So we’re faced with hiring a nanny/au pair/governess/Marypoppingcorn. We’ve done the interview and are calling references, but would like to do a basic background check. Where to begin?
Putting “background check” and the like brings up a slew of hits, but there’s no way to tell the difference or integrity between them. Adding the term “review” to the search also brings up a ton of hits, but most seem like they’re trying to sell a particular service. Any landlords, employers or parents have a suggested service?
Also, what to check? We’re a bit beyond the airy-fairy nobody’s business mentality of just trusting our gut instincts during the interview — despite the law of averages being on our side we still think it’s imperative to do some basic due diligence in addition to calling references. But at the same time, we don’t want to go as far as having the most recent colonoscopy verified by our family doctor. Criminal check in our and surrounding state or all fifty? Ohhh, should we get Interpol involved? What about driving records? Why would someone’s credit history be that big of a deal to nannying? Well, I guess if he/she’s a hundred grand in debt we may want to hide the candlesticks.
See? I’m posting in IMHO because there are a lot of questions to chew on. Any advice?
RE: the credit check - if the credit is bad because he/she last a job and didn’t pay some bills for six months or so, I’d let it go. If there’s a long series of jewelry store hits though, I’d draw different conclusions. Like wise, if there’s a pattern of 1-2 months being bad year after year, I’d worry about someone fighting an addiction and losing. . .
Check every state. If the person if originally from another country, I’d find a way to check there too. Maybe start by asking the Embassy for advice?
Don’t forget the most important: google “Meghan’s Law” for the registry.
As far as a basic background check…I saw a commercial last night for a service called beenverified.com that was purports to do background checks and is offering a free trial (you have to sign up for membership then cancel it). I cannot vouch for how good they are or what they cover though.
As far as credit reports…can you do that? I imagine you would have to have the applicants agree and sign “permission” to do so, but once you have that go-ahead I wouldn’t even know where to start.
That’s our issue from the start. How to tell how “good” a service is and whether what they cover is sufficient (or if they actually cover what they say they cover).
Also, we have her permission and expectation that we’ll be doing a credit check, so that hurdle is covered. We could simply go to one of the big three agencies, but wouldn’t that be part of the background check service? Not that we won’t be paying for it – or even a reasonable and fair markup – but if all can be done and consolidated into one report that would be great.
If you use the “background check” services on the web, then no, a credit report is not included at least not at places like Intellius or what have you…they use public records only and don’t require any permissions from the checkee nor any valid reason to be searching.
Will she be driving your kids around? Ask her to bring in a driving record. She’ll likely have to go in to the Sheriff’s office to get it and will have to pay (that’s how it works here, anyhow).
You could also look at getting a security clearance check done on her. Call the Sheriff’s office to ask how you get the forms or look online.
I worked for a temp agency and they sent me to do front desk, clerical type work for a bail bond agency.
We had a couple of ways to do background. The deeper you go the more it costs. We got rates at the agency but if you did a basic check, that covered the state, the driver’s abstract, court cases in the state, (judgements, divorces etc) cost $29.00. Credit checks were costing us $25.00 (we got a rate on those from all three agencies). I found the information from all three agencies on the checks I did was identical, but I’m told often one credit agency has different info.
The deeper you go the more it costs.
Nothing is going to beat a former reference check. You will find when an employee was good they past employers really want to help and give a good reference. When they aren’t so good, the past employers don’t usually say bad things, but they are definately indifferent.
Also remember just because there’s no record, doesn’t mean anything. Records can be sealed. In Illinois I found records sealed before 18 won’t appear on any search I did. But when they sent me to physically go to the courthouse, I found there was an indication of the records and it would say “record sealed” or “record expunged.” OK so you know there is something up.
I also found a young offender (he was 20) and something didn’t look right, so I checked around and was able to get court cases unrelated by going physically down to Cook County Courthouse. After readig these it was evident that this offender had prior brushes with the law that I couldn’t find. The owner of the bond agency said most likely it was expunged totally or the kid got a pardon and it was removed.
So it depends on how much you want to look.
If you want to investigate really thorough, you may want to actually physically look up records. A lot of stuff never makes it into searchable databases or the person who put it in the database did a lousy job, so the info is there but it doesn’t come up in a search
If you’re talking about a child care worker, make sure she’s got her abuse clearance paperwork. In PA, where I live, these are a couple of background checks: one from the state police, and one from the Department of Public Welfare. They’ll run about fifty bucks for both.