Background check taking a long time

October 3, 2016 10:40 AM

Is there anything that could make a person’s background check consistently take longer than normal to return results to potential employers? This has happened to a friend of mine on more than one occasion.

I don't know if taking an unusually long time to come back is a sign that something is amiss in her records, or what?

Also, on more than one occasion she has been fairly certain after interviewing that she would be offered the job pending the results of the background check, but then it somehow falls through. Nobody has ever told her it was due to the background check, but how would we know? Usually they don’t contact her to tell her the job is filled, they just stop returning her calls. I am now wondering whether there is something coming up in her record that she is unaware of.

Is there any way to run a background check on oneself that does not cost a fortune but is fairly reliable? I ran one on a shady guy my mom was dating several years ago. I’m pretty sure it cost less than 20 bucks and I got a detailed criminal report on him. I can’t remember which service I used, though. Any recommendations?

posted by Serene Empress Dork to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Best answer: Does your friend have a common name (or even if not common, one that may be shared with a Bad Character)? Has she checked her credit reports recently for signs of identity theft? (That's certainly not a comprehensive way to check, but it is a free way to get started).
posted by brainmouse at 10:50 AM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Are these criminal background checks, or credit reports? Some companies use the latter, and they can be obtained for free from AnnualCreditReport.com.

Also: if an employer decides not to hire or promote you based on the basis of a background check, they're supposed to send you a copy of the report and a notice of your rights. Whether or not most employers actually do this is another question.
posted by Johnny Assay at 10:54 AM on October 3, 2016

Best answer: First off, every provider is different and commits to a different turnaround time to their clients.

That being said, the most complicated of the common components of the criminal background check is the "seven year county criminal," which goes back through each county of residence from their past seven years and requests a check matching name/DOB/SSN.

This article basically sketches out a number of possible factors but the main ones are really "Counties playing by unique rules" (i.e., some counties are automated, some are antiquated in their record keeping) and delays from international checks.
posted by GamblingBlues at 11:13 AM on October 3, 2016

Best answer: When this was happening to me, I discovered that one of my previous employers was telling people I had never worked there.
posted by MexicanYenta at 11:19 AM on October 3, 2016

Best answer: About ten years ago, I waited at a screening counter while an immigration officer investigated me, or something, by typing away at his computer in the back room for 30 solid minutes. He had a very, very determined expression. Then he came back up to the counter to ask me how tall I was. I answered, and he went back and typed away for 30 more minutes before returning to ask again. (Yes, sir, I'm sure.) During this time, several hundred other people were checked and cleared. Eventually, I was also passed.

Apparently, my name-plus-birthdate was just similar enough to another's, who at the time at least, was very much wanted by the authorities, and this officer needed to be very very certain he wasn't going to be blamed with letting this wanted person slip through.

Which is similar to what might be happening here. For me, on that officer's advice, I ran a criminal background check on myself, as others above suggest, and to this day still carry my official "Nope, Not a Felon" paperwork while traveling. (I haven't needed it since, but you know what'll happen if I stop.)

So yes, your friend should definitely do this, as well as the self-credit report, which can reveal all sorts of things that are good to know. How it works in your city may differ, but my local police department and the feds both provided the service for free. It took weeks, however, to get the certified results. The peace of mind alone is worth a lot, and will impact their confidence, which can have a significant effect at future job interviews.
posted by rokusan at 11:34 AM on October 3, 2016

Best answer: I recently had to complete a background check and I was pleasantly surprised to get a full copy of it-- including all the information given by my previous employers, indications that they had checked for criminal records in all the states where I have previously lived, and a credit report . The company that did the check was American Data Bank. I looked around on their website and didn't see an option for an individual to request their services, but maybe if she called?
posted by charmcityblues at 11:57 AM on October 3, 2016

Best answer: Another consideration is citizenship status --- is your friend a legal resident, a naturalized citizen or a native-born citizen? Some jobs require the prospective employee to be a citizen for security reasons, and some might be leery of hiring a naturalized citizen from certain countries.

Also, has your friend ever been convicted (or even arrested), and if so for what? Belonged to any extremist or extremist-sounding organizations? (This could include things like belonging/formerly belonged to Greenpeace while looking for a job with Shell Oil....)

And just for data: I too had a longer-than-usual security check for my current job; for ridiculous paperwork reasons, I have three, count 'em three, separate and individually valid birth certificates that list three different birth times and towns..... explaining that to the FBI was loads of fun.
posted by easily confused at 12:01 PM on October 3, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I was a person who's job it was to run pre-employment background checks for thousands of people a year.

1. Some counties take a LOT longer to return criminal checks.
2. Criminal Checks look at name + DOB since that is the publicly available information from a criminal record. If they get a hit they then pull the full record and compare SSN. For obvious reasons SSN isn't publicly available. If her name+DOB matches it could be taking longer to pull the full SSN record to verify.
3. Some employers are terrible about responding to requests for information.
4. Some schools are terrible about responding to requests for information.
5. Some background check vendors process information immediately, some take a couple of days.

You may be very lucky in that places in your past are quick to respond or use things like National Student Clearinghouse and The Work Number to verify information and that is just pinging a database so it can happen almost instantly. She may have lived/worked/schooled places that take a long time. She may have a name+DOB match.

Not telling you that you weren't offered the position because of your background check is highly illegal. It is also SOOOOO easy to do it right, actually your background check vendor will happily send that form letter for you. Basically I'd be surprised if multiple employers are pulling their offers based on the background check.

Are the also checking references? References are not the same as a background check, I'd fake call all her references and ensure they are all saying good things about her because that seems much more likely to me. (And you don't have to tell someone that is why you pulled the offer).
posted by magnetsphere at 12:12 PM on October 3, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Ok, so apparently it was one of the non-serious reasons mentioned above that it was taking awhile. She just got called and offered the job!

Thanks everyone for all the information, it is still good to know, and hopefully it will be helpful for someone else in the future!
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 1:34 PM on October 3, 2016