Conducting a background check on oneself is critical, even more so when applying for work, a loan, or housing. It provides you with the benefit of knowing what your employer, landlord, or financial institution may learn about you and prepares you to explain if your background check report contains an error.
According to a 2017 HR.com poll, 96% of businesses do background checks on potential workers.
Additionally, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau stated plainly in its report that any number of businesses or organizations may do a background check on you.
As a result, any of the following organizations may do a background check on you.
- Employers, volunteer groups, and government agencies all play a role in this process
- Landlords and property management firms
- Banks, credit unions, and lenders, among others
- Insurance firms
- Utilities
However, under the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), you have the right to get a copy of any agency’s reports on background checks completed on your behalf. This is critical for correcting.
Reasons for doing a background check on oneself
Conducting a background check is critical for many reasons.
- Rectify inaccuracies in your background report
You might be sharing your name and date of birth with a suspect; you could even be a victim of identity theft. As a result, doing a background check enables you to resolve any issues with your potential employer.
- Verify the information on your curriculum vitae
This guarantees that the content on your CV is succinct and correct. According to CareerBuilder research, up to 58% of employers often spot inconsistencies in potential workers’ resumes.
- Keep track of the results of your background check
Keeping track of your background check is critical; this is particularly true if there is any information you would want your future job, landlord, or insurance agency to be aware of. This provides a chance for you to explain yourself in person.
How to conduct your own background check?
Conducting a background check on oneself entails more than just verifying your criminal history. Employers/agencies will review your educational background and transcripts, as well as verify your employment experience and credit reports.
As a result, you should do a background check on the following individuals:
- Records of criminal activity
If you have previously been convicted or arrested, you may get a copy of your conviction report from the court. Additionally, you should consult with the appropriate federal and state courts.
If you are unsure of your criminal history, you can check it using one of the online criminal background checks to see if anything comes up.
- Report on credit
If you want a credit score, you may be required to pay for it individually. However, as required by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions (FACT) Act, you may receive your credit report for free once a year. Visit AnnualCreditReport.com to get your credit report. This is critical, particularly if you are seeking a credit facility or your company wants to ascertain your financial responsibility.
A credit report will include the following information:
- Your credit history
- Your income-to-debt ratio
- The frequency with which your credit report has been requested, and so on.
- Educational attainment
Employers and other authorities may often seek to verify your educational history. They may do so by seeking transcripts and other data from your previous schools.
You may acquire transcripts from the schools you attended and also repair any inaccuracies on your transcripts or certifications.
- Records of driving
When you apply for a position that requires driving, your prospective employers will do a background check on your driving history.
You may obtain a copy of your driving record by logging onto the DMV website of the state in which you previously had a driver’s license.
- Digital traces
The majority of businesses and agencies will review your social media presence as part of their prerequisites or recruiting procedures. According to a research conducted by SHRM, up to 77 percent of companies do background checks on potential workers using social media platforms prior to finishing the recruiting process.
Consider the following suggestions while doing an internet background check.
- Examine your social network account’s privacy settings.
- Do not use your social media username to publish incriminating images, remarks, or ideas about yourself.
- Delete any posts or images that might jeopardize your security to avoid them appearing in background searches.
- Accepting friend requests from people who are not linked to you in any way should be avoided.
- Take your time clicking on links in your communications.
- Connect your social media accounts separately.
- For your social media accounts, use secure passwords.
- You should deactivate social media accounts that you seldom use to minimize your online imprint.
- Utilize a VPN service to safeguard your online privacy and information.
VPNs preserve your online privacy and also help you minimize your online footprint by blocking your browser from storing third-party cookies, trackers, and other tracking technologies.
Apart from minimizing your internet footprint, a good VPN service, such as NordVPN, guarantees that you appear anonymous online, with an untraceable IP address and location. This disables websites from providing third-party cookies that monitor all your online activity. This is critical to avoid your information being uncovered via random searches made by your future employer or other authorities.
Thus, before doing an internet background check on yourself, you should subscribe to and use NordVPN to safeguard your information and privacy.
Conclusion
Whether you’re applying for a job, admittance, credit facility, or want to rent an apartment, doing a personal background check on yourself is critical to ensure that only correct information about you is revealed when background checks are completed on your behalf.