Interviewing candidates is a time-consuming and expensive process. Pre-interview checks offer a simple, prudent means of insuring that the time and money you spend interviewing candidates isn't wasted.

By investing just a little time before the interview doing some simple public- record checking, you can:

Pre-interview checking is fairly new; it wasn't really economical a few years ago. But with today's easy-to-access to public records, it's a prudent business practice you shouldn't overlook.

A TYPICAL PRE-INTERVIEW CHECK

1. Verify candidate identity

   Is he who he says he is? (Identity fraud is one of the fastest-growing white- collar crimes in the United States.)

2. Social security number verification

   Verify that the social security number he provides is valid, given his indicated age and place of birth.

3. Verify education

   Educational misrepresentation is one of the most common types of application fraud; one or two telephone calls can verify his claims.

4. Verify address

   A so-called "social security trace" can be run by an information professional in seconds which will yield this information and, in most cases, also reveal past addresses.

Any discrepancies uncovered by the above checks should (at a minimum) raise a red flag that more checking is called for.

Additional pre-interview checks to consider include:

• past employment verification
• membership in professional associations
• occupational licensing
• DMV record check (signed release needed)
• news scan (Has he/she been mentioned in a news or feature story?)
• preliminary criminal background check (e.g., using state repository information only - signed release needed)
• "incident report" (Have the police visited his address for any reason?)
• online peeking (Does he contribute to any online forums or have a personal website?)
• tag check (Is his car registered in his name or in someone else's name?)
• alumni association check
• atlas search (interviews with neighbors, by phone or in person) [Private investigator recommended]

All of the above checks can be accomplished or ordered through BackgroundCheckGateway.

To begin doing your own pre-job-interview check, go to Step 2.

Note: Your report must comply with FCRA requirements and applicable state background check laws.