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Yours Truly

"There shouldn't be anything on my background"

The vast majority of jobs run a background check on their potential employees. This shouldn't be a shock to people in this day and age, and yet…


All jobs that run background checks have specific criteria against which all employees are measured, and they hold every one of their potential employees to the exact same requirements to ensure fairness. Some places are more lenient than others. Allow me to provide a generic example: a meat-packing plant will let darn near every wanna-be felon in the front door. Your average hospital or school, not so much. Why? Places where employees will be working around minors and/or vulnerable people will be scrutinizing backgrounds to ensure the minors/vulnerable people remain as safe as possible.


In the staffing industry, we work with many different clients, all of which have different background check criteria. Our agency needs to check and double check to ensure we are following all of our clients' specific requirements to the letter. Then, once I am done documenting reasons as to why someone did not pass the background requirements for a specific client, that person is notified that they are ineligible. While the reasons for ineligibility are not listed due to privacy laws, people are not discouraged from calling in and requesting the reasoning as to why they didn't get the job. Of note and a particular perk of my job: If they call in, they get transferred to HR to discuss their background check in more detail.


Said another way: I don’t have to deal with them!


So, given that I don’t have to deal with any of the downside, appreciate that I enjoy background checks. Background checks entertain me. It may make me a horrible person, but what can I say? There are times when I'm reviewing a background check and feel that much better about my own life. It’s like the inverse of that social media effect when all you see when you look at someone’s life is vacations and money and perfect lives.


Then, what really floats my boat is when someone who has failed a background check for whatever reason calls in and tells us, "There shouldn't be anything on my background." Alright. Sure. I know that you know that there is something on your background, and I'm pretty sure that you know that I know there is something on your background, but you can take that up with HR. Call transferred. Boom.


I spoke to a gentleman a short while back who applied for a position and ultimately failed his background check. He called in huffing and puffing about how there 'shouldn't be anything on his background.' I politely inform him that something was flagged which made him ineligible to work with any of our clients. The guy demands to know what. Well, since I'm not in HR, I transferred him to HR. This did not stop me from fabricating the conversation in my head as I (happily) hung up the phone.


Dear sir: I feel like it would be difficult to 'forget' the misdemeanor domestic assault on your record. Shouldn't be anything in your background? Please. Beating the absolute hell out of someone who lives in your house and subsequently being arrested and charged with assault less than a year ago isn't something a person just 'forgets.' What’s that? Oh, you remember now? Ok. You too. Have a nice day. Buh-bye.

Do us all a favor: don't argue. You know what's on your background. I (now) know what's on your background. Don't get upset that a job won't accept whatever charge it is that's on your background. You did it to yourself. Not my problem. Don't waste my time calling in and arguing.


Anyway. Don't suck. End of lesson.

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