The term Instant Criminal Background Check is an oxymoron. If it is Instant, no legitimate employment screening provider could honestly call it a proper Criminal Background Check.

While certain elements of a background check indeed do process very quickly, like the National Criminal File Search, those elements are derived from secondary sources, making it a violation of FCRA guidelines to base an employment decision solely on those results.

Best practices dictate any adverse results obtained through database searches must be verified through a primary source, such as actual courthouse records, by having a researcher either visit the court in person or by querying the courthouse electronic records system. Continue reading “Instant Background Checks: Fact or Fiction?” →