On Dec 18, 2007 7:56 AM, Charlotte Webb charlottethewebb@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/15/07, Andrew Gray shimgray@gmail.com wrote:
"I, _____, (hereafter "Applicant"), authorize ______ (hereafter, "Company") to perform a criminal background check, investigative consumer report, etc. etc. on Applicant and make general inquiries as to Applicant's character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living, etc. etc. Applicant releases Company from any liability from here to eternity, etc. etc.
For some reason companies generally don't actually do this. Call it a hollow scare tactic, call it lack of resources, call it assuming good faith, or call it incompetence. Maybe Applicant has nice legs or good handwriting. Maybe Company needs warm bodies and needs them yesterday. Doesn't really matter until somebody points a finger later and said "this should have prevented that", especially if one is merely trying to explain why convicted felons outnumber unemployed people. ;-)
Of course I have yet to see one of these release forms that mentions a "Google search" ;-) It may be a cold cold post-post-modern job market but still primarily lacking in technical savvy, otherwise what would they need you for...
Most companies don't do background checks, I have found.
Those that ask for permission to do so generally do. My consulting company does, and rarely we find things that weren't disclosed to us beforehand. Some of our customers do (and in one case, turned up something our background check company missed...), both for consultants and internal permanent hires. One of those included fingerprints and a FBI check.
The proportion that have done something is about a quarter.