Customer: I’m pretty sure I can find everything I want to know about these guys by myself, online. I’m gonna save a fortune.
Ann (bites tongue, and stares at her cold coffee): Oh? What are you looking for?
Customer (senses a trap): You know, I. . .ah. . .I’ll just Google ‘em.
Ann (swallows coffee and makes a face): Hmmmmm. Methinks you might need a professional.
There are those folks who think they can save money by doing background checks in-house.
Maybe, you have access to your state’s criminal record repository, maybe you think searching for sex offenders is enough. Here’s some food for thought:
What does a professional background screening company do that you cannot?
For between $20-30 (most of the time) we can:
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Run a social security trace
- This confirms the applicant’s birthdate (an important part of identity matching in the court records).
- It provides alias information (your applicant may be Mary Jones, but she might have committed her felony under the name Mary Smith).
- It provides address information–so while you are no doubt searching New Mexico, we will find that we need to search jurisdictions like Jefferson County, Colorado, Maricopa County, Arizona, etc.
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Search jurisdictions nationwide
- As noted above, if your applicant has been in Maricopa County, Arizona, and Jefferson County, Colorado, it’s important to search there.
- Looking in New Mexico or Minnesota will never reveal those out-of-state convictions. Can you do that in-house?
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Search the federal courts
- Say for example, you had an applicant that was clear in the local and district courts for New Mexico but was convicted of drug trafficking at the federal level in the New Mexico District Court.
- These convictions will not appear anywhere but in a search of court records at the federal level. We have access to that database and use it every day.
Maybe, you could keep that $20-30 in your pocket. It could add up for a nice rainy day fund.
Or it could add up to a lawsuit for negligent hiring.
If you miss a conviction, that would have led to you not hiring someone—and that someone steals from co-worker or beats up a customer. That $20-30 could save you thousands in legal fees and punitive damages.
Simply using a qualified background screening firm puts an employer in a much more defensible position in case of a lawsuit.
Curious if your background checks are keeping you safe from a lawsuit?
We have answers. Call us at (714) 587-9166—we’d love to hear from you.
