I often see websites advertise free background checks and for whatever reason when I click on more information, a price comes up which begs the question, how can these sites offer free background checks and then charge someone a price for the information?

I always question how valid something is when I see a ‘free offer’. If it were free, would everyone buy it? Then again, if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Nothing of value is ever given to someone for free. Plain and simple. With criminal data and how important the information is to employers, why would you consider putting your company at risk by using a free service which probably uses outdated information and then charge you for the meat and potatoes which in most cases would cost the same as if you went to a legitimate service?

Here’s how I look at it. I can go to websites today and spend the time looking up criminal data on my job applicants. A perfect example is the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. They have a site where you can search district justice records and court of common pleas dockets for no price. Well, how do you know if the person lived in PA and not in NY or NJ for most of their life? How do you know if the person doesn’t have a different last name or maybe the date of birth may be off by a day or two? These are just a couple of the nuances that criminal data has and not using a vendor that can provide a multi-state report with capabilities of searching on aliases ultimately puts your company in a predicament. Let us know if you need a vendor that can give you the information you need to make a sound hiring decision on a prospective employee.