How much information during a background check is too much?

Anonymous

August 4,2022 at 9:58PM UTC

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How much information during a background check is too much?

After 14 interviews spanning 7 hours and 2 months, after signing the offer letter, we are now embarking up on the background check - never a problem in my 30 years in the corporate world.

The company a future employer uses to do their background checks sent back several things flagged - 2 job titles and 2 start dates. I was able to produce the offer letters from 2 different companies showing the job title and start dates aligned, proving what I stated in my resume was correct and the background check report was wrong.

I was then told by the potential employer (Company X) that because they were flagged, I would have to file a dispute via the background check company with the details. I call the background check company.

What the background check company stated:

- The report that was requested by Company X (order # was provided to me) was for a "generic verification production", not to verify former employment (?)

- Because of the nature of the report requested, they could not accept the information that I was willing to provide for a dispute because it wasn't the right report type (?)

- When I gave the company the report number and my SSN to look up the report - the company said that she found my info with the report number but had no reports at all in their system associated with my SSN [noting here that I can see the correct last 4 digits of my SSN in the report, and it says clear as day that the SSN verifies my full name, DOB, etc.]

- The company told me that the last 4 digits of the SSN they see associated with the report - 4 numbers that I don't recognize.

- The company told me that there was nothing that they could do for me, advised that I tell my future employer to call them and reference the order number to get it sorted and told me "not to stress" (because it was pretty evident that at this point, I was stressing).

I give all this information to the HR person at my future employer and her response was that she didn't understand why the background check company wasn't more helpful and assumed that the person must be having a bad day. I was then questioned further about how long I worked at one of the past companies as a contractor (the only time I have ever been a contractor). I told her that I called the company to see if there was anyone that worked there when I did as an employee or to see if my former employer had any records even though I was a contractor - I got nothing. My future employer then asked for my tax documents and here is where my question comes in about how much info is too much to share:

I moved to Hawaii in 2019....I packed everything that I had into 5 suitcases, gave away my furniture, sold my MINI back to the BMW dealer, and gave as much as family heirloom stuff to family that people were willing to take. What I didn't take? A decades worth of files. I didn't even take 75% of my books. 3 months of living with my bf of 3 years, someone that I had known for over 3 decades, and he tells me he didn't think things through.... wasn't what he wanted.... and oh by the way, he met someone else in the months before I moved there. I left my personal computer and a handful of books that I loved there by accident... It's an embarrassing tale to tell and even though I have since moved on, it is still painful. I lost everything that I had worked over 20 years to build because I didn't see the person for who he was and he was an excellent liar.

I don't think that I should have to share my personal crisis ^^^ as to why I don't have the tax documents. I don't know where I could get them if I wanted to, all I know is that the report stating that their is a discrepancy in the timeline is 1 of 4 inaccuracies and the other 3 (2 job titles and another start date) I was able to prove the report was wrong.

What the heck do I do?

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Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistAugust 4,2022 at 10:16PM UTC
So as I said in my comment on the post above, I literally just went through this this week.
I also could not find the tax documents they wanted so they sent me a link to the IRS website. The IRS website wanted biometric information - like a retinal scan! I was like no way I'm doing that. There was one last place I could check and I finally found two of the three years of 1099s they wanted. I was like y'all better accept this cause this is all I've got.
What a freaking nightmare. I better really like this job - I've never been through an on-boarding process like this before.
GOOD LUCK!
AnonymousAugust 4,2022 at 11:18PM UTC
THANK YOU!! I was almost in tears... Never have I had a situation like this. Everything else in the report spanning 10 years is clear.
And I am with you: I won't even use biometric to unlock my phone - I don't know where they store that info or how long it is saved, how to delete it, who has access to it, etc. While the idea of "private" is almost seems fictional at this point, I will hang on to what I have.
I am trying to just calm myself with, I have no control over this - I have offered to do what I can to give them what they need and have been as transparent as possible - whatever decisions are made, I can't control that.
I am entirely baffled by the HR person being unwilling to call their background check vendor - is there a different report that I should complete? I myself take integrity in high regard so to have mine questioned is hard.
And yes: we better really like these jobs... .if I make it to mine ???
Thank you so, so much for letting me know that it isn't just me.
Joan Williams, Senior Talent Acquisition SpecialistAugust 5,2022 at 12:12AM UTC
It's not just you!
AnonymousAugust 7,2022 at 12:31PM UTC
I found out on Friday morning that after the matter was escalated to someone in charge of screening, it was fine and I was good to go.
I have been in the same industry for 25 years and the same field in that industry for 19 years - I have never, never ever had an experience like this one.
My first day is August 15th - I hope the job itself goes better than the background check.
AnonymousAugust 8,2022 at 1:10PM UTC
So glad to hear it was sorted! And if new employees judged my entire organization by the dumpster fire that has been HR for the past few years, we wouldn't have hired anyone in the recent past. They are just now getting a grip on a mess that predates covid.
Hoping that the actual job is amazing!
AnonymousAugust 4,2022 at 10:53PM UTC
Delay and hire a private detective or find another company to work for
Too much of a headache unless this is what you believe to be a dream job. Then go with option 1 .....a private investigator.
AnonymousAugust 7,2022 at 6:30PM UTC
If you filed your taxes online like with TurboTax or hr block, I believe they retain what you filed for 5 yrs. So if filed online, log onto the site and contact company to find out retention period
AnonymousAugust 12,2022 at 2:54PM UTC
Just curious, can you walk me through the perspective of how this qualifies as defamation? I was upset about having my integrity questioned as well as the HR recruiter not being willing to at least call their background check company to get it sorted.
The 1099 was from 2017; the computer that I saved it on, I gave that to my nephew before I moved in 2019 and thankfully, there was still a copy on that computer that I was able to obtain.
I am grateful that my SVP from the company that I just quit was willing to provide me with an email verifying my title while I was both a temp and a permanent employer, also verifying my promotion and went so far as to say how much I contributed and added value.
Still stings to have had my integrity questioned - totally get the need to be thorough and ask questions but to choose to limit the due diligence by being unwilling to call the background check company when all 4 of the red flags were things I could show were wrong, that baffles me. It would seem that the wrong kind of report was requested (per the background check company) and she must have given them the wrong SSN when she gave them my information - so, while I entered my correct SSN when filling out the background check info, there is someone else's SSN associated with my report when the background check company does a search...