10 Trust Factors Background Checks Don’t Tell You


Posted on March 31, 2012 by admin | in Background Check

Though running a thorough background investigation on a potential employee or even a prospective mate will supply a considerable amount of information, there are some important things that even the most exhaustive check may not return. Here are ten of the trust factors that you will not be able to rely on a background check to learn.

  1. Temperament – There may be a few clues as to a person’s temperament scattered throughout their background reports, but it is, for the most part, impossible to make a judgment about a subject’s personality by relying on a handful of facts.
  2. Reliability – Though a resume and background check may show years of employment with one company, it doesn’t necessarily point to reliability. There are many factors that could have affected the subject’s longevity.
  3. Likelihood of Causing Trouble – Some people seem to feed on trouble and dramatic scenes; these people are detrimental to productivity and almost always difficult to deal with. Unfortunately, this trait will not be reported by a background check, leaving employers to discover it on their own by experience.
  4. Loyalty – One of the most valuable traits a long-term employee can exhibit is loyalty. Many candidates can exhibit signs of loyalty during an interview, and you will not be able to find this information on a background report.
  5. Substance Abuse Problems – Unless the subject has been arrested or submitted to a court-ordered stint in rehab, substance abuse problems might be difficult to detect and will not necessarily show up on a background check.
  6. Undetected Criminal Activity – A clean arrest report doesn’t necessarily mean that a person has never engaged in criminal activity; it just means that they’ve never been caught. A crafty criminal that evades detection would have a pristine background, and those investigating them would be none the wiser.
  7. Moral Fiber – This is another personality trait that a background check simply can’t detect accurately. The presence or absence of moral fiber is something that might not be obvious for quite some time.
  8. Work Ethic – A strong work ethic is one of the most appealing traits that a prospective employee can have. It’s also one of the things that interviews and background checks don’t typically indicate.
  9. Honesty and Integrity – Though a long arrest record would indicate that a subject is perhaps lacking in the areas of honesty and integrity, there’s no way to tell if those traits are present in the subject of a background check.
  10. Resume Accuracy – Many people have “fudged” a few details on their resume in order to make themselves as appealing to hiring managers as possible. This practice is usually harmless, though outright lies can lead to an unqualified individual working in a position above their skill level. References can be faked and details can be stretched; unfortunately, a background check isn’t likely to detect those things.

Though a background investigation can be a very valuable hiring tool, it’s important that employers not rely on them to the exclusion of all else. Instinct and intuition are still very important, and should not be ignored in favor of a consumer report.

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