Background checks are growing increasingly important in many different industries. Many industries require them for licensure or certification and some colleges and trade schools even require them for new student orientation. Background checks can greatly benefit businesses and employers in their hiring process as well. Many owners and operators aren’t sure about what background checks specifically provide or simply don’t understand how they work or how to get started with requiring them.
With that being said, here are the basics of the types of background checks and what each one offers to business owners.
BCI Background Check: A BCI background check is a check that many businesses will use if an employee has lived in their current state for some extended period of time, which can vary according to state laws. This check will only bring up results from the residing state. This check is run by the BCI, a state organization.
FBI Background Check: An FBI background check is used to show results from the 49 states other than the one the employee resides in. This is a federal check run by the FBI which makes it much more extensive.
Some industries may be required to perform both checks at all times and others may only be required to do so in certain circumstances. Other industries may only need to perform a BCI check and some industries are not required to perform any background check on their employees or contractors.
Here at FastCHEX, we are only a collector. Meaning we are not able to see any of the background check results such as convictions or arrests. We act as a middleman between the BCI or FBI background check agencies and the company or individual receiving the check. Our job is to collect the fingerprints from the person using our scanner as well as the required information such as residing address and name of the individual. We then electronically send this information to the respective agency. FastCHEX doesn’t receive or view any information about the individual’s background at any point in time. Once the agency receives the information and fingerprints, they then perform the background check on the individual and once finished, send the results to the recipient.
Wait times can vary on background checks as well. The FBI and BCI background check agencies are responsible for performing the check as well as sending the results. Wait times can range anywhere from a few weeks to a month and a half, depending on the results of the check and the agency’s turnaround time. We do provide the individual and client with a transaction number, which can be used to track the process once we submit the information to the agencies. The ‘Links’ tab on our website even provides a link to enter in the transaction number to allow the user to see more specifically at what stage of the process their background check is.
Fingerprint background checks are an extensive and effective method to make sure you know all you can about your employees and potential hires. The alternative option, name-based background checks, can sometimes produce duplicate names, muddling the results. Fingerprint scans are able to provide a full criminal history and allow you to be completely sure that the background check was done on the correct individual.