Background Checks

[Quiver318]

Have you seen how insane employment background screenings have gotten?

I am considering accepting a job with a new company, but they have sent me some consent forms to allow a third-party to perform a background screening on me. The forms are pretty spooky looking! They involve everything that you would normally expect, but they would also seem to have no bounds. For example, they will be looking in my medical records for past drug test results, any refusals to take a drug test, and any old workers' compensation injuries. They will search for FBI Fingerprints, my complete earnings history, resume inaccuracies, and innumerable other factors I have never seen listed before.

Do you agree that they are being a little too paraniod over such a measly job? I can tell you that I certainly feel pariniod now!

What bothers me most is that they have included a “full release of liability” which extends to every government agency, company, past employer or anyone who would be involved in my screening, in any way (even my references). This means that if any one of them commits gross negligence, slander, libel, identity theft, or otherwise ruins my life during this investigation, I would have little or no legal recourse to fix it. Nice for them, eh?

[EntityX]

How much do you want or need that job? Maybe you should stick with the job you got. Sometimes more pay isn't worth the extra pay. There might be something at your present job that you don't like but perhaps there'll be something at your next job that you'll like even less.

[Shaggy Hiker]

Yeah, you'll probably tire of the leg irons.

[mendhak]

Well, hopefully they give you a callback once they're done...

[Quiver318]

How much do you want or need that job? Maybe you should stick with the job you got. Sometimes more pay isn't worth the extra pay. There might be something at your present job that you don't like but perhaps there'll be something at your next job that you'll like even less.

Thanks, I think I will be sticking with my current job. This was going to be a secondary job, anyway.

Apparently, no one in this generation cares about their privacy any more. They give it away. Perhaps it is that they don't know enough to care. So when an employer wants to dig into things that are really none of their business, like your "modes of living," and "personal worth," no one seem to realize that the employer has crossed the line. Any question has become a "valid" question. I just can't understand how that has happened.

[mendhak]

It's probably that they don't know enough but also spurred on by the lower-IQ masses indulgence in privacy-exploiting activities. In simpler terms, it's because there are loads of morons using MySpace and Facebook and Twitter and don't really notice what they're putting on there as the purpose is to maximize attention in order to validate their online presence.

I'm a psychologist, so what I just said is completely true.

[Quiver318]

It's probably that they don't know enough but also spurred on by the lower-IQ masses indulgence in privacy-exploiting activities. In simpler terms, it's because there are loads of morons using MySpace and Facebook and Twitter and don't really notice what they're putting on there as the purpose is to maximize attention in order to validate their online presence.

Well said, Mendhak.

The masses will also sign binding contracts without reading them. Since I am possibly the only one who has ever actually read this this thing, the company will automatically view me as the problem, and not what they are doing as the problem.

The background reporting agency itself boasts that they process 21,000 background screenings per day. That equates to 7.6 million willing people per year who sign this contract without thinking, versus me who won't; so yeah, I am the one who is wrong.

[Shaggy Hiker]

On the other hand, "full release" is a code word for some 'extra services' in the massage industry, so you could play games with them, if you so chose.

[Quiver318]

On the other hand, "full release" is a code word for some 'extra services' in the massage industry, so you could play games with them, if you so chose.

Yes, I should ask them to change the language from "Full Release" to "Happy Ending," and then I would gladly sign it!

[GaryMazzone]

I've had to go though that for a couple of jobs. One was for working at a nuclear power plant the other was for a job that required me to get a Secret / Top Secret security clearance. I guess it would depend on what the job was.

[DeanMc]

I dunno Mendhak, you've got access to my facebook page and im pretty open there. I am what I am and I certainly wouldn't like to work for a company who wanted to dig into my personal life, thrall through my facebook account or even perform any backround checks on me.

[MaximilianMayrhofer]

You have to understand, dean, that once you put it up on facebook, it isn't personal anymore. It's public. And claiming it isn't is just deluded. If you don't want your employer to see that side of you, then don't be an exhibitionist. (That isn't a personal attack, just a general observation about facebook )

[mendhak]

I dunno Mendhak, you've got access to my facebook page and im pretty open there. I am what I am and I certainly wouldn't like to work for a company who wanted to dig into my personal life, thrall through my facebook account or even perform any backround checks on me.

Did I mention that I work for a background check company?

Nah, you're not the kind I'm talking about, you don't give away much info at all.

[DeanMc]

Actually that could be right, its not like I have an amzing social life, work and coding with the odd night out. But I can understand where you come from max, I suppose I don't have anything I do in private that people should not know about in public

[Shaggy Hiker]

It's those "odd night out" that cause you trouble, depending on just how odd it gets.

[DeanMc]

Thats true!