What Disqualifies You From Getting A State Job In A Background Check

What Happens If You Fail a Background Check

A failed background check is a business organization for many job seekers, whether or not they take criminal histories.

About frequently, to fail a background bank check is to be disqualified from the hiring process. Withal, because there are few objective standards for a passed or failed groundwork check, there can be some confusion almost what to expect when you submit to screening. Beneath, we explicate some of the factors that tin lead to a failed background screening and what you can do to improve your chances of passing.

How to Fail a Background Check

What does it hateful to fail a background cheque?

There is no universally accepted definition of what constitutes passing a background check. What may be acceptable in one job may exist unacceptable in some other. Employers are required to disqualify job candidates for sure convictions. For instance, if you take 2 DUI convictions on your record, you lot will be disqualified from any job that requires driving. Employment screening is not a test or examination for objective criteria for "passing" or "failing" be.

A background check may reveal various details about a candidate's past, including criminal history, ceremonious court history, educational and employment history. Whatsoever of these categories of information could serve as a "red flag," depending on the employer and position. Employers seek convictions that are directly related to the chore's responsibilities. For instance, a bank may revoke a chore offer to a candidate if the banking concern learns of the candidate's embezzlement confidence. The hiring director and their squad are ultimately responsible for determining whether they are comfortable hiring someone despite red flags.

The about critical thing to realize regarding passing or failing a groundwork bank check is that every employer has slightly dissimilar standards. Some employers are willing to rent candidates with criminal histories. Others are more hesitant to do and so. Some employers run a wide multifariousness of checks, including criminal history, employment history, educational activity verification, driving history, and credit history. Other employers but perform criminal history checks. Because of these factors, information technology tin be difficult to predict the upshot of a background screening.

Reasons you may fail a groundwork cheque

What causes a reddish flag on a background bank check? Here are a few reasons why a potential employer may determine that you accept "failed" your background screening.

Yous may take a conviction on your record (that is directly relevant to the chore at mitt)

Unremarkably, but having a criminal record doesn't mean that y'all fail a background check. Because of guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers are expected to assess the relevance of the criminal activity to the job at paw earlier making an agin hiring decision.

As such, if y'all are applying for a data entry job and take a five-year-old drug charge on your record, you probably won't exist disqualified from chore consideration. Your criminal activity does not have much relevance to the position for which you are applying. On the other hand, if you are applying for a delivery commuter chore and accept a ii-yr-one-time DUI conviction, you are likely to fail the groundwork check and be denied the task opportunity. In the eyes of the employer, your DUI straight inhibits your power to perform the job, and it flags yous as a risky rent.

You lied on your resume

Many employers run verification searches to cheque the data on your resume. The college y'all attended, degree(s) you received, GPA, job titles and responsibilities, employment dates, skills, professional licenses: all these things are fair game in a verification bank check.

If you lied or stretched the truth on your resume, there is a good take a chance that your employer will uncover it. Getting defenseless in a lie volition almost always authorize as failing a background check. In fact, lying on your resume and an employer discovering that lie in a groundwork check is more than likely to lose y'all a job opportunity than non having all the experience or degrees that the task description demands.

Yous have other red flags

Even if you don't have a criminal history and are 100 pct honest on your resume, you can still fail a background cheque. That'south because employers will sometimes look elsewhere to acquire more than most yous. This type of broader search tin plough up details nearly you that enhance questions about your ability to perform the job in the eyes of the hiring managing director.

For example, if you are applying for a job that involves managing a company's finances, but your credit history check reveals debt and missed payments, that might touch your hiring chances. The hiring manager might meet your poor credit as a sign of irresponsibility or carelessness in managing your personal finances, which in plough won't reverberate positively on your ability to manage visitor finances.

Similarly, if you are applying for a driving task and your driving history check shows a dozen speeding tickets, you are probable to fail the background check in the employer'southward eyes. Your driving history shows carelessness or recklessness that the employer will see as a liability.

Yous won't confront all these checks at every job, and these red flags won't always be significant considerations for all employers. A hiring manager because you for a desk job in an office surroundings likely won't care much almost your speeding tickets. However, when the red flags are relevant to the position, they practise carry weight.

Your potential employer made a mistake

If y'all disagree near the inclusion of a criminal tape in your groundwork report, consult your employer. While background check companies pull data from public records, an employer makes the determination regarding whether the identifying criteria on the record matches the applicant. Sometimes, an employer may accidentally add an out-of-engagement tape or a record that is not relevant to that candidate.

Considering of these factors, information technology is possible to fail a background bank check for criminal history or other data that doesn't apply to yous. Per the Fair Credit Reporting Human activity (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 lot. If your prospective employers comply with the FCRA, you should have a adventure to contend your case if you lot believe that you are being denied a position wrongfully.

So, you failed a background check - what'due south adjacent?

Usually, failing an employment screening will mean that y'all need to detect a different chore. An criminal offence or red flag that leads to disqualification from one hiring procedure might not accept the same bear upon everywhere. Some employers are more lenient and are willing to give candidates second chances. Keep in listen that no employer can deny all candidates with a criminal history automatically, or they will face up discrimination claims.

If you desire to increase your chances of passing your side by side employment screening, here are a few things that you can do.

Run a background check on yourself: Conducting a background screening on yourself gives you the hazard to see what prospective employers may meet when they look at your history. If there are records on your report that don't employ to you, you can fix those issues before they cost yous a job opportunity.
Empathise which jobs you are unlikely to get: Certain crimes or offenses make information technology difficult to observe jobs in sure fields. For instance, a sex offender can't hold a job that involves working with children, and someone with a vehement criminal history is unlikely to pass an employment screening for a customer service task. If you have a criminal history, do some homework online to gain a more thorough understanding of the types of jobs that are longshots for y'all. That way, y'all can focus your energy on applying for the jobs that yous are more likely to get.
Exist honest: Don't embellish your resume. Don't lie in interviews. If the job application asks if y'all have e'er been convicted of a offense, don't respond "No" if the respond is "Yes." Your chances of passing any background screening—be information technology a verification bank check or a criminal history search—go up significantly when you are honest and forthright. Many professionals have failed a background check simply because they told a lie on a resume.
Consider expungement: If you have a criminal record that is making it more difficult for you to find employment, it may exist worth exploring the procedure of expungement. Depending on the type of criminal offense(s) on your record, you may exist eligible to apply to have the records sealed or expunged.

Sealed records are generally only accessible to law enforcement agencies and won't show up on most background reports, while expunged records are scrubbed from your tape. Particularly for misdemeanors or older offenses, expungement may be the all-time fashion to get yourself a clean slate.

At backgroundchecks.com, we offer a program called MyClearStart that helps individuals to pursue expungement or record sealing. Yous tin have an eligibility test today to make up one's mind whether you are a candidate for expungement.

How to manage a failed groundwork check after a job offering

In many jurisdictions, employers must follow "ban the box" legislation when designing their hiring process and screening policy. The "box" in ban the box refers to the question on a chore awarding that asks if you have ever been convicted of a law-breaking. This question ordinarily comes with a "check yes or no" box. Ban the box laws brand it illegal for employers to inquire almost criminal history on job applications or in job interviews.

Often, these laws besides bar employers from conducting groundwork checks until after they have made a conditional job offer. The job offer is "conditional" because it depends on the outcome of the background screening. The employer however has the correct to rescind the task offering and deny y'all employment if the groundwork check gives them reasonable (and legal) cause to take agin action.

If you lot failed a background check after a task offer, then the chances are loftier that your prospective employer constitute something in your history that called into question your power to perform the job at paw.

What happens if yous fail a background check after a job offer?

Remember that the FCRA requires employers to i) notify you lot if they are taking agin action against you based on groundwork check findings, 2) provide you with a copy of the background check report, and 3) give you a risk to contest the findings of the background check. If y'all failed a background bank check after a job offer (or even before a chore offer), brand sure that the employer is respecting your rights under the FCRA. If they are not, so yous may have a case 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 shut attention to the nuances of the FCRA to avoid legal fallout.

How to know if yous failed your bank check?

How do you know if you've failed an employer background check? The requirements of the FCRA ensure that yous volition not be left wondering well-nigh the event of your background check.

In most cases, employers merely run background checks on candidates they are planning to rent. If y'all pass the background check, you lot will likely exist hired. If yous fail the background check, you will be notified and (every bit outlined above) furnished with a re-create of the background check study, as well as a written explanation for the adverse activeness. Per the FCRA, you should take time to review these documents and respond before the decision is last.

"Tin can I dispute a failed groundwork check?" It is a mutual question among job seekers, and the answer is yep. Per the FCRA, employers are required to notify candidates and requite them a chance to respond earlier taking adverse action. If y'all have reason to believe that you are unfairly disqualified based on groundwork check findings, you can dispute that data with the employer or the background check visitor.

For instance, if your failed groundwork bank check is due to a criminal confidence that was expunged, you tin contact the groundwork bank check company to inform them that the information in question should non have been in your database. You lot tin besides explain the situation to the employer. If the confidence in question was truly expunged, the employer cannot legally use that information to move forward with adverse action that disqualifies you from employment or removes your job offer.

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

Michael Klazema

About Michael Klazema The author

Michael Klazema is Main Marketing Technologist at EY-VODW.com and has over two decades of experience in digital consulting, online product direction, and applied science innovation. He is the lead author and editor for Dallas-based backgroundchecks.com with a focus on human resources and employment screening developments.