to protect her naivete), announced to me recently that she had met someone on-line and decided to take the next step to meet her Mr. Right.

“What do you know about him?” I asked innocently and Stella proclaimed an extensive knowledge of his past, present and future.

Being in the background screening business has built in a heightened sense of skepticism. Sure, I want to believe people at their word but I believe in safety first. Always.

“Did you do a background check on him?” I asked.

This question seemed to freeze Stella in her tracks. It’s a delicate question.

In today’s society a large percentage of the population relies on social media, such as Facebook, MySpace, and a hundred others, for personal interaction with other people. It’s an electronic human touch. But there is a mask that the Internet allows us to wear, one where we can create any persona, good or bad. Certainly the majority of on-line users assume an honest facade but how many don’t? Even if it is an on-line relationship and not a so-called “real life” one, the question remains: Are you dating a Sex Offender?

According to data retrieved from missingkids.com, as of July 2009 it is estimated that California has 117,408 REGISTERED sex offenders. Do the math:

• 319 per 100,000 people
• 31.9 per 10,000 people
• 3.19 per 1,000
• or, 1 in 300

Of course California is the largest state in the Union so statistically there would be a large population of registered sex offenders. However, in Vermont, a state with a population substantially less, has 394 per 100,000 offenders on the registry and Oregon is at 417 per 100k.

I asked Stella again, “Did you do a background check on Mr. Right?”

“No.” Stella asked me what I would do.

Before the first face to face meeting I told Stella to do a Criminal and Civil Background Check. You don’t want to drive around with someone with possession charges or a DUI, especially if these issues didn’t come up during a wild chat session. Of course there is that chance that Mr. Right is already married to Mrs. Right. Perhaps that didn’t come up in conversation. I’m just saying. And a sex offender registry check would be mandatory, on both individuals. Statistically there are more male sex offenders than female but safe is safe. As the saying goes, better safe than sorry, no matter how slight the cases of something inappropriate appearing. It is a tricky topic to bring up and if the other party balks, maybe that is a sign, maybe not. The best policy would be to discuss everything before you meet. Everything.

Stella asked Mr. Right if it would be okay to do a background check. She explained in detail her concerns, made sure he understood, and he agreed. When I ran the report Mr. Right came back Mr. Right.

For more on Dating Background Checks go to our Dating Background Check Page.

Who Should Do Your Background Check

The evolution of the internet has simplified an individual’s ability to gain access to information. Increasingly public entities such as County Courts and Public Records Repositories allow access to their databases via the internet. This has been both a boon and a boondoggle for background screening companies.

Background screening is a critical activity utilized to safeguard at-risk populations, provide risk mitigation and reduce exposure to potential harmful events. Background screening companies use a variety of methods in gathering their information, including online databases and information providers. However, ease of access to information has created a proliferation of background screening companies and to an individual or corporate entity choosing the right provider can be an enormous task.

There are a number of different options when selecting a background screening company. Understanding the information required assists greatly in the selection process. If one need only basic data, that may or may not be current, and could be limited in its scope of data capture, there are a number a quick and cheap suppliers online. These operators utilize database information, generally offer a limited product line and may not subscribe to the broadest Federal Guidelines. Their websites are generally complex and lead a user to purchase several packages that may not even provide current information. Also, a number of these providers rope their users into a subscriber service, a process that is not clearly defined or easy to avoid in the sign-up process.

However, if an individual has broader requirements, information utilized in making critical decisions such as hiring employees, tenants, caregivers, nannies or volunteers, one should carefully select a background screening company. Thorough research will provide a satisfactory experience rather than a perfunctory.

There are several aspects one should consider when selecting a background screening company:

1. Professionalism.
   The National Association of Profession Background Screeners has a list of screening suppliers at their website. A member of a professional association will have a greater investment in the ethical and principled operation of their company.
2. FCRA.
   If a background screening company does not offer credit reports that are not required to operate under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Even if one does not require a credit report as part of their purchase it may be fortuitous to work with a company that does provide credit reports.
3. Access.
   This can be critical especially if there is an adverse action based on information provided during a pre-employment investigation. One should be able to find a phone number, email address and physical address of a screening company without significant effort.
4. License.
   In the state of California a background screening company must be operated by an individual that has a current private investigator license and that license must be held in good standing. Not every state has the same requirement, however it would be beneficial to inquire to a firms license status. It would be helpful to inquire into a given states requirements as well.
5. Associations.
   Beyond profession associations there are a number of other affiliations that will provide greater credibility to a background screening firm as well as a potential point of reference. These may include membership with the local Chamber of Commerce, Better Business Bureau and local groups related to the background screening companies activities.
6. References.
   Some background screening companies provide references on their webpage but the prudent action would be to contact the screener and ask for client references. It is a simple task to contact one or two current clients to get an understanding about the screener and their activities.
7. Openness.
   A background screening company should be very upfront and open about what they can and cannot do, as well as what they offer the individual or firm in terms of privacy protection. They should have a standard practice in place and make non-confidential portions available to the consumer.
8. Security.
   It is important to know that the background screening company has the latest security options in place regarding their internet presence as well as their physical location.

There are more obvious requirements one might have in terms of product. These might include the following:

1. Product mix. Does the company offer the widest range of reports possible? Do they have the ability to provide global information?
2. Product providers. Does the company have access to a network of researchers that can go into County Courts and gather the most current information available? Do they rely solely on databases?
3. Personnel. Does the customer service representative have the training required to keep the individual or firm informed with the latest legal requirements as well as products?
4. Turnaround. Many companies offer a quick turnaround. One should expect that the information returned to the requestor has been reviewed by a qualified individual and that all reports are clear and understandable. If a company offers instant information one should be suspicious both to the currency of the information as well as the quality. Most companies will suggest a 72 hour or less turnaround time.

When selecting a background screening companies there is much to consider. The items mentioned above are merely guidelines. Certainly there are other aspects of information one might wish to uncover. The important thing to keep in mind when selecting a background screening company is to do thorough research.

Sources: The National Association of Professional Background Screeners can be found at www.NAPBS.com.