Do background checks to verify potential employees rely on profiles data brokers have compiled on them? Or do background checks rely on more direct means?

  • Walican132@lemmy.today
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    5 months ago

    I run background checks for employment regularly and have used multiple different providers. Never seen data broker information. Largely the providers I’ve used have in advanced let me know which county courthouses they would collect information from.

  • originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    If they are checking data brokers or aggregators it’s not really a background check. Carefully read any consent you give for a potential employer to perform a background check. Look for the records they are accessing and make a determination based on that language.

    It is possible that some vendor is the space incorporates data brokers into their service, and that’s hard to tell. But they still should ask for your consent, I believe.

  • Inevitable Waffles [Ohio]@midwest.social
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    5 months ago

    It depends on how the company goes about it. The larger the company, the more established the HR department. They may use their HR platform to conduct the check which may find any and everything. The smaller companies may only check recent background with a local firm. Price is the name of the game. The more in-depth the background check, the more it costs. If you are going to work in a bank or with kids, be prepared to for the company/school to use the state equivalent of the FBI. For mom and pop shops, they may just take your word on the application. If you see a national HR platform like Paycom, then the results can vary depending on the package the company purchases.

    I just realized I didn't answer your question though. The main issue of using data brokers is that you as in the employer, for the most part, can't or are legally dissuaded from using them. We can only use official records to judge your trustworthiness. Things like data brokers are a grey area. It's not legally admissible in a background check by most EEOC standards, but people use any system they want. It's on the job seeker to prove they were discriminated against.

    As someone who hires people regularly, I only use the information provided by the HR platform. I don't google people because I wouldn't want that to happen to me. Other people may not have the same compunctions.

    Edit: Actually answering the damn question.