EmployeeScreenIQ

Monday, November 16, 2009

 

What Shows Up in a Background Check Can Change

More job seekers are finding that what shows up in a background check can severely hurt their chances of employment, and are therefore looking to legally clear their own criminal records.

Amid an already declining economy that makes it tough for anyone to find a job, many potential candidates are looking to clear their records of minor crimes and other information that could further hinder their efforts to find employment.

Michigan state police have estimated they will set aside 46 percent more convictions this year than during 2008, while Oregon is planning to set aside 33 percent more convictions, according to an article by The Wall Street Journal.

Officials in Florida sealed and expunged almost 15,000 criminal records last fiscal year, a 43 percent increase from the previous year. Officials in Cook County, which includes Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, received about 7,600 expungement requests during the first three quarters of this year, which is almost twice as many as during the same period last year.

Many cities and states are working with job seekers in this effort, as some entrepreneurs have set up record-clearing services and local governments have passed laws to speed up the expungement process.

Michael Hornung, a defense attorney in Fort Myers, Fla., charges $1,000 to help clients clear their criminal records. Part of the problem, he says, is that unemployment has increased to more than 10 percent, which allows employers to be more picky about potential candidates than in the past.

"This is affecting a whole new group," he said in the article. "I've had more people come in to talk to me about having their records expunged in the last year than I have had in the previous 13 combined."

In addition, several studies have found that more Americans currently have criminal records. That in turn has caused background checks to become more commonplace among employers.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, more than 80 percent of companies performed background checks during 2006, an increase from 50 percent during 1998.

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