EmployeeScreenIQ

As so many people seek jobs in education, and those positions are sensitive and require a trustworthy employee, it's extremely important to make sure you hire the right worker for the job.

The education industry has long remained a fast-growing and popular career choice. During January, the industry employed 3,094,400 workers and had an unemployment rate of 5.9 percent, which is much lower than the national unemployment rate for all industries of 9.7 percent.

It's vital to maintaining a safe learning environment that schools properly screen teachers, faculty, janitorial staff, teaching assistants, coaches and other extra-curricular staff. Here are some sample background checks to conduct on potential school employees:

• Social Security number trace - This procedure, which also includes an address history search, authenticates that the Social Security number an applicant provides is associated with an individual of the same name and birth date. The Social Security number trace reveals addresses that are used to select court jurisdictions in which to check for criminal records, and also will reveal any aliases.
• Education verifications - This confirms the schools the candidate attended, diplomas they received, degrees and certificates they were awarded and any additional information available.
• Employment verifications - This verifies information on an applicant's resume, including dates of employment, starting and ending positions and salaries, reason for termination, and eligibility for rehire. It also may include interviews with former supervisors.
• County criminal records search - This consists of an on-site manual search for the superior, upper, lower and municipal court records available in each county. These records will indicate whether or not a candidate has had a felony, misdemeanor or infraction within the last seven years or longer. The end result includes date of arrest, date of filing, charges, level of charges, disposition date, final disposition of charges and any sentence or penalty.
• National criminal records database search - These aggregate databases are comprised of millions of records from various sources, including county court houses, state departments of incarcerations, state record repositories, probation departments, townships and sex offender registries.
• Federal criminal record search - Cases found through these searches typically involve violations of the Constitution or federal law, including things such as tax evasion, embezzlement, bank robbery, kidnapping and mail fraud. Federal criminal convictions will not appear in state or county felony and misdemeanor court record searches.
• Homeland security check - This cross references an applicant's name against more than 90 worldwide known terrorist and fugitive databases that include individuals, organizations and companies considered to be a threat to global and national security. The Homeland Security database is updated daily as various lists are modified.
• Sex offender registry - This multi-state search provides sex offender case information from such sources as: bureaus of investigation, departments of law enforcement, departments of corrections, departments of justice, departments of public safety, sheriff's departments, state attorney general's offices and state police.
• Substance abuse screening - This can include physical exams and urine, hair or saliva testing for various substances.

Labels: Sample background checks