Two Thursdays ago (3/10) I had an interview at a temp agency and they told me I have a definite position with a bank doing data entry (which I don’t really want because it’s the 3-11 shift and it’s temping, but I’ll takes what I can gets for now), but that I couldn’t start until my background check cleared. It’s been a week and a half, and I still haven’t heard back from the bank. How long does it take to do a background check? I know my record is clean.
This really depends on what kind of search they’re doing.
If they’re doing your state criminal background only, it’s one duration.
If they’re pulling the fed’s felony conviction files, it’d be another.
If they’re doing a REALLY THOROUGH job, they have a detective calling every police department in every town they can determine that you’ve ever lived in, and asking for convictions and arrests. I had a friend who had a government job that involved that kind of background check.
That’s kinda’ labor intensive, so if the detective involved gets backed up, he might be the bottleneck.
By the way, this California university web site
http://hrweb.berkeley.edu/policy/bgcheckfaq.htm
seems to imply that the FBI takes 30 days to return results to you once you ask.
“How long does a criminal background check take?
UCPD should receive the DOJ criminal background check information in three to seven days and the FBI information in approximately 30 days.”
YMMV. IANAL. IANALEO.
Hm… I’m not sure what kind of BC it is. It’s a data entry job, inputting various clients’ investments into a computer system, so they said I’d have to sign a security clearance and get fingerprinted. Strange that they would go to all this trouble for a temporary position but I guess it’s the law. I hope it doesn’t take thirty days, I need a job now (although I don’t even really want this one, it’s just my best prospect). I guess these are some real high-rolling investors if they’re going to the trouble of doing a federal check.
Generally speaking, most employers aren’t going to do more than a state check(unless you just moved in) and that takes a week or so. If that, actually. Some just get your consent and file it.
FBI checks can take a month from when they send the paperwork in (which often isn’t as prompt as you’d expect).
A bank is probably doing the full FBI. I’d plan on another week or two.
AFAIK, prints = FBI.
I have to say, having been involved in medical data processing and working on ATM networks… I would rather if EVERYONE employed in ANY capacity by ANY financial institution or health care provider went through a 50-state background check.
If they don’t, all a scammer would have to do would be to move two states away, and then… bam… no records would turn up that they swiped financial records from somewhere.