Previous Employment History + Education History

[montaine]

My question involves a background check in the State of: CA

1. When an employer runs a background check, typically do they get records of any job where the employer paid taxes on employees? So the information is the same that Social Security has?

2. How do they conduct a check of education history? Do they just contact the schools that you tell them about, or is there a central database containing records of all colleges/universities attended by anyone?

Thanks for any information.

[cbg]

Ah, the central database theory again.

There is no central database (other than the ones kept by the IRS and the Social Security Administration - and employers do not have access to them) showing all the places any applicant has ever worked or gone to school.

Typically an employers asks you for and checks the information they are interested in, which varies by employer and even by job. I would not be interested in confirming the education history of my receptionist, but I would my Director of Research and Development.

What is it that you don't want prospective employers to know about?

[montaine]

Hi. Thanks for the reply.

I worked at 2 jobs 1x/week for a few weeks each during the last 3 years (side jobs, in addition to my regular full-time job). I would like to leave both these off if they are not going to come up in a background check because they were so minor. Both employers reported the income/paid taxes.

Also, in one of these, the employer (owner of a 3-person small business) was a very difficult person who never wanted to hire me. She talked big to some mutual friends about how great her business was doing and acted like she needed help. But, she actually didn't have enough work to support an additional employee. She had to try me out to save face but basically ignored me and right from the start kept saying she was "just trying me out" .She "let me go" after a few weeks, accusing me of "not doing what she wanted". I feel that this whole situation was unfair because I tried hard but never had a chance from the get-go and she would badmouth me to explain why she didn't keep me. She has a history of being difficult to deal with (broke up with her business partner, etc.) which I didn't know about before working for her.

So, I would prefer that prospective employers not contact her. Can I safely just not list this job/employer?

Also, regarding the education: I have a grad degree that I would like to leave off some applications in the event that they consider me overqualified. I would list it if specifically asked but I would like to leave it off otherwise.


Thanks again.

[cbg]

Gaps in your employment history are problematical. Rather than leave them off, you would be safer to include them, but request that they not be contacted. If asked why, answer honestly. What hurts you is an employer being blindsided with negative information, not the negative information itself.

You are not required to include your grad degree.

Be aware that there is no such thing as a standard background check that will always yield exactly the same results. Also, it is not impossible that the employer may literally fall over information about you - for example, about six months after I was hired, they hired a new COO to whom I was to report - and it was my dad's next door neighbor. If I had left anything off my resume, they'd have caught it immediately then since he would know my history. It's wisest to include the information and explain, rather than "lie by omission".

[montaine]

I appreciate the valuable information.

Regarding the 2 "minor jobs": they took place while I was also working a full-time job, which of course I mention. Therefore, if I left these jobs off there would be no employment gaps.

[cbg]

Unless you worked at these jobs for less than three weeks, I still do not recommend leaving them off.

[montaine]

Thanks. I believe that you are correct and that I should mention the minor jobs.

It's just that a whole layer of complexity gets added to the application in terms of explanations, telling the prospective employer to not contact the bad boss, etc.

Oh, well.