There are many reasons as to why you may want to background check people. For instance, you want to make sure that the history they tell you about themselves is right, perhaps before offering them a contract for employment. Maybe you have met someone online and you want to make sure that they are who they say they are. Perhaps there is a new janitor at your child’s school and you want to find out where they came from. Or maybe someone from out of town has moved into your neighborhood and you simply want to make sure you are not at risk of violent crimes. To some, doing these background checks is nothing short of paranoid. But the reality is that the opportunity to do so has helped to reduce crime and generally made people feel safer.
When You Should Background Check People
There are a number of different reasons as to why background checking someone isn’t just something you should consider, it is someone that you should most definitely do. Those reasons include:
- If you want to hire a nanny or carer who will look after your children or an elderly relative. If you don’t complete a background check, you could entrust the safety and well-being of your loved ones to someone who is nothing but a cheater or a fraud. There have been numerous stories of nannies causing shaken baby syndrome, for instance, or elderly people being abused by their carers.
- If you want to hire someone for a role that involves confidential information, financial matters, decision-making, or security. If a single mistake is made, the consequences could be dire. And while to err is human, someone who has a history of making such mistakes should not be given this type of responsibility.
There are numerous other reasons why you might want to check someone’s background as well, as mentioned previously. There are also numerous things that you can look into as part of these types of background checks, including:
- Criminal history.
- Social status.
- Family background.
- Financial position.
- Current address.
- References.
- Educational details.
- Job history.
You can either check this rapidly on the surface, or you can perform an in-depth search. The latter usually takes longer to complete, but it will make sure that you really know what someone’s background is.
There are numerous websites that allow you to check someone out for free. You need to question the validity of these sites, however. Generally speaking, maintaining a background check database is a lot of work, as information has to come from many different sources. If someone offers a background check for free, you might find yourself receiving incomplete or inaccurate information. Both are very dangerous. Incomplete information may mean that the very things you wanted to know about have been hidden, and incorrect information means that you make a decision on someone’s character that isn’t actually the person who you are dealing with. It is best, therefore, to pay a small fee and have some guarantees.