David Friedland
There are many reasons why one might want to perform a background check on somebody. The most common reason is that they are thinking of employing them for some kind of job and want to make sure that they are of good character and are a good fit for the rule.
Some other reasons include because somebody might want to join a club or volunteer with a charity. It’s important that a background check is conducted extensively, thoroughly, and properly.
This article will tell you how lawyers can help their clients to perform background checks:
Research Legality
Before you hire somebody to perform a background check on a person for you, you need to make sure that it’s legal. Unfortunately, it’s against the law to perform a background check on a person without their consent in some places. Additionally, you also need to have a good reason to perform one. With that said, it’s only illegal to do so if you are requesting their criminal record from the police department, which is a very important part of a background check, and likely the first thing that a lawyer will do for you. It’s best if you check this out first to find a trusted lawyer that can guide you through the legal world.
It’s not illegal to perform a background check that involves you inspecting the person’s social media accounts, however. In fact, this is often one of the easiest ways to perform a background check in today’s world. People put their entire lives on display on social media. You can learn a lot about a person by checking out their social media accounts. You may also be able to find historic accounts, that give you a better insight into who they were as a person when they were younger, which can help you to get a better picture of who they are today.
Online Services
Before you go ahead and employ an attorney or lawyer to conduct a background check for you, check out online services. According to the experts from sfgate.com, it’s entirely possible to find an online service to conduct research for you. If you are going to go down this route, then make sure that you read independent reviews and do your research so that you can find the service that’s best for you. Not only does the service you work with need to be experienced and have the proper licenses, but it also needs to be well-reviewed.
It’s usually best to read independent reviews, instead of reviews that are published on the service’s website. This is because reviews posted on the service’s own website always tend to be biased.
In addition to reading independent reviews and bloggers, it might also be worth checking out reviews posted on websites like Trust Pilot and Google Reviews. Reviews on these sites tend to be very reliable. It is worth mentioning however, it’s not uncommon for businesses to post their own fabricated reviews on this site. Bear this in mind when you are checking them out.
How Do Lawyers Conduct Checks?
If you want to go ahead and hire a law firm to conduct a background check for you, then you need to know what the background check process is. We will explain that shortly, but first, there is one thing that you should bear in mind.
Often, if you tell a person that you are going to conduct a background check on them, they will come forward and tell you about anything that will show up. You should always give them the opportunity, to be honest with you first. If they are honest, they are likely to have changed (if the background result yields concerning results).
This is how background checks are carried out:
Criminal Record Check
The first stage of the background check process involves checking the person’s criminal record. If you hire a lawyer to check somebody’s background for you, then they will foot the bill. If you are doing it yourself, then you will need to pay the police for the release of the information. The amount that you have to pay depends on the state that you are in. Some states charge more than others do. A criminal record check is the most important part of a background check because it tells you whether or not a person has prior convictions.
Social Media Check
Following a criminal record check, your lawyer will check out the person on social media. This involves scouring the internet for old social media accounts, where you can learn about the person’s personality, behavior, and attitude. The pictures and posts that they make allow you to create a concise image in your mind of how the person behaves and what their behavior tends to be like. Social media checks are also a very important part of background checking somebody.
References Check
After the person’s social media has been checked and they have gotten an all-clear, references checks can begin. References checks involve approaching and speaking to people that know the person, asking them for information about them.
Usually, references checks come back positive if friends or relatives are given as references. For this reason, you should ask for more difficult references, such as former employers or landlords. This will give you a better idea of what the person is like. They can easily ask their friends and family to lie for them, which could produce biased results.
Credit Check
Finally, you need to check their credit history. This is especially important if you are lending them money or are going to be acting as their landlord. If you do not perform a credit check, you could end up lending or opening your home up to a person that is not responsible with money. This isn’t something that you will likely want. If the person is just going to be working for you or joining a club, their credit history is not really important, but should still be checked just to ensure that they are who they say they are.
Performing background checks is a regular, but stressful process. If you have to carry out a background search, then the best thing to do is to contact a lawyer or a background search service and ask them to do it for you.
