When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview Questions

8/8/2019 When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview Questions

1/6Page 1 Copyright 2009, TheLadders. All rights reserved.

Everyone faces curveballs in interviews. But when can skeletons

in your closet reach out to hurt your chances?

When Background Checks Makefor Tough Interview Questions

By Kevin Fogarty

EVERY CAREER GUIDE EVER WRITTEN covers the tough

job-interview questions: Why do you want to work here? What isyour greatest weakness?

That advice rarely extends to questions that cut closer to home: ex-

plaining away the DWI you got on the way back from dinner with

a client or the rumors of fraud that painted everyone laid off from

the nance department where you worked after the stock price col-

lapsed. There is little to prepare you to answer questions about the

REMEMBER THE OLD SAWabout making sure to wear cleanunderwear in case youre in an acci-

dent? Being prepared for sudden dis-

closure is a principle that should ap-

ply to your job search as well.

Putting your best foot forward in an

interview is hard enough in the bestof circumstances. Nobodys perfect,

and it always takes preparation to

portray your career highs and lows in

an honest but favorable light.

But what if you have some serious

issues in your past: an arrest, tax trou-

ble, association with a company mired

in scandal? Even worse, what if the

glitch in your record is something of

which youre unaware? At the seniorlevel, extensive background checks

are standard business and most

prospective employers will probably

nd the dirty laundry even if you

dont.

In this package, reporter Kevin

Fogarty talks to the professional in-

vestigators your next employer will

likely use to check up on you and

gets their advice on how to be pre-pared for the really tough questions

those investigations may prompt.

Do Your Own LaundryBy Matthew Rothenberg, Editor-in-Chief, TheLadders.com

INTERVIEWING

What did you think of this package? Got a story of your own to tell? Have ideas for future coverage? Please write Editor-in-Chief Matthew Rothenbergat [email protected].

The Anatomy of Background CheckPage 2 Employment Background Checks: Know Your Rights Page 5

IN THIS PACKAGE:
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When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview QuestionsINTERVIEWING

well-respected boss who never got along with you and asked

you to resign or the sexual-harassment charge leveled against

you but dismissed, years earlier.

It is not uncommon to have something lurking in your past or

left off your resume that might upset your job search or pres-

ent an obstacle in interview. And it neednt be an Enron-scale

scandal to cause you concern. A black mark on your record(like a negative statement in an employment background check

or a lie uncovered in an employment

and education verication check)

can be enough to send a hiring man-

ager on to the next candidate.

Recruiters and investigators who

conduct employment background

checks advise job seekers to know

what their records will say to a po-

tential employer and be prepared tocorrect or explain them in an inter-

view.

If they got a degree at a diploma mill, that will be revealed

in a respectable background check; if they didnt work at an

employer they listed, or didnt have the job title they said they

had, that will come out, said Les Rosen, former California

deputy district attorney; president of Employment Screen-

ing Resources of Novato, Calif.; and founding member of

the National Association of Professional Background

Screeners.

The problem for job seekers is that there isnt a lot they can

do to keep secrets under wraps while theyre job-searching

or even afterward. If you have a black mark on your record

expect it to surface, Rosen said. When a person with some-

thing minor in their background tries to hide it, they are taking

a risk.

Almost everyone is doing

background checks on every hire;

its the quickest way to get rid of

applicants, said Jo Prabhu, found-

er and CEO of placement rm

1800Jobquest.com of Long

Beach, Calif., and an expert on us-

ing background checks in hiring.

It goes even down to the admin-

istrative level; someone might be a

felon or have some arrests. So they

check everyone.

What records matter?

Most employers arent even interested in your criminal past

unless its relevant to the job for which youre applying, Prabu

said. Employers usually just want to know that youve done the

time or paid the ne and that the whole thing was resolved at

least two years ago, she said.

I did have a woman who got a DUI on New Years Eve, bu

that was easy to explain, Prabu said. If it was something in

college or not related to the job, employers arent interested.

If youre applying for a nancial position, theyll do an additional credit check, and that might be relevant, she said. Bu

By Kevin Fogarty

THE QUESTIONS most job seekers wantanswered about background checks are when theyll be subject to one and what itwill turn up.

Depending on the amount of effort andmoney a company is willing to spend, a back-ground investigation of even a few days canturn up every place youve ever lived, every

company for which youve worked and thegaps in your resume you tried to hide byfudging dates.

It will also turn up exaggerations or liesabout your education or work history; a poorcredit history; any lawsuits led against youor those youve led against others; and anysanctions or charges brought by any federal,regulatory or licensing agency, including stateBar Associations and the Securities and Ex-

The Anatomy of Background CheckPrivate investigators and former government agents share trade secrets about how they conduct employ-

ment background checks for hiring companies.

Martin

Prabu

Rosen
http://www.esrcheck.com/about/about_people.phphttp://www.esrcheck.com/about/http://www.esrcheck.com/about/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://1800jobquest.com/http://1800jobquest.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.esrcheck.com/about/http://www.esrcheck.com/about/http://www.esrcheck.com/about/about_people.php


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When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview QuestionINTERVIEWING

they dont check civil suits or other things. Its

too expensive, and its not relevant.

If during the last ve years you were con-

victed of check fraud, and I was hiring you

to do a job where you had access to nances,

that would be a concern, said Robert E.

Capwell, chief knowledge ofcer at Employ-

ment Background Investigations Inc. of

Owings Mills, Md.

If you were a reg-

istered sex offender

and were working

with children or

with members of

the opposite sex,

that would be, too.

The question is

how long ago was

the crime and how

relevant is it to the

job youre discussing.

Potential employers want to gauge their own

level of risk or more perversely if your

black mark involves the kind of nancial she-

nanigans that made Wall Streeters rich at the

expense of regulations and their own stock-

holders whether youre still willing to play

hardball.

Well nd out pretty quickly if you said you

were the VP of operations (for an entire com-

pany) but it was only a department, and by ver-

ifying dates of employment, well nd out you

said you worked somewhere for a year, but

it was only six months and you got red and

then didnt work anywhere for six months,Capwell said. Former employers cant say

much, but they are supposed to verify dates

and titles.

Full disclosure

About the only real solution to a glitch in

an otherwise resume-polished background

is full disclosure, investigators and recruiters

agreed.

Derogatory information honestly re-

vealed and discussed by the applicant ismuch less harmful than if its discovered

by a third party, ESRs Rosen said. Even

if the companys not really looking, one of

the most productive sources of background

checks is co-workers.

If youre a six-gure person, you have to

start with the assumption there are a lot of

people working with you or under you who

are interested and are going to look you up,

he said. Theyre ready to go on the Internetand see if youre a sex offender because

Derogatoryinformationhonestlyrevealed anddiscussed bythe appli-

cant is muchless harmfulthan if itsdiscoveredby a thirdparty.

change Commission, said ThomasG. Martin, a former agent for theDept. of Justice, now president ofMartin Investigative Services,Newport Beach, Calif., and authorof Investigator Confdential.

A comprehensive search like thattakes a lot of legwork and subscrip-tions to a variety of criminal, civiland demographic databases. How-ever, what that research doesnt turnup, a little chat will.

Weve taught interview and inter-rogation to the Dept. of Justice andall over the world, Martin said. A

company will y us in, and we caninterrogate somebody and I willguarantee, knowing what questionsto ask, how to ask and when to askthem, we will come out knowing ev-erything there is to know about thatperson. Usually it takes an hour orless, he said.

Checking out executive-level hiresis part of routine due diligence formost companies, many of which areconcerned about white-collar crime,risk of fraud, a history of sexual ha-rassment or other unethical or trou-blesome behavior, said Robert E.Capwell, chief knowledge ofcer at

Employment Background Investiga-

tions Inc. of Owings Mills, Md.

Identity check: Who are you?

For many job seekers the back-

ground check starts with the basics

an identity check. Most compa-nies will run a check on your social

security number, drivers license,

dates of birth and aliases or maiden

names that may vary from birth cer-

ticates, to verify that you are who

you say you are. From a hiring man-

agers perspective your identity is not

a given.

Les Rosen

See TOUGH QUESTIONS Page 5

Capwell
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As a jobseeker, whatshould youknow aboutbackgroundchecks, and

how canyou prepareyourself toface one?

By Lisa Vaas

AS A JOB SEEKER, what are the chancesthat potential employers will run back-

ground checks on you?

Excellent. Ninety-six percent of human-

resources professionals claim their organi-

zations perform background checks on po-

tential employees and new hires, according

to a recent poll by the Society for Human

Resources Management (SHRM).

What are they looking for? One-third of

U.S. employers now use credit checks toscreen applicants, according to a survey

by the Los Angeles Times. Others verify

claims made on your resume and in the job

interview. Some look at criminal records,

news reports and even sex-offender status.

As a job seeker, what should you know

about background checks, and how can you

prepare yourself to face one?

Permission granted

The rst thing to know about backgroundchecks is that they cant be done without

your permission. Employers are required to

inform job seekers that they intend to per-

form a background check and receive writ-

ten permission from the job seeker, accord-

ing to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a

nonprot consumer-information and advo-

cacy organization.

If an employer chooses not to hire an ap-plicant because of information gleaned from

a background check, theyre required to no-

tify the job seeker and provide the name of

the company that prepared the report; the

law includes a loophole for employers who

run background checks themselves.

There is a lot of identity theft outthere, and not just for credit cards,Capwell said. There have been in-stances where someone tried to geta job using someone elses identity.If youre looking for a CFO, some-one who has duciary responsibil-ity or check-writing authority, youdlike to know its the person you weretalking about.

What will they fnd?

The most common employmentbackground checks are a search ofpublic-records databases, like crimi-nal history, credit reports, civil suitsand driving records, said Jo Prabhu,founder and CEO of placement rm1800Jobquest.com of Long Beach,Calif., and an expert on using back-ground checks in hiring. Prabu, who

sometimes puts in 200 to 300 requestsfor background checks in a singleweek, says an average cost to the hir-ing company ranges between $150and $180.

For that money a hiring managercan get reasonably good conrmationthat candidates are who they say theyare and get a decent picture of theirbackgrounds, said Les Rosen, formerCalifornia deputy district attorney;

president of Employment Screen-ing Resources of Novato, Calif.; andfounding member of the NationalAssociation of Professional Back-ground Screeners.

Many, though not nearly all, statessell databases with criminal convic-tions, driving records, civil court-caseresults and other legal entanglements,

and a qualied background-searchcompany will buy or subscribe toall that are relevant. It will also paypeople to search in person at countycourthouses all over the country forrecords that are not yet computerized,calling past employers to verify datesof employment and job titles, callingcolleges or universities to conrm anydegrees a candidate claims as well,he said.

Not that big a risk, Martin believes.The quality of the background checkdepends on the quality of the inves-tigation company and its ability tobridge gaps in the digital record.

If someone tells you they can doa nationwide computer search andcome up with a good result, theyretalking out their ****. A nationwide

Employment Background Checks: Know Your RightsYoure likely to face a background check on your job search, but there are limits, and you have some options.

See RIGHTS Page
http://moss07.shrm.org/Pages/default.aspxhttp://moss07.shrm.org/Pages/default.aspxhttp://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-cover-badcredit7http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-cover-badcredit7http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://www.privacyrights.org/workplace.htmhttp://1800jobquest.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://www.napbs.com/http://1800jobquest.com/http://www.privacyrights.org/workplace.htmhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-cover-badcredit7http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-cover-badcredit7http://moss07.shrm.org/Pages/default.aspxhttp://moss07.shrm.org/Pages/default.aspx


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When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview QuestionINTERVIEWING

that information isnt hard for consumersto nd or what degrees youre claimingin your LinkedIn prole or other businessconnection, and whether you ever wentthere.

Since theres not any real way to concealderogatory information, its better to knowwhat might be disclosed about you duringa background check. Have a backgroundcheck done on yourself to check that theinformation is accurate. If you nd falseinformation, you can try to correct the in-accuracies, but there is little you can do tohide negative, but accurate items, Prabhusaid. The best advice is to be prepared toexplain them and you cant do that untilyou know what someone will nd.

There are a lot of people with things ontheir record that arent discharged likea DUI that someone got a long time agoand then moved to another state before thestate sent them a notice saying to pay thene, she said. That would show up on

your record looking as if you ed the stateven if its not true.

There is a dramatic increase in the number of searches being done and the typeof tools that are being used, Rosen sai

There will almost always be a driving record, for example. Its an inexpensive recorto get, and it turns up DUIs or drug incdents that can reveal alcohol or drug problems that way.

Honesty is about the only choice, especialwhen wafing about tough questions woulraise enough red ags that a potential employer would either drop you or investigatfurther, according to Jim Villwock, an experienced nancial-industry executive turnecareer coach and author of Whacke

Again! Secrets to Getting Back on thExecutive Saddle.

What (hiring managers) want to knowhe said, is, Are you going to do the sam

thing to me?

There is adramatic

increase inthe number ofsearches beingdone and thetypes of toolsthat are beingused.

Les Rosen

criminal-records search does notexist, Martin said. In California,which is one of the states where itseasier to get the information, there

are 58 counties and only about 15 areall online. If you did a mass murderin Curran County, an employer is notgoing to nd out about it.

Even on some of the good da-tabases, nationwide means everythree or four states, and even thoseare not complete. You have to goto every county the person livedand check the courts in person.Martin said.

For the most senior positions andthe most costly background checks,some companies go even further. They will hire freelance investiga-tors or contract researchers in mostcounties to check for records. Oth-ers will even contact and interviewformer colleagues, managers, evenneighbors, investigators said.

What they wont fnd

Dont be too eager to disclosetoo much, though, Capwell said. If

theres a state law limiting employersto background criminal searches of

seven years, dont volunteer thingsthat happened eight years ago. Prab-

hus standard search goes back 14years, and its possible to go much

farther back than that.

And its becoming easier to nd

out where a person lived by rentingdata from the U.S. Postal Service,

magazine subscription companies,

and other commercial databasesthat, using your name, Social SecurityNumber or other data, can pinpoint

every place youve lived and propertyyouve owned, Martin said.

But employers cant nd out ev-

erything, and theyre not completelyfree to use everything they do nd,

Prabhu said.

The federal Fair Credit Report-ing Act forbids companies fromcontracting out a background check

without the written approval of the

person being investigated, for exam-ple, she said.

Candidates have a right to see anybackground check report that comes

back and to have a chance to correctany errors on it before any hiring

decision is made, Rosen said. Theyalso have the right to demand a re-investigation to verify facts that are

in dispute.

The pendulum has swung backpretty far in favor of the applicant,Rosen said. But thats only true

for outside companies. HR is al-lowed to do the investigation inter-nally without permission, and therearent any real controls on people on

the Internet.

4 TOUGH QUESTIONS
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Job seekers are also entitled to receive a free copy of such re-

ports from the company that prepared them. The same holds

true for current employees.

What an employer can and cannot check

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (PDF) (15 USC 1681 et

seq.) sets a national standard for employers to follow when

conducting a background check on an applicant or employee.

It allows employers to use negative background reports to de-

cide against hiring candidates.

Background checks may consist of a mere credit check or

can legally extend to criminal histories; driving records; and/or

interviews with neighbors, friends and associates.

According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, the fol-

lowing information is off-limits to employers conducting

background checks:

Bankruptcies after 10 years

Civil suits, civil judgments and records of arrest, from

date of entry, after seven years

Paid tax liens after seven years

Accounts placed for collection after seven years

Any other negative information (except criminal convic-

tions) after seven years.

Criminal convictions and anything in the public domain, i.e.

reported in the media is fair game.

What happens if a background check turns up

erroneous information?

Recruiters tell TheLadders they try not to assume that nega-

tive results pulled up on Google, for example, are true without

a deeper investigation. Instead, theyll consult with job candi-

dates to determine whether the negative ndings are accurate.

But Google searches and even professional background checks

can return false positives, and the results are enough to dis-

qualify you from a job, according to FCRA regulations.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse has learned of multipl

cases in which individuals remain unemployed for years, un

aware that wrongful criminal records resulting from identity

theft were the reason employers werent hiring them.

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse is compiling reports of

those whove recently been denied employment due to erro-

neous employment background checks; those who suspect or

know this to be their situation are asked to contact the PRC.

Forewarned is forearmed

Wrongful criminal records and credit smears stemming from

identity theft are notoriously hard to clear up. So can honest

blemishes on your record, such as a high-prole failure at a past

employer, a bad credit history or a family members arrest. Bu

you can get ahead of bad background checks by performing

one on yourself. By investigating himself, a job seeker can nd

and address any erroneous information that might be associ-

ated with his paper trail, or at least be prepared to face ques-

tions on correct, but negative, results employers might nd.

Start with credit reports. The FCRA guarantees individu-

als once-yearly access to a free credit report from each of the

three nationwide reporting agencies Experian, Equifax

andTransUnion.

Job seekers can also opt to pay for a more thorough back-

ground check with a service such as MyBackgroundCheck

com, which costs $89.99 and delves into county crimina

searches and delivers a Social Security address locator report

previous employment verication for three positions; educa

tion verication (highest degree earned); national sex-offender

search; and a check against the FBIs Terrorist Screening Da-

tabase.

By seeing what a potential employer will see, an applicant wil

be able to begin correcting false information and prepare to

defend negative reports.

Checklist: Clean Up Your Web Trail

Employment Law and Your Rights

How References Can Derail Your Career

Are There Skeletons in Your Closet?

Career Advice from TheLadders

4 RIGHTS
http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdfhttp://www.privacyrights.org/ar/wcr.htmhttp://privacyrights.org/inquiryf.php?rec=bethhttp://www.experian.com/http://www.equifax.com/home/http://www.transunion.com/http://mybackgroundcheck.com/http://mybackgroundcheck.com/http://www.theladders.com/career-advice/find-personal-information-onlinehttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/employment-law-rightshttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/references-derail-careerhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/Background-checks-explainedhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/references-derail-careerhttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/employment-law-rightshttp://www.theladders.com/career-advice/find-personal-information-onlinehttp://mybackgroundcheck.com/http://mybackgroundcheck.com/http://www.transunion.com/http://www.equifax.com/home/http://www.experian.com/http://privacyrights.org/inquiryf.php?rec=bethhttp://www.privacyrights.org/ar/wcr.htmhttp://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/031224fcra.pdf

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When Background Checks Make for Tough Interview Questions