My Recruiting Blog

A new Web site will make it easier for job seekers to conduct personal background checks and discover any potential problems before a potential employer does.

TransparentMe, a site that provides individuals' public records, allows candidates to perform an online personal background check in days or minutes, revealing everything from negative information to whether or not their identity has been compromised.

"In today's hyper-competitive job market, a background check can make the difference between landing a dream job or being cast aside in favor of someone else," Jason B. Morris, co-founder and principal of TransparentMe, said. "TransparentMe equips a job seeker with information so they can be proactive with a potential employer instead of defensive."

The site offers three service levels, including a basic package for $19.95, an enhanced package for $34.95 and a comprehensive package for $69.95. Basic level results are available within minutes, while enhanced and comprehensive level results are available in one to four days.

All three levels provide:

• Identity verification - This search conducts a social security number trace, ensuring that an individual's number isn't being used by anyone else. The trace also provides a history of addresses where a customer has applied for credit. Most employers use this type of search as a roadmap to determine which court jurisdictions should be researched for criminal records and what names to check.
• National criminal records database search - A search of databases that comprise millions of records from various sources in the United States. These records are obtained by commercial vendors from several different sources including: county court houses, state departments of incarceration, state record repositories, probation departments and townships.
• National sex offender registry search - This multi-state database search provides sex offender case information in an easy-to-read report. Extensive search capabilities will check registered sex offender data sources nationwide, including: 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 agencies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The enhanced level package additionally includes:

• Current county of residence criminal records search - An on-site manual search of the superior, upper, lower, and/or municipal court records in the user's current county of residence. A national network of professional court researchers covers the more than 3,500 county court jurisdictions and will indicate if a subject has a felony, misdemeanor and possibly an infraction filing within the last seven years or longer.
• Homeland Security search - This security check cross-references the user's name against more than 14 worldwide known terrorist and fugitive databases that include individuals, organizations and companies considered a threat to global and national security. The Homeland Security check database is updated daily as various lists are modified.

The comprehensive level package includes all five services listed above and allows users to conduct a criminal records search in up to five counties throughout the country.

Individuals also can purchase add-on services, such as employment verifications, education verifications, reference interviews and professional license verifications.

"More companies than ever are conducting background checks on their job candidates - as many as 85 percent of all employers," Nick Fishman, co-founder and principal of TransparentMe, said. "Also, identity theft is forcing candidates to find out the hard way that their character and personal information has been tainted. TransparentMe arms people with knowledge so they can avoid unpleasant surprises that might impact their future career."