How To Know If You Passed Background Check

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What Happens If You lot Fail a Background Bank check

A failed groundwork check is a concern for many job seekers, whether or non they have criminal histories.

Near often, to fail a background check is to be disqualified from the hiring procedure. However, because at that place are few objective standards for a passed or failed background check, there can be some confusion about what to expect when you submit to screening. Beneath, we explain some of the factors that can lead to a failed groundwork screening and what y'all can do to ameliorate your chances of passing.

How to Neglect a Background Bank check

What does it hateful to neglect a groundwork check?

There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes passing a background check. What may be adequate in 1 chore may be unacceptable in some other. Employers are required to disqualify job candidates for sure convictions. For case, if you have two DUI convictions on your tape, you will exist disqualified from whatsoever chore that requires driving. Employment screening is not a test or examination for objective criteria for "passing" or "declining" exist.

A background check may reveal various details nearly a candidate'southward past, including criminal history, civil courtroom history, educational and employment history. Whatever of these categories of data could serve as a "red flag," depending on the employer and position. Employers seek convictions that are direct related to the job's responsibilities. For instance, a bank may revoke a job offer to a candidate if the depository financial institution learns of the candidate's embezzlement conviction. The hiring manager and their team are ultimately responsible for determining whether they are comfortable hiring someone despite cherry flags.

The most critical affair to realize regarding passing or failing a background check is that every employer has slightly different standards. Some employers are willing to hire candidates with criminal histories. Others are more than hesitant to do so. Some employers run a broad diversity of checks, including criminal history, employment history, education verification, driving history, and credit history. Other employers only perform criminal history checks. Because of these factors, it can be difficult to predict the outcome of a background screening.

Reasons you may fail a groundwork cheque

What causes a blood-red flag on a background bank check? Here are a few reasons why a potential employer may make up one's mind that yous take "failed" your background screening.

You may have a confidence on your tape (that is direct relevant to the job at paw)

Usually, simply having a criminal tape doesn't mean that yous fail a background check. Considering of guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are expected to assess the relevance of the criminal activity to the job at hand before making an adverse hiring decision.

Equally such, if y'all are applying for a data entry job and have a five-year-old drug charge on your record, you probably won't exist butterfingers from job consideration. Your criminal activeness does not have much relevance to the position for which you are applying. On the other hand, if you are applying for a commitment commuter job and have a two-yr-old DUI confidence, you are likely to fail the background cheque and be denied the job opportunity. In the eyes of the employer, your DUI directly inhibits your ability to perform the job, and it flags you as a risky hire.

You lied on your resume

Many employers run verification searches to check the information on your resume. The college you lot attended, degree(due south) yous received, GPA, job titles and responsibilities, employment dates, skills, professional person licenses: all these things are off-white game in a verification check.

If y'all lied or stretched the truth on your resume, at that place is a good chance that your employer will uncover information technology. Getting caught in a prevarication volition almost always qualify as declining a background bank check. In fact, lying on your resume and an employer discovering that lie in a groundwork check is more likely to lose you a job opportunity than non having all the experience or degrees that the job clarification demands.

Yous accept other red flags

Even if y'all don't have a criminal history and are 100 percent honest on your resume, you can however fail a background check. That's considering employers volition sometimes await elsewhere to learn more about yous. This type of broader search tin can plow up details about you that raise questions almost your power to perform the job in the optics of the hiring managing director.

For instance, if you lot are applying for a job that involves managing a visitor'due south finances, simply your credit history check reveals debt and missed payments, that might impact your hiring chances. The hiring manager might see your poor credit as a sign of irresponsibility or carelessness in managing your personal finances, which in plough won't reflect positively on your ability to manage visitor finances.

Similarly, if you are applying for a driving job and your driving history check shows a dozen speeding tickets, yous are likely to fail the groundwork check in the employer's optics. Your driving history shows carelessness or recklessness that the employer will see as a liability.

You won't face up all these checks at every job, and these red flags won't always be meaning considerations for all employers. A hiring manager because you lot for a desk chore in an office environment likely won't intendance much near your speeding tickets. Nonetheless, when the reddish flags are relevant to the position, they practice comport weight.

Your potential employer made a error

If you lot disagree about the inclusion of a criminal tape in your background study, consult your employer. While background cheque companies pull information from public records, an employer makes the decision regarding whether the identifying criteria on the record matches the applicant. Sometimes, an employer may accidentally add an out-of-engagement record or a record that is non relevant to that candidate.

Considering of these factors, it is possible to fail a background cheque for criminal history or other data that doesn't apply to yous. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Human action (FCRA), employers must provide yous with a copy of the background report and a written caption of any adverse action that they are taking against you. If your prospective employers comply with the FCRA, you should have a risk to fence your example if you believe that you are being denied a position wrongfully.

Then, you lot failed a background check - what's next?

Usually, failing an employment screening will mean that you need to find a unlike job. An offense or scarlet flag that leads to disqualification from 1 hiring process might non have the aforementioned impact everywhere. Some employers are more lenient and are willing to requite candidates 2nd chances. Continue in mind that no employer can deny all candidates with a criminal history automatically, or they will face discrimination claims.

If y'all want to increase your chances of passing your next employment screening, here are a few things that you can do.

Run a background cheque on yourself: Conducting a groundwork screening on yourself gives y'all the run a risk to see what prospective employers may see when they look at your history. If there are records on your written report that don't use to you, yous tin can fix those bug earlier they price you a job opportunity.
Sympathize which jobs y'all are unlikely to go: Certain crimes or offenses make it difficult to discover jobs in sure fields. For instance, a sexual activity offender tin't hold a job that involves working with children, and someone with a violent criminal history is unlikely to laissez passer an employment screening for a customer service job. If y'all have a criminal history, practise some homework online to gain a more thorough understanding of the types of jobs that are longshots for you. That style, yous can focus your energy on applying for the jobs that you are more probable to get.
Be honest: Don't embellish your resume. Don't lie in interviews. If the job awarding asks if yous have e'er been convicted of a crime, don't answer "No" if the answer is "Yes." Your chances of passing any groundwork screening—be information technology a verification check or a criminal history search—become up significantly when yous are honest and forthright. Many professionals accept failed a groundwork check simply because they told a prevarication on a resume.
Consider expungement: If y'all take a criminal tape that is making it more hard for y'all to find employment, it may be worth exploring the process of expungement. Depending on the type of offense(s) on your record, you may be eligible to use to have the records sealed or expunged.

Sealed records are generally but accessible to police force enforcement agencies and won't evidence upwards on nearly background reports, while expunged records are scrubbed from your record. Particularly for misdemeanors or older offenses, expungement may exist the best fashion to get yourself a clean slate.

At backgroundchecks.com, we offer a plan called MyClearStart that helps individuals to pursue expungement or tape sealing. You can take an eligibility exam today to make up one's mind whether y'all are a candidate for expungement.

How to manage a failed background check after a chore offering

In many jurisdictions, employers must follow "ban the box" legislation when designing their hiring procedure and screening policy. The "box" in ban the box refers to the question on a job awarding that asks if y'all have e'er been convicted of a crime. This question unremarkably comes with a "bank check yep or no" box. Ban the box laws make information technology illegal for employers to ask about criminal history on job applications or in task interviews.

Often, these laws also bar employers from conducting background checks until later on they accept fabricated a conditional job offer. The job offering is "conditional" considering it depends on the outcome of the background screening. The employer notwithstanding has the right to rescind the task offering and deny you employment if the groundwork check gives them reasonable (and legal) cause to take adverse action.

If you failed a background check after a job offer, then the chances are high that your prospective employer institute something in your history that chosen into question your ability to perform the job at hand.

What happens if y'all fail a groundwork bank check after a job offer?

Think that the FCRA requires employers to 1) notify you lot if they are taking adverse action against you based on background check findings, two) provide you lot with a copy of the background check report, and three) give you a risk to contest the findings of the background check. If you failed a groundwork check afterward a job offer (or even before a chore offer), make certain that the employer is respecting your rights nether the FCRA. If they are non, then you may accept a example for a lawsuit.

Many well-known companies have faced legal trouble in recent years for maintaining a screening policy that violates the FCRA. Employers must pay close attention to the nuances of the FCRA to avoid legal fallout.

How to know if yous failed your check?

How do you know if you've failed an employer background check? The requirements of the FCRA ensure that you will not be left wondering near the event of your background check.

In about cases, employers just run background checks on candidates they are planning to hire. If yous laissez passer the background check, yous volition probable be hired. If you fail the background check, y'all will be notified and (as outlined above) furnished with a copy of the groundwork check report, as well as a written explanation for the agin action. Per the FCRA, you should take fourth dimension to review these documents and reply earlier the conclusion is final.

"Can I dispute a failed background check?" Information technology is a common question among task seekers, and the respond is yes. Per the FCRA, employers are required to notify candidates and give them a chance to respond before taking adverse action. If yous have reason to believe that y'all are unfairly disqualified based on background check findings, y'all can dispute that information with the employer or the background check visitor.

For instance, if your failed groundwork check is due to a criminal conviction that was expunged, you can contact the background bank check company to inform them that the information in question should non have been in your database. You can too explicate the state of affairs to the employer. If the conviction in question was truly expunged, the employer cannot legally employ that information to move forward with adverse activity that disqualifies y'all from employment or removes your job offering.

To acquire more about background checks and the complexities of passing and failing them, visit the backgroundchecks.com Learning Center.

Michael Klazema

About Michael Klazema The author

Michael Klazema is Chief Marketing Technologist at EY-VODW.com and has over 2 decades of experience in digital consulting, online product management, and engineering science innovation. He is the lead author and editor for Dallas-based backgroundchecks.com with a focus on homo resource and employment screening developments.