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Posts Tagged ‘Background Checks’

Meeting New People Online? Check Them Out Before It’s Too Late!

October 7th, 2009

With the advent of the Internet, meeting new people has become easier than ever. Finding new friends or discovering your soul mate online is a definite possibility. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace allow you to put your information in front of millions of people every day. The freedom that social networks give you comes with a price, however. It’s easier than ever for criminals and nut jobs to find out information that will allow them to take advantage of you.

If you’ve spent any time at all on the way of meeting and greeting people you know that many of them aren’t exactly who they say they are. They may gloss over certain aspects of their lives or completely make up or lie about things. The pictures and bios of users on such sites as Facebook and MySpace can easily be faked.

While there are dangers meeting people online, the rewards can be just as great. No longer are you limited by where you live or who you know. You can meet people from all over the world with just the click of a button.

One of the most problematic issues with meeting people online is how do you know if they are untrustworthy? Well, the answer is you don’t. Just like any other new relationship it’s best to go slowly and proceed with caution. Don’t give out too many details of your life or discuss personal matters with people you hardly know and that you’ve just met online. It seems simple, but that’s often how people get into trouble we their online relationships. If someone you’ve just met online starts asking you personal questions or information about your finances that should be a red flag. Be smart and take measures to protect yourself.

Protecting your self online has never been simpler. You can validate your new friends identity and find out if they really are who they say they are with a few online searches. If your new friend lives in the US, you can search the Department of motor vehicles in your new friends area to possibly find information about them. Matching names, date of birth, the physical description, and their address can help you verify the information you have on them. Voter registration records in their area may also provide the information you’re looking for.

For more in-depth data or if you want to conduct an online background check court documents such as judgments, lawsuits, divorces, or marriage records can be found by accessing, either in person or online, public records in your new friends area. It takes a bit of work but with a bit of digging you should have what you’re looking for reasonably quick.

Meeting people on the Internet can be a rewarding experience. Due diligence is the name of the game before you take your online relationship to the next level. Why take a chance when you can easily take matters into your own hands?

Shawn Background Checks ,

Background Checks – A Guided Tour

October 4th, 2009

The majority of people believe that to carry out a background check you should probably hire a private investigator or a security firm. In reality, doing a background check all by yourself is a trouble-free process that requires just a small amount of time and effort on your part. Granted you may not be able to find everything as quickly and easily as a trained professional but if you’re up to the task most anyone can find the information they’re looking for.

Background checks are commonly done in business, human relations, media, education, and even in the selection of day care personnel. In several organizations today background checks coupled with psychological tests and screenings have become an essential element of the recruitment process for higher level jobs. You may opt for a free background check to find out rudimentary information about a live-in caregiver or a nanny but will probably want to conduct a full blown background check on the person you decide to actually hire.

In many areas of employment, it’s company policy to perform a background check in order to avoid potential legal action that may arise in future. Background checks have also become more frequent post the tragic September 11, event. For instance, no organization would want to unintentionally recruit a sales manager who has been earlier proved guilty of an illegal act in some other country.

For many recruitment firms and companies, background checks can be as straight forward as procuring a credit report or additional complicated checks such as thorough confirmation of the applicant’s educational qualifications and work experience and past track record. A complete background check could also involve an investigation by a professional investigator of the addresses where a person resided in the recent past years, interviewing members of the applicant’s family, next-door neighbors, and also past spouses if any.

Many a times, a background check covers scrutinizing recommendations or validating employment and career history; some positions demand an inspection of civil or criminal records, a verification of different professional certifications possessed by that person, and occasionally an assessment of credit history which is vital for job openings in the field of finance or precious commodities.

When a hiring company informs you about a background check to be conducted, it should not be taken in the negative sense that the company doubts your credentials. In the majority of cases, a recruitment manager possibly will not even inform them that they need to do a background check. On the other hand, in a lot of cases it is obligatory on the part of the employers to acquire your consent to obtain specific types of information.

Nearly all recruitment professionals are well aware that all the information needed in a free background check is in the public domain and can be accessed without much trouble. Occasionally, though, employers need to pay a charge to obtain supplementary specific information or appoint external professional organizations to do the checks on their behalf. To confirm that everything is all right in your case, they may acquire a copy of your own credit report, a driving record, and, in case you have been involved in court matters in the past, your legal records.

Normally, free background checks have limitations in the sense that there may not be access available to bankruptcy data, which is older than 10 years, or to other civil matters older than seven years. The type of data obtained through free background checks may also differ according to who is carrying out the checks.

By and large, there is no reason to carry out a background check on yourself unless you’re just curious to know what shows up. But still, you may like to do a free background check on yourself for the purpose of confirming that no errors have been committed in recording your history. Today, even you have the capability, because of the Internet to carry out a free background check on yourself if you are really interested in it. This way, you can confirm that your records are perfectly clean so as to remove any kind of apprehension in your mind, and to make you feel extra confident when attempting to bag a valuable contract or a dream job that you always wished for.

Shawn Background Checks , , ,

Can You Really Trust Online Background Checks?

September 11th, 2009

In the modern age, we all use the world wide web for all sorts of things that would have been hard to imagine not so very long ago. Information used to be a lot harder for us to find, but these days all you really have to do is spend a few minutes on the web and you can easily find out all sorts of things about a person’s background. But while it may be easy and quick to get that info, is it info that you can really trust to be true?

Not too long after my 18th birthday, I was busted for underage drinking. Years went by, and then a few years ago I had an interview for a job I really wanted. I was nervous that when they did a check of my background they’d find that old offense, and I’d miss out on a really good job because of some stupid little thing I did a long time ago, when I was still just a kid.

Fortunately I was able to find a website that allowed me to run a background check on myself, so I could actually see everything about my history that my potential employers would be able to find out. I was quite relieved to disocver that my old underage drinking charge wasn’t on my report after all, but I did have some tickets for speeding that I hadn’t dealt with. So, I left the alcohol charge off of my application for the job, but I did mention the tickets, and in the end, I did get the job.

Maybe it would feel sort of wrong for you to leave something like that off of a job application. If so, I’ll admit that I can relate. But at the same time, I think we are entitled to our privacy, and we should be able to put our old mistakes behind us and get on with our lives. Besides, in this economy it’s already a real challenge to land any job at all. I really needed to get that job, and it was a very big relief for me to discover that online background check, so I could have access to the exact same material about myself that my potential employers would find. Thanks to that background check, I knew just what things I had to include on my application, and what things I could afford to leave off of it.

Shawn Background Checks , , , , , , , , , ,

Top 3 Tips for Successful Background Checks

September 8th, 2009

Have you ever run a background check on yourself? You’d be surprised at what would come up if you did. If negative information is in there, it could cost you a job, a loan, or a relationship. By performing a background check on yourself, you can fix what’s wrong and be aware of what others are seeing.

There is a countless number of commercials constantly reminding you to check your credit, but you shouldn’t stop there. Private investigators frequently discover that their own clients don’t know what’s in their background check.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to save yourself what could be a big surprise. You can start by putting your own name into a Google search. Type your name inside a set of parentheses and see what happens. If your name is really common or someone famous shares your name with you, you might not get helpful results. Otherwise, you should see results. If you see court documents or records of trials, you should look into them further.

The next thing you can do is look on the judicial website for your city, county and state. Most states have user-friendly online searches you can use from home. In Connecticut, you can search by topic like Family and Civil, Housing, Criminal, Small Claims, etc. Look for yourself in these areas to make sure there aren’t outstanding warrants or lawsuits in which you’ve been named.

Tip number three is to subscribe to a service that actively keeps track of your background. There are a lot of companies who do this for a small fee. Some are good, and some aren’t very reputable. These companies keep track of information for a living. They create databases from all kinds of sources. The price they charge for a subscription is usually well worth not having to do all of that legwork yourself. You can usually subscribe to these services annually.

Remember that even though you can find hundreds of these services–not all of them are great. A bad service won’t have access to a lot of information. They won’t be able to get you much information. Look for companies that offer money-back guarantees. If they’re willing to put their money on the line, they’re more likely to provide a good service. Also look for companies that give you their preliminary results right away and have some sort of telephone number for customer service.

Shawn Background Checks , ,

The Benefits of a Landlord Background Check

September 6th, 2009

The benefits of a landlord background check cannot be underestimated. Investing in rental properties can be financially advantageous to anyone seeking to earn an additional income. It’s is truly one way to earn a significant amount of money. However, all of the great things that come with owning rental properties can be negated if you choose the wrong tenant. A poor choice of a tenant can result in a loss in money which is why performing a background check is recommended.

A background check on a tenant can help you make an informed decision about who resides in your rental property. Background checks can help you avoid renting to a convicted criminal such as a murderer that could endanger the lives of others. Likewise, if your rental property is located near a school than you wouldn’t want to rent to a convicted sex offender. Doing so could cause serious problems for both the renter and cause tension in the neighborhood. You wouldn’t want to rent to anyone that could cause a problem in the community. A thorough back ground check will provide you information on everything from misdemeanors to more serious felonies. If you have a prospective tenant that has spent time in jail for check fraud it would be in your best interest to pass on this tenant. You would only know to keep looking by doing a background check.

Similarly, a background check can also provide information on a tenant’s ability to pay rent. Credit checks are ideal for determining whether or not an individual is fiscally responsible. The lower the credit score and the more delinquencies on a credit report the more of a risk a person is to rent to. If you are not able to obtain a credit report you can always perform a public records background check. This type of background check will list any judgments that a person has against them as filed in court by a creditor. These judgments can include liens, a bankruptcy and even judgments for evictions. A background check can reveal how a person handles their finances. Knowing if your potential tenant has long term employment and is capable of affording and paying timely rent is vital.

The failure to perform the necessary background check can lead to severe problems for a landlord. Depending on the tenancy laws in your state you will have to file for eviction to remove a tenant that is either destructive to your property or the community or that doesn’t pay rent. After pursuing an eviction you will have to seek your lost rent or property damage recovery through a civil judgment in court. It could take forever to get your money which is why a landlord background check should be a requirement for any potential tenant viewing your rental property.

Shawn Background Checks , , , , , ,

Employer Background Checks are a Fact of Life in Today’s Job Market

September 1st, 2009

More and more job seekers are finding that employer background checks are becoming a common part of the application process. Employers are wanting to know more about their applicant histories to make sure that the person they choose for a position won’t have any surprises in their personal or professional life that could adversely affect the company. They can further protect prospective employers by ensuring that their applicant choices do not have criminal records, a serious concern in many professions.

Employer background check companies also free up value time in the company’s human resource department by conducting professional and legal verification of an applicant’s professional and personal references. They are well versed in what the law will and will not allow a prospective employer to ask regarding a former employee’s work history, and they further protect prospective employers by ensuring that the right questions are asked to obtain the most amount of information regarding an applicant’s work history. Employer background check companies can also provide information on a prospective applicant’s credit history, allowing the employer to see if the applicant is responsible in their personal financial life. Personal responsibility is a valuable indicator of an applicant’s professional responsibility.

Employers now have many resources available to conduct employer background checks. Many companies offer this confidential service to prospective employers and they are able to quickly compile complete reports, usually within twenty-four hours. Fees can range from as little as a few dollars to $50-$60, depending on the depth of the applicant report. Employers should carefully check a company to make sure that the reports they will receive are adequate for their human resource needs.

As more employers turn to employer background checks, applicants will realize the importance of having a good, clean background record. Employers now have access to more information about an applicant’s past than was ever possible a few years ago. They no longer have to trust a prospective applicant to provide accurate information regarding professional, personal or criminal history, and then hope for the best. The truth is only a few clicks, and a few dollars, away on any prospective employee.

Shawn Background Checks , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tenant Background Check – Avoiding Bad Tenants

August 26th, 2009

Many people own real estate these days as a type of investment. During these bad economic times, many people are choosing to rent out their properties instead of flipping them for a quick profit. As a landlord it’s important to conduct a tenant background check on any prospective renters to ensure that your property remains in good condition and no deadbeats or troublemakers come along to cause you problems in the future.

Signing a long-term lease agreement with the wrong individual can cause problems down the road that could have been avoided if a little due diligence had been taken. Having good tenants means less headaches and money in your pocket on a regular basis with almost no worries about how they are treating your property.

The tenant background check can reveal quite a lot about a person. For instance, most good background checks will include any past convictions, bankruptcies, employment history, where they might have lived in the past, and possibly other details that may help you make a more informed decision about who you want to rent to and who you might want to avoid.

You’ll find that most people will not cause problems. Most people will take pride in where they live and will take care of your place just like it was their own. But on occasion you will run into a potentially problematic tenant that you know will be nothing but problems from the beginning just by reading the background information you have on them.

Any person that plans to become a landlord should perform a tenant background check to avoid any future liabilities. It will cost a small fee to get a decent background check off the Internet but you can find out in just a few minutes whether you have a dud or a stud for a prospective tenant. Also, the cost of the background check can be included as part of the application fee and will actually cost you nothing out of pocket.

Shawn Background Checks , , , , , ,