A common misconception amongst human resource professionals is that their background screening provider is reporting the most up-to-date and precise information when it comes to candidate background checks. There are many different providers in the industry using a variety of sources for their data. One of the most popular screening searches is the National Criminal Database, (NCDB) but there are many misconceptions about this search. The titles seem so impressive. Why would anyone want a mere county criminal search when they can get a “national” search? It all seems so confusing and the answers are complicated.
To begin with, we must dispel the myth that there is a single unrestricted nationwide criminal records check that contains all the criminal information on everyone. While the FBI database is available to certain authorized entities, in reality, what most employers have access to are multi-jurisdictional databases. These databases consist of criminal records purchased from various sources including state courthouses, department of corrections, federal sanctions lists, statewide sex offender registries, etc…
Employers may be under the impression that the report provided to them is something that it is not and having a better understanding of the differences between employment screening services is critical to human resource professionals. Here is a look at the difference between searches performed using due diligence and solely using National Criminal Database data dumps:
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Source: http://www.justifacts.com