Most people think that to run a background check you should turn to a private investigation bureau or a security company. In fact, background checks are easy to do yourself, with a little time and effort.

Background checks are widely used in business, human relations, media, education and even for screening day care workers. In many companies, background checks along with psychological tests and screenings have become integral part of hiring a person for higher level positions. You may choose to run a free background check when hiring a live-in caregiver or a nanny.

In many areas of employment, companies choose to run a background check to protect them from potential legal action. Background checks have become more common also after the tragic 9/11 events. For example, no one would wish to unknowingly hire a sales manager who had been found guilty of larceny in another country.

For many headhunters and employers, background checks can be as simple as getting a credit report or more complex checks such as in-depth verification of applicant’s educational background and working credentials. An in-depth background check could even include an investigation by a special agent of addresses where a person lived for the past few years, interviews with family, neighbors, and even ex-spouses.

More often, a background check includes checking recommendations and validating employment history; some positions require an examination of civil or criminal records, an authentication of various professional certifications, and sometimes an inspection of a credit history which is essential for positions related to finance or valuable commodities.

When a hiring company notifies you that a background check is to be performed, it does not mean that an employer has negative feelings about you. In most cases, a hiring manager may even not notify that they require the background check. However, in many cases employers are required to get your permission to access certain types of information.

Most HR professionals already know that all information required for a free background check is public and easily accessible. Sometimes, however, employers would have to pay a fee to access more specific information or hire third-party organizations to do their checks for them. To make sure you have nothing to fear, order a copy of your own credit report, a driving record, and, if you have a court history, legal records.

Generally, free background checks have limited if no access to bankruptcy information that is more than 10 years old or to other civil issues after seven years. The sort of information collected by free background checks can also vary; depending on whom performs the checks.

In most cases, unless you are particularly curious, you don’t have to perform a background check on yourself. However, you may wish to run a free background check on yourself just to make sure no errors have been made or recorded incorrectly. Now you too have the ability, thanks to the Internet to do a free background check on yourself if you really want to. You can make sure that your records are absolutely clean for that extra peace of mind, that may help you get that precious contract or a job of your dreams.

Criminal Background Check Basics
If the basic tenet of the Hippocratic Oath Is “First, do no harm” then perhaps the first guiding principle of Human Resources Managers is “First, make no bad hiring decisions”. In that connection, the first line of defense employed by businesses to protect their employees, their assets and the public is a criminal background check. While the cost of a reasonable criminal background check can be less than fifty dollars, most businesses know the cost of a ”Bad Hire” is incalculable. The question then always becomes “How do I conduct the best background check for the least money”?
The Basics
This is sometimes hard to believe, but there simply is no single data base that allows an employer or a background check company access to all of the criminal records in all of the states. Even the NCIC, which is a criminal data base available only to law enforcement agencies, is not a complete data base of criminal records. Reporting of records to the NCIC is dependent on the states or other courts forwarding the data. It is often not current (as much as two years behind for some states) and rarely has current disposition information.
Multi-State Criminal Background Check
This is the closest thing to a national criminal background check data base that is available to employers and has become the standard primary background check requested. The results of this report are available instantly and should always be the first report ordered. This report usually includes about 80% of the criminal records from 46 states that have been reported by the three thousand-plus counties to the various state data bases. This report usually also includes a check of the sex offender registry in most or all states. Please note that, if the sex offender failed to register, he may not show up in this records check. Moreover, the following important data base searches are often a part of the multi-state criminal background check. OFAC Blocked List (Terrorist Watch List-Office Of foreign Assets Control) INTERPOL Most Wanted- DEA Fugitive List Denied Persons List Debarred List OTS List- (Office Of Thrift Supervision) Bank of England Sanctions List-  European Union Terrorism Sanctions List- NSOSFI – Canadian Sanctions List- Australian Reserve Bank Sanctions List
I would certainly recommend that any criminal background check begin with this search, since it casts the widest net available.
State Wide Criminal Background Checks
What results can we expect when ordering criminal background checks from individual states who supply the national database? Compared to the multi-state criminal background check, many criminal records from forty five other states as well as a check of the offender registries are not being checked.  The data contained is often late, incomplete, or simply not reported from the originating court. Besides being somewhat expensive, even the primary state law enforcement agency’s criminal records data is often incomplete. We have seen many examples where employers regretted relying on the state’s law enforcement agency data base. Records that were simply not included as a part of the state law enforcement data base were easily found by plaintiff’s attorneys in the county records of the employee accused of assaulting another employee or a member of the public. They likely used the same employment application that was now a part of the proceedings and simply had the criminal records checked in the offending employee’s prior counties of residence. The theory of negligent hiring cases is partly based on “if you could have known, you should have known.”  You may be sure the employer wishes they had checked those same county records. Most background check companies would agree with our experience, which indicates that the quality and the content of the records from state agencies is significantly lower than for records obtained directly from the originating court records. Remember, the data in state repositories is second-hand information gathered from various courts and police departments statewide.  Some states have statutes that require various criminal justice agencies to report criminal records to the state repository but this is still not done on a complete and timely basis. This is particularly true in cases where the record is an arrest only with no conviction. Often, even felonies and misdemeanors that have been pleaded down to much lesser charges are simply not reported by the counties at all. Nonetheless, any employer would want to know about these charges. Many state record administrators have stated that they estimate that no more than 70 to 80 percent of all criminal data from the police and county criminal courts was actually ever reported to the state criminal record center.
County Criminal Background Checks
No matter what other searches are ordered, we always recommend that, as a minimum, an employer add a search of the county or counties where the applicant has lived for the last several years.  The results from these searches are usually provided within 24 to 48 hours For the reasons outlined above, searches in those courts of origin are a critical element of any background check. County superior or felony-level court, which is usually located in the county seat, is the most commonly searched. This court contains the records for the felony-level cases that originate in that jurisdiction.  A manual county felony search at that location will reveal the following records: Felony charges that were pleaded down to a misdemeanor conviction. (except in some cases domestic court charges are never reported if probation terms are satisfactorily completed) Felony charges that resulted in a felony conviction and bench warrants issued by that court. Cases that are still pending final action for all cases.
Up-to-Date information
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires that, before information may be used adversely in employment decisions, it must be verified as the most up-to-date and recent information available. Clearly, a county criminal background search in one or more counties is the only possible way to comply with this requirement. Even the FBI web site says “A record provided to the subject for personal review contains only information maintained by the CJIS Division and may lack dispositional data and/or arrest records that are maintained only at the state level.

Since a background check is done to delve into the past activities and record of an individual, it contains different information, some of which are listed below.

1. Criminal Records- for companies looking to hire an individual, they are sure to think twice if a person has a criminal record especially if it involves serious crimes.
2. Employment Records- surely companies would like to know where an applicant has been previously employed and if whether he or she left the company in good standing.
3. Litigation Records- companies would also like to know if a certain applicant has a penchant for filing discrimination lawsuits.
4. Education Records- since educational background plays a major role in terms of a person being accepted for a job, companies would like to make sure if an applicant is not lying regarding their educational background.
5. Driving Records- companies who are hiring applicants who will be tasked to drive would surely add this to their background check.
6. Result of Drug Tests- this is part of a background check for several reasons including corporate ethics.
7. Financial Records- this could include information regarding credit scores and bankruptcy among others.
8. Social Security Number or SSN- an applicant who includes a fraudulent SSN in his or her curriculum vitae might be hiding something from his or her past thus SSN checking is also part of a background check.

How Do They Do It

In delving into the past of an individual, companies offering background checks take four steps to deliver a complete background search.

The first step is to gather information about the person to be checked. Enough information should be gathered to have a positive ID on that person. Data includes full name, date of birth, current address and past addresses as well as the person’s Social Security Number.

These information are important especially the date of birth as it is an essential identifier when searching for criminal records or any record for that matter. The addresses are also important as it will give the company doing the background check the information as to where to find for local records.

For female subjects, companies doing the background check important information includes whether she is married or not. For married female subjects, noting all the last names used in the past and in the present is important as it is important in checking for criminal records.

The second step is to check the past addresses given by the subject. Checking the address can provide information such as aliases used by the subject in the past. A false address given could also raise red flags which could lead to discovering other information given by the subject.

The third step is to undertake the general record search. An example of this is going through the subject’s driver history record. Such records can give information if the subject has been arrested for DUIs and other violations. Some of these records though are restricted by some states, thus background checking companies need to secure a signed release before they can have access to such information.

The fourth step is to do the criminal background search. It starts with a local criminal background check thus it is important to secure the past and present addresses of the subject. For example, the subject might have committed a crime in a certain county he or she has resided in the past but did not disclose that he or she has lived in that locality then a background check without the right address would not be complete.