Everyone has a skeleton in their closet. Whether it’s a bunch of embarrassing photos or a criminal record from distant past, when it comes to online, the internet can be a great tool to dig into one’s background. Now, the usual impulse is to find information about others, you might as well start with yourself first.
You will be amazed to witness the amount of information that’s present online which might prevent you from getting a job or even buying a house in the long run. No matter what, there’s a great of information about you or anyone you know present online. Here’s how to go about running a background check online.
Quick Overlook
You Work Solo or Get Professional Help
One can run a background check all by himself or by hiring a professional background check service provider. One can start by using any of these basic ways:
Using Online databases – These are publicly available record database that contains information for anyone to check. However, they are often not updated and might miss a few info on a person.
Social media – The easiest way to run a background check on somebody is perhaps visiting their social media profile. Almost everyone these days has a social media presence and there’s no denying that they put their life on a platter. Just Google your name and you will realize what it means.
Court records– Court records can be checked online and are usually referred to by a high-end employer to check whether one has a past criminal record.
Credit report– Your credit report is the foremost thing to check before any financial institution can lend you for your needs and generally include information about one’s debt and other finances.
Now that you know the primary methods of running a background check, let’s go ahead exploring each of them in detail.
Public Record Databases
Using a public record search engine is a great way to pull background information of a person including a criminal record if any. Many times, public records do not contain detailed information about a person but they are still immensely valuable as they pull data from all places like sex offender registries, FBI databases, federal and state criminal databases, and global terrorist data as well. If you are looking to run a background check related to a federal case, one can make use of an online index for court records. Take a very good look at the records if you are running a self background check. If you find any dispute, take measures to take care of it. So, how much does this kind of background check cost? Well, a major part of the search is free. However, the records pulled out of FBI databases and also some of the other state websites come with a charge. Also, if it’s a federal case the court might also index certain charges if one views just too many documents.
Social Media
In recent times, social media profiles of individuals have become a great point of an investigation by potential employers. A single post or comment can lead to a firestorm of negativity. It’s no wonder how more than 70 percent of employers in today’s world take to social media searching the background of a candidate during the hiring process. Here’s how to go about conducting a search across social media for yourself:
- Start by typing your name in the Google search bar and check the top results.
- Visit the link that leads to your social media profile and take a good look at your picture. Does it look professional? Are all comments and posts on your all appropriate?
- If there’s anything that looks groggy, delete the same immediately or set it to personal viewing only.
Remember, social media profiles across Facebook and LinkedIn are two entirely different things. While you can afford to be a little casual of Facebook considering it’s your personal space, LinkedIn is a hardcore professional platform where people network to grow and get hired or take their businesses forward. So, if your profile falls out of the place or looks too casual or edgy where it’s not supposed to be, it might be a good idea to makes changes accordingly.
Court Records
The notion of a national criminal database is more of a figment of the imagination.
However, there are individual courthouses that maintain criminal records in their database which is a checkpoint for many employers across the globe. Here’s how to check court records on anybody:
- Compile the full list of courthouses that falls right under your jurisdiction.
- Check for courthouses that have or maintain online records. If not, then you might have to visit each courthouse in person to get the record.
- If you find anything that’s incorrect, ask your lawyer to file a dispute rectification plea
Some courthouses might give you access to records for free, especially if they are online. However, for a physical visit, you might need an order or special permission to view the same.
Credit Report
Credit reports depict the fiscal responsibility of a person. Compared to other sources of background checks, credit reports are fairly easy to get. According to The Fair Credit Reporting Act, the three national companies responsible for maintaining and reporting one’s credit standing is supposed to offer a copy of the same for free. One can order his credit report from any of the three companies once every year. Here’s how to go about it:
- To get the report, fill in some pretty standard information like name, date of birth, address, social security number along with something to verify your information, like an old residential address to gain access to the report.
- In case, you see anything suspicious in the report, intimate the authorities right away as this could be a case of identity theft.
Let us know if you have tried any of the methods to run a background check on yourself or someone? How satisfied were you with the results? We would love to know from you.