Background Investigations

There is a big difference between a “background check” and a background investigation.  The “check” is what you can get off the internet for $49.99, or whatever price they quote you.  It may involve a credit check, but not always.  It might check a federal database for criminal convictions, but it will be severely limited.  In essence this type of service is everything you can glean from the internet, but not in person work.  That is why these companies can offer “a full background check” in less than two hours.

A background investigation is different.  It involves full cooperation from the Applicant.  The Applicant will sign waivers for privacy issues, financial, work history, education history, military service, social media usage, and more.  The investigator will start by interviewing the Applicant, then all primary contacts the Applicant has listed.  However, this is just the start.  The investigator will reach out to all mentioned people, often asking the primary contacts for five more people who know the applicant in some way.  Then doing the same thing over and over.

The investigator moves on to other people, perhaps those who don’t agree with the Applicant’s opinions, or who flat out don’t like the Applicant.  But this is what the investigator really needs.  A person’s true character is often revealed by those who don’t agree with them.

Salt.  That long ago saying.  Take it with a grain of salt.  It can be tough when faced with an ex-significant other who is bent on tarnishing the Applicant’s reputation.  That is where a lifetime of doing investigations comes in.  Homicides, person crimes, background investigations.  They all have one thing in common.  They all involve people.  This is not Hollywood.  A crime does not happen and get solved in twenty minutes.  A good background investigation also is not done quickly.

Depending on your company, church, school, or public agency the background investigation can be tailored for your needs.  A typical investigation lasts between 20-50 hours of investigative work.  Why such a large variance?  Because no one’s life is truly typical.  There may be an extensive life history to go through.  There could be initial “red flags” seen that need extra investigation to ensure they are not an issue.

Why go to this extent?  Why spend the money on a background investigation?  I would like to say the primary reason is to get the right people into the right jobs.  To make sure the person caring for children, elderly, or disadvantaged people would never take advantage of their position.  To ensure the new employee entrusted with large sums of money never gets the urge to take some.  Or to be certain the new employee at a lab, pharmacy, or medical center never takes drugs or opiates illegally.  

The list goes on.  There are so many occupations and positions where the employees need to be on solid ethical and behavioral footing.  

But humans will be humans.  Even though the best predicator of future behavior is past behavior, it does not always work the way we want it.  Sometimes people break their patterns and do bad things.

Liability.  Not the favorite word or topic for most people.  But a reality we all live with.  If a quality background investigation is performed as a screening aspect of employment it will in almost all cases mitigate the liability.  Perhaps it may help in not hiring this person at all.  

Compare that to an employee with two years on the job.  A “background check” was done via a cheap internet-based company and it showed no concerns.  But now the employee has committed an offense.  Maybe towards another employee, or a customer, or a client.  When the lawsuit hits and you are asked if the employee was properly vetted with a background investigation what will you say?

As a previous client told me:  “Either we pay for a proper background investigation now, or we pay much, much more money a few years down the road in the form of a lawsuit”.  My client brought up a good point.  I have seen small municipalities nearly bankrupt due to the malfeasance of a single employee or supervisor.  It’s difficult for even a large entity to absorb a lawsuit or settlement in the millions of dollars, let alone a small town.

Those are my 2 cents.  It echoes what I have tried to install in my children and the hundreds of students I have taught.  Take a little extra time at the beginning of something.  Spend a little more money, put more effort into something at the front end of a project or task and you can avoid needing to put way more effort and money into the task at the back end.