Theft, violence, deception. The consequence of a bad hire can lead to disaster. Workplace violence now costs businesses $4.3 billion annually (National Safe Workplace Institute). To reduce the risk of these situations, or others, occurring in the workplace, many companies are turning to background investigation firms for pre-employment screening.

In the past, background investigations were used only for those applicants in highly sensitive industries such as childcare or law enforcement. Now, pre-employment background investigations are commonplace in many industries, from retail to legal. With a growing demand for the information provided by investigators, the competition is increasing.

What differentiates one background investigation firm from the competition? I decided to do some of my own investigating. Using the law firm where I am Human Resources Manager as a sample employer, I compared services of three companies in the Los Angeles area for quality, turnaround time, and price. The companies I investigated included InfoLink Screening Services, Inc., Confidential Management Services, Inc. (CMS), and ChoicePoint Inc. With each of these companies, I spoke with a sales representative, and read their sales literature.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) has clearly influenced the practices of background investigation firms. To comply with the FCRA, investigators must use the most up-to-date resources to conduct their search. This is particularly important in the Criminal History Search which is part of the basic package suggested by all three companies. The Criminal History Search researches the background of the applicant, matching their name with a criminal record. To accomplish this, InfoLink and ChoicePoint send their own employees to court to do the research firsthand. CMS, however, uses a database search from their office to match the name with a criminal record. If they come up with a possible "hit" and the name does match a criminal record, they then go to the courthouse to do further research. Since their database only uses the name as identification, they need to clarify that it is the individual in question by matching their date of birth at the court. A problem can occur with this method when the database is not updated regularly. A recent arrest may not show up on the initial search of an applicant. Without that hit, CMS would not do any further investigation on the individual.

The other two reports suggested by both InfoLink and CMS include a Social Security trace and a Department of Motor Vehicles trace. In both traces, a database is used to match the name of the applicant with their social security number and driver license number, basically confirming that the applicant is who they say they are.

InfoLink offers a fourth report as part of their Basic Search Package. It is called a Prior Employer Tracking Service. When InfoLink has performed a previous search on an applicant, they will report that applicant's past employers and dates of employment. If the report lists a company that the individual has worked for, but failed to list on their application, it is a red flag as to the integrity of that individual.

In addition to the criminal investigation, ChoicePoint offers a 5 year employment history as part of its basic package. For this report, ChoicePoint conducts interviews with the applicant's previous employers. Speaking with managers, or the human resources department, ChoicePoint covers the past 5 years of the applicant's employment history.

All of the companies I researched had a turnaround time of one week or less. CMS offered a 24 hour verbal turnaround if the authorization for the search was received by noon. Of course, that information would not be complete if there was a possible "hit" in the criminal investigation that needed to be further researched at the court. InfoLink offers a turnaround time of 2 to 3 working days. Since the 5 year employment history can be labor intensive, ChoicePoint's turnaround time is 5 working days.

InfoLink was the bargain of the three companies. For $24.80 their Basic Search Package included a Criminal "Hand" Search (included initial county only), a Social Security Verification I.D. Trace, a Motor Vehicle Report and a Prior Employer Tracking Service. Additional charges of $2.00 by the Department of Motor Vehicles and $5.00 by the Los Angeles County Court, would bring the total to $31.80. InfoLink suggested adding on education verification for $11.80 per institution, and past employment reference checks at $11.80 per reference. If one of each were added on to the Basic Search Package, the total cost would be $55.40.

CMS offers a similar package with their Employment Background #1. For $130.00, that package includes, a Statewide Criminal Conviction History, a Social Security Trace and a Motor Vehicle Report. Additional charges can occur when CMS gets a possible hit when researching the criminal conviction history. If a name matches a crime, they need to do further research to confirm it is the same individual in question. The cost to do research at the court is $60/hour and $.40/mile. CMS also suggests adding on an education and employment background check for $100.00.

ChoicePoint offered a pre-paid option. With less than 10 new hires per year at my firm, we would not be eligible to become a client at ChoicePoint, which requires a minimum of 50 applicants to research per year. As an alternative, they suggested an option that is $225.00 for 3 individuals, or $73.67 each. While there isn't an expiration date for the package, they prefer that it is used within 3 months of purchase. The pre-paid option includes a Statewide Felony/Misdemeanor Record Check (at present resident address), and the 5 year employment history. A Motor Vehicle Search is available as an add-on to this package for $75.00, or $25.00 each search.

Based solely on price, it would be easy in this situation to choose InfoLink, since their price is significantly less than the competition. But, considering how this information influences a hiring decision, and the potential cost of making a bad hire, the decision must go beyond price. Nonetheless, I felt most confident in the ability of InfoLink to give me the information I needed. InfoLink is a specialist with many years of experience doing background investigations. Not only did they give me all of the information I needed quickly and efficiently, but they also informed me that their company president, Barry Nadell, was always available to answer questions for his clients. On the contrary, at ChoicePoint, their salesperson reluctantly let me know that it was not the company's preference to work with law firms as clients. ChoicePoint is very skeptical of law firms becoming their clients, because as a client, a law firm can order any records that could be potentially used to research the law firm's own clients. Using the pre-paid option, my firm would not actually become a client of ChoicePoint.

I was also most confident with the quality and quantity of information that InfoLink could provide in comparison to the others. They did direct research at the courts and included a fourth report of information that their competition could not match. Their knowledge of FCRA was evident in both their sales personnel and written materials.

When the time is right for your company to start using a background investigation company, I would suggest using InfoLink. With their knowledgeable staff, years of experience and their lower price, they stand far above their competition. Say goodbye to the bad hire, here comes the investigator!