How many references could you list on a "background check" form?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I just had to complete a form for the periodic review of my background check. One of the sections required that I list 3 non-relatives who have known me well for at least 7 years.

Yeah, I was able to list 3, but every time I have to do that, I realize the list of folk I’ve “known well” for several years and whom I would wish to list as contacts is not terribly long. Once I get beyond 5, maybe 7 people, I’d be listing mere acquaintances, who really don’t know much of anything about me, or who only interact with me in a very limited range of situations…

How about you? Is 3 no problem? Could you list 5? 10? Who would they be? Neighbors? Friends?

I always find it crazy that they require that I re-list info such as my college degrees from the 80s, and info as to my deceased parents and in-laws, rather than just asking “Has anything changed since you last completed this?” I always fell that if I were to assume a false identity, I’d choose someone a heckuva lot more interesting than ME! :smiley:

This form had at least 5-7 different questions concerning whether I engaged in terrorism or supported the overthrow of the governent. Those were new - and kinda creepy. I wonder if MAGAs would have to respond “Yes” to those…

2

3, easily. I have work colleagues, including CEOs and COOs that have known me for decades as I have worked under them several times (drifting in and out of the company)

I have friends who are in good standing, whom I have known since my teen years (I am 47), so lets go with 10 to 15

Seems to be a trivial problem for anyone. I do, however, dislike the extensive bureaucracy you describe.

3

I was likely perceiving it as more of a problem than it was.

I hadn’t considered co-workers. I wonder if the form excluded them along with relatives? And I wonder if I could have listed brothers-in-law?

The form asked for these references in the midst of numerous questions asking about my finances, any legal issues, my past residences, my deceased parents/parents-in-law… In that context, I was kinda thinking, “Who the hell do I know that know all of THAT stuff about me?” Heck, I coulda listed the 10 or so guys I’ve golfed with for the past 35 years, and when called, they woulda said, “Well, he always has trouble with that tee shot in #3!”

So I was thinking, “Who can I text about being listed that will respond quickly, and of those folk, who really knows about my home, family, finances…?” Only took a moment to come up with 3, but in my mind at the time, it was not an endless list.

I recall the first time I went through the process, and during the interview, the guy said, “You have 3 children, named x, y, and obvious typo misspelling.” I responded, “No, correct spelling.” The guy acted as tho I was planning on overthrowing the government, because I had accidentally struck the adjoining key on the keyboard."

I can see the theory behind these reviews, but I wonder how many folk - who have been doing their jobs without incident - they catch for something really significant on these sorts of reviews. In the bureaucracy, once they create the need for these reviews, you have a bunch of employees/contractors who then have to justify their existence. So they treat typos as major issues…

I shouldn’t complain. It is a bit of a hassle, but it keeps the paychecks coming. The reviews are every 4 years or so, and I expect to retire in less than 4, so this should be the last time I need to complete this particular exercise.

4

I have plenty of friends from college and other places I’ve known for much longer than 7 years. I think the point is to verify that “you” are the same person who was claiming to be you seven years ago.

Generally the point of stealing someone’s identity isn’t to take over their boring life. The point is not use their actual identity to commit fraud, theft, or some other crime.

Someone who engages in terrorism or insurrection probably wouldn’t honestly state this on their background check. But typically lying on your background check is grounds for dismissal from whatever you are being background checked for and possibly jail time.

I’m surprised you have to jump through so many hoops. I occasionally need to have a background check completed for my financial services clients and I usually just have to send my name, address, SSN and contact info.

5

My main problem is that so many of the people that I’ve known for years, or decades, are dying off. My best friend that met 68 years ago died last fall. The teacher who first got me interested in math, also 68 years ago, died a week ago. Still, I could readily find a dozen or so.

6

I just had to fill out an application for the place I retired from last year. It asks for three non-relatives that know me. Then it asks for three more worded slightly different. Ok I can do that. Then it asks for three people who live in my neighborhood. Well there you got me. I could only put down the head of the HOA. In my defense I’ve only lived here for 8 years and only share a wall with two people.

7

Government is crazy - I only had to do the background check once * but after my agency merged with a much larger one, I suddenly had to fill out a job application every time I was looking for a promotion. And the jobs were only open to internal applicants.

But the references - they don’t expect your references to know all about your home/family/finances. They are looking for dumbasses - there are people who will give someone as a reference who knows they embezzled money from the bowling league or who know they were sleeping with someone underage because they think loyalty will keep the person from disclosing that information. **

* I had to complete a financial disclosure every year once I passed a certain salary and my agency would have been automatically notified about any arrests or driver’s license suspensions.

** There was a guy in my husband’s bowling league who eventually got convicted for something related to him sleeping with another bowler’s 15 year old daughter. Couldn’t understand why all the guys with teenage daughters ( and some who didn’t) had a problem with him.

8

I could probably come up with five or six…non blood relatives…whom I would count on to give me glowing “reviews,” but a few of them, you know, I don’t know their every latest change of address and such. And these are the people I’ve known for a twenty+ years and with whom I’m still in touch. Sure, I could hang out at some petting zoo or a bar and get a bunch of numbers, or bother some work friends who’ve known me socially for 5+ years, but you get what you pay for. In the case of the OP’s agency, apparently they don’t want much.

I understand this is a background “check,” but if they are doing the check, why can’t they figure it out?

Not to segue too hard, but I’ve been playing the LinkedIn game idly for the past month or so ago…just testing out some new waters…some of these companies are unreal. Give me a telephone number to call? Are you serious? For what? You want a telephone pre-screening interview? Fine. Tell me that and maybe I’ll make the effort. You could also tell me your time zone, moron.

That and “written references.” Are you kidding me? My boss’s bosses, nor my boss, nor the boss’s bosses’ boss don’t actually have telephones that direct to the outside world at work. We don’t take calls from outside, period. You can use an internal direct messaging tool, or a company e-mail. That’s it.

And I’m sure they’d be glad to write some page of glurge, as though I were some undergraduate applying to grad school.

Ain’t nobody got time for that. None of that.

Exactly.

I understand these people want some verification that person is the same entity…so, OK…yeah, here’s a laundry list of random people. I drank some beers and checked under the hood of my neighbor’s new Corvette once. That was fun. And here’s that guy who can never run out on eight ball, even on APA rules. Why don’t you ask him about me?

9

Zero for most of my adult life. Which made it extraordinarily tiresome to have to go through the background checks to keep my security clearance while I as in the Navy. How was I supposed to come up with such a list of people who not only knew me well, but knew me well at each of the locations I lived, when the entire reason I needed a security clearance with background checks (the Navy) also made me move 9 times over the course of 11 years, and caused me to spend about half that time out to sea, overseas, or both? You think I hung out with a lot of the locals in Japan? Or Bahrain? Or IRAQ!? And wouldn’t it actually be bad for my security clearance if I did have a bunch of foreign contacts? Catch-22…

10

When I was in ROTC, the Naval Investigative Service came around to do clearance interviews on recently commissioned officers. “How long have you known ENS Soandso? In what capacity have you known ENS Soandso? Have you ever known ENS Soandso to advocate the violent overthrow of the United States government or the American way of life?” I asked, “does anybody ever say ‘yes’!?” They replied “you’d be amazed at what people tell us.”

Mind you, this was decades before advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government or the American way of life had become de rigueur.

11

Off the top of my head, and specifically to the OP’s requirement of “3 non-relatives who have known me well for at least 7 years,” I come up with at least 36:

  • Two of my friends and roommates from college, whom I’ve known and continued to interact with for 40 years
  • Nineteen people whom I met through playing Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games, all of whom I’ve known well for at least a decade, and half of whom I’ve known for at least 20 years
  • Fifteen whom I met through work, with whom I’ve continued to keep in strong touch with, and whom I’ve know for a range of ten to 35 years
12

Former coworkers and friends? A few dozen of easily. I worked with a lot of people in big companies and have a huge friend group. They range in age from around 30 to 75.

13

Depends. Are we going for depth or breadth?

Depth-wise, I could fill out at least two friends who I’ve known and kept up with for 40 and 33 years respectively, and another 3-4 who I’ve known for even longer, but aren’t as close to anymore (but still keep up).

Work-wise, I’ve got a small handful of coworkers from previous jobs dating back to 2005 who I would trust to be honest and say nice things about me in a background check.

Inside the seven years limit, I’ve got acquaintances from being a scout leader for six years now who I’d list on a background check- both other leaders and parents of the kids in my den/pack/troop. Give it a few years, and I’d be able to list most of them.

14

Probably zero legit ones. I’ve been out of work for 5 years, no longer see any of my ex coworkers and I don’t like to socialise. Last time I used my step-sister and my sister’s father-in-law. Trying to find anybody who isn’t family at all by a broad definition would be almost impossible.

15

Thinking about it, I could probably have come up with at least 15-20 among my golf and music buddies alone. More with co-workers.

I guess the number and nature of the questions put me in a mindset where I was thinking of people who knew me somewhat intimately and whom I would want to be on the receiving end of a potential phone call.

These forms are weird, because even though I’m confident I haven’t done anything which would render serious questions, the very fact of needing to provide such detailed info (I may need to remove my credit freeze to allow them to check), causes a twinge of insecurity/paranoia. You don’t know what stupid offhand remark some reference might make that might raise flags. And you REALLY don’t want to inadvertently make a mistake in completing the form, which could be interpreted as providing misinformation.

16

For various definitions of “knows me well” I could list quite a few. No former co-workers, but I’ve been active in working science fiction conventions for nearly forty years. Without too much effort I could come up with the names and some sort of contact info for at least twenty people who have known me for ten years.