By conducting pre-employment background screening checks, you help protect your business from making costly hiring mistakes as well as possible claims of negligent hiring. You reduce the risk of internal theft, fraud, and violence while dramatically helping to reduce turnover. Most importantly, by pre-screening applicants, you protect your employees and customers while showing a good faith effort at due diligence.

Yes, CIC has a global network of skilled investigators allowing for research that can be conducted nationally and internationally. Our international services include criminal research, past employment and educational verifications, credit information and other research. The type of information returned may vary from country to country and certain fees may apply. Contact CIC to get a more detailed listing of all available services.

It is absolutely essential that you have permission from an applicant before delving into their personal history. Whether you are doing the checking yourself or outsource it to a third party, you must have permission first. When a vendor helps you with the screening, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires a release that is a separate stand-alone document, not part of the application itself. Note: even if you are not ordering a credit report as part of the screening, this rule still applies. CIC provides clients with a compliant release as part of their services.

While the law allows for you to run searches on current employees, the choice to do so will be up to the individual organization. Some businesses decide to "grandfather" in current employees, while others determine that it's better to start with a clean slate and screen all new and existing employees. There are some great techniques to use that will foster good relationships with your staff. Contact CIC to learn more; but before implementing any new policies and procedures, reach out to your labor attorney as he or she will be able to help you avoid certain other pitfalls.

Many companies mistakenly believe that employers can release nothing about a past employee other than name, rank and serial number. This is false. The Employer Immunity Law protects employers when they share factual information regarding a person's past employment. CIC researchers are trained to get the most thorough information available from employers including dates of employment, title, salary, attendance and discipline records, work ethic as well as job responsibilities and achievements. Some employers will stubbornly release only limited information, but you can be sure the CIC will do all in their power to gain as much insight from past employers as possible.

Our SRD is a database search consisting of over 305 million records from 50 states, Washington, DC, Puerto Rico and Guam. These records have been pulled from various state courts, state correctional institutions, county and state databases. This is the largest, most complete proprietary database currently available to the non-law enforcement community. With our expertise, we will guide you toward the proper use of database results to keep in compliance with applicable laws.

Yes, there is. However, this search is through the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and is not available to the public. The database is restricted to employers who have specific governmental authorization. CIC is not a provider of this search but offers alternative sources to give you a complete, thorough and accurate screening report.

Signing up is easy. Either click on the "Pre-Employment Screening" tab and fill out the "Pre-Employment Set-up Form" on our website or call us at 800-573-2201. Simple as that. We'll take care of the rest.

Note: We do not charge any set-up fees or monthly fees to use our screening services.

Our system is available 24/7 from any computer with internet access. Simply log in with your secure username and password to access your personal Applicant List. From here you can select to order a new screening report or add to an existing one. Researchers will be automatically notified to begin work on your request. For complete step by step instructions please contact CIC at 419-874-2201.

For security reasons, you will be given 3 tries to login with your password before the system will lock you out of your account. We can easily reset it for you though, so just give us a call if that happens. We'll also be able to look up forgotten passwords, too.

CIC is aware of the need for involvement of multiple people in the hiring process and with this in mind, set up a system that will allow for unlimited users. We do not charge licensing or user fees, so you are able to have all your key people involved the way you need them to be without the worry of extra cost. Each user will be assigned a unique username and password and will only be able to access their specific work. A master account can be established to allow access to all user activity and reports.

This valuable tool will give you insight into the whereabouts of your applicant within the last seven (7) years. You may see addresses back 20 or more years, or depending on the age of the applicant, you may only see more recent ones. The Social Security Administration will also report if the SSN is valid and what year and state it was issued in. Previously used names will also be reported giving you further information to help in appropriately screening your applicant. Because address histories may contain variables, it's always best to contact CIC for help in reviewing the report and using it to help you choose the most appropriate counties to search for criminal records in.

CIC has put together 12 packages based on searches most frequently used by our clients. They cover everything from the most basic levels of screening, to in-depth, comprehensive background checks. If you need a package tailored to a specific job position within your organization just give us a call and we'll work with you to create what you need.

Many of the searches included in a screening report are instantly returned and available for your review. The Past Address History, Driving History, Secondary Research Database and Credit reports are all instantaneous. Other searches such as the Federal Criminal, and Sanctions reports will be completed most often in the same day. For searches such as the County Criminal and Civil searches where we will be sending researchers directly into the courthouse, it can take about 24-72 hours. Obviously, there are variables (possible records needing further research; waiting on clerks for results; outlying courts, federal holidays, etc.) which can cause some delays, but we will always be in contact with you so you know exactly where the report stands and when to expect completion.

The system will automatically generate an email to you including a link to access your report when it is complete. You will be prompted to enter your username and password before being able to view the report. You may also log in to the system at any time to view the progress of the report as every entry we make is available to you in real time.

No. Unfortunately there is no comprehensive database anywhere in the world that will give you all criminal record information. Many Counties throughout the US do not report to databases and those that do, often do not update the information often enough, or accurately enough to be compliant with the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Because of these reasons as well as the wide range of discrepancies, false positives, false negatives, and outdated information, the FCRA has mandated users of database reports to follow certain procedures. For employers, you must only use the information as a "lead generator," a tool for pointing you in the direction of possible criminal records you might otherwise not have found. Once a "hit" is seen on the database, employers must hold off on making any decisions until a verification of the records can be performed on-site at the appropriate court. Only then can you use the information adversely in an employment decision. CIC will alert you by multiple means to any records that need to be verified in an effort to keep you in compliance with these federal laws.

Due to the federal law discussed in question 8, CIC has its own set of mandates to follow. When a database search returns criminal record information associated with your applicant's name, CIC will notify them by mail that public record information was sent to you, the prospective employer. This is NOT an adverse action letter; please do not mistake it as such. You are still responsible for following the adverse action procedure set forth in the FCRA, if applicable. This letter is only sent as a protection to the applicant to protect their rights under the FCRA.

When an employer uses a third party for any piece of their applicant screening, the Fair Credit Reporting Act has laid out specific mandates when taking adverse action. First, if the background screening report plays even the slightest role in your decision to not hire or promote an applicant, you must sent the applicant a "pre-adverse action notice" along with a copy of the report and the FTC document entitled "A Summary of Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act." The law says to wait a "reasonable" period of time, (industry standard is 5 days), to allow the applicant to review his report and dispute any inaccuracies. After that time you may send an "adverse action notice" which explains to the applicant that they are no longer being considered for the position. Should an applicant call CIC to dispute records found, CIC will initiate a re-investigation and contact you immediately. As a client you have access to more detailed information on this topic in your training guide. If you need another copy, please call our office.