Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M • Hacker News Board

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#41

Post by rconti » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 6:27 PM UTC

luckydata wrote: post #18

Whatever they do, they can't do worse than HireRight, the company with the most hilariously bad reviews I've ever seen in my life. https://background-check-websites.no1reviews.com/user-review... and https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/hireright-to... and https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2012/08/emplo... They are the fucking worst.

They're all pretty worthless. Checkr couldn't verify almost ANYTHING about my background. HireRight called my CURRENT employer for a job I had 8 years ago, said "unable to verify dates", then when I pointed out the obvious problem (they verified the exact dates of my current employment down to actual start date), they just closed the whole process with 'unable to verify'. Of course, none of it mattered, because the employers don't expect them to do a good job anyway, so they hire you regardless. But god forbid you actually have something in your background that needs research/explaining.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#42

Post by vhost- » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 6:36 PM UTC

twothamendment wrote: post #37

maaaats wrote: post #34

I find it quite scary that whether you can get employed or not is decided on the whim of some company. What if your record is wrong, and they won't fix it? And what value do you get of the screening? What can you find, that really would matter to a hiring decision, other than extreme cases?

What if they dig up dirt on someone with the same or similar name? My mom can't give blood because of some guy with a name that is one letter different than hers. You'd think a different gender would make it easy to fix - but no, she finally gave up.

I got served a court summons for someone who shares my name that was being sued for not paying 100k in medical debt to MY WORK. it was super embarrassing and they walked in and threw papers at me.

It took me months to get it figured out because the people responsible for serving me just ignored me. They refused to believe they made a pretty massive research mistake. We had different middle names and birth dates.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#43

Post by Kalium » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:11 PM UTC

greatamerican wrote: post #40

This company exists solely to extend the punishment of people who have ALREADY BEEN PUNISHED BY THE COURT SYSTEM. If there is any justice in the world, this company will go out of business.

I've personally witnessed background checks used to catch people who flat-out lied in the hiring process.

You're absolutely right. Those people had already been punished by the courts for their misdeeds against society. They were not going to suffer further at our hands.

When they chose to lie to us during the hiring process, however, they committed a new misdeed that some might say justified additional reaction.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#44

Post by greatamerican » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:17 PM UTC

Kalium wrote: post #43

greatamerican wrote: post #40

This company exists solely to extend the punishment of people who have ALREADY BEEN PUNISHED BY THE COURT SYSTEM. If there is any justice in the world, this company will go out of business.

I've personally witnessed background checks used to catch people who flat-out lied in the hiring process. You're absolutely right. Those people had already been punished by the courts for their misdeeds against society. They were not going to suffer further at our hands. When they chose to lie to us during the hiring process, however, they committed a new misdeed that some might say justified additional reaction.

Do you understand why this is an indictment of your hiring process, rather than of those people?

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#45

Post by jstarfish » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:21 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #38

This kind of company deserves to die, and the public record laws for highly personal data also. The obsession with "background checks" is a really huge part of why the US has extremely high recidivism rate. When people can't find a job even flipping burgers or distributing newspapers, they have no choice other than to go back to the criminal life. edit: as I got private feedback: it is not my intention to disrespect…

A few people I've known with criminal histories only managed to turn their lives around by scraping a business together for themselves, going into home contracting (handyman, exterminator, etc.). They had done time for stuff like narcotics trafficking and manslaughter and were never going to be hired by any employer otherwise.

Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potential clients to do background checks on contractors. You wouldn't want to let a former criminal into your home to do repairs, after all.

I don't know how they're making it these days.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#46

Post by Kalium » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:22 PM UTC

greatamerican wrote: post #44

Kalium wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've personally witnessed background checks used to catch people who flat-out lied in the hiring process. You're absolutely right. Those people had already been punished by the courts for their misdeeds against society. They were not going to suffer further at our hands. When they chose to lie to us during the hiring process, however, they committed a new misdeed that some might say justified additional reaction.

Do you understand why this is an indictment of your hiring process, rather than of those people?

To clarify a point on which there may be some doubt, the hiring process spelled out in quite certain terms that were in no way, shape, form, or manner less than completely clear that a criminal history was not an bar to employment. These were not empty words. The people clearly did not believe this, and made their own personal, individual choices to be dishonest with us.

I absolutely understand how this was a fault in the hiring process. The hiring process of the company should have been much more patient for background check results. That way we would have caught that we were being lied to earlier. The nature of the roles in question - and the access to private and sensitive material involved - required us to care about the pasts of the candidates.

Is it possible that you consider the flaw in the process to be of a different nature? Such as that there should under no circumstances be any interest in a person's criminal history in any hiring process?

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#47

Post by jstarfish » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:34 PM UTC

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #14

owenversteeg wrote: post #10

The demo on the website is pretty interesting, especially with the amount of information they can get. The "previous salary" was pretty interesting - is that something that companies actually check? Also, is there a risk of abusing this? What information does Checkr need to run a report, and how do they verify that the person they are running the report on is actually applying for the relevant position?

They try to get salary, but often don’t get it. I’ve been asked for salary info on former employees. Equifax also owns a company called theworknumber, which your employer voluntarily provides with salary information. The standard language in background checks gives them permission to obtain it through any means, including asking your bank how much your direct deposit is, or asking your credit card company what your s…

> Equifax also owns a company called theworknumber, which your employer voluntarily provides with salary information.

For clarification, this is a give-and-take situation and only applicable if your employer subscribes to this service. If they want to request salary history for new hires, they need to provide salary history for old ones.

Most small businesses don't, but if you contract through a staffing agency, those do.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#48

Post by mschuster91 » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:39 PM UTC

jstarfish wrote: post #45

mschuster91 wrote: post #38

This kind of company deserves to die, and the public record laws for highly personal data also. The obsession with "background checks" is a really huge part of why the US has extremely high recidivism rate. When people can't find a job even flipping burgers or distributing newspapers, they have no choice other than to go back to the criminal life. edit: as I got private feedback: it is not my intention to disrespect…

A few people I've known with criminal histories only managed to turn their lives around by scraping a business together for themselves, going into home contracting (handyman, exterminator, etc.). They had done time for stuff like narcotics trafficking and manslaughter and were never going to be hired by any employer otherwise. Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potent…

> Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potential clients to do background checks on contractors. You wouldn't want to let a former criminal into your home to do repairs, after all.

How in f..ks name is this even legal, to begin with?

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#49

Post by patmcguire » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:46 PM UTC

jstarfish wrote: post #45

mschuster91 wrote: post #38

This kind of company deserves to die, and the public record laws for highly personal data also. The obsession with "background checks" is a really huge part of why the US has extremely high recidivism rate. When people can't find a job even flipping burgers or distributing newspapers, they have no choice other than to go back to the criminal life. edit: as I got private feedback: it is not my intention to disrespect…

A few people I've known with criminal histories only managed to turn their lives around by scraping a business together for themselves, going into home contracting (handyman, exterminator, etc.). They had done time for stuff like narcotics trafficking and manslaughter and were never going to be hired by any employer otherwise. Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potent…

I'm curious how much "Ban the Box" laws apply to contractors and gig economy workers, my guess is not at all.

Re: Background checks pay for Checkr, which just raised $100M

#50

Post by jstarfish » Thu, Apr 12, 2018, 7:57 PM UTC

mschuster91 wrote: post #48

jstarfish wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few people I've known with criminal histories only managed to turn their lives around by scraping a business together for themselves, going into home contracting (handyman, exterminator, etc.). They had done time for stuff like narcotics trafficking and manslaughter and were never going to be hired by any employer otherwise. Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potent…

> Then, in the vein of technological progress, services started popping up encouraging potential clients to do background checks on contractors. You wouldn't want to let a former criminal into your home to do repairs, after all. How in f..ks name is this even legal , to begin with?

At some point some enterprising youts figured out how to scrape public records databases and re-sell the information. It's hardly illegal.

It only got into illegal(ish) territory when they started gaming SEO to shame individuals with criminal records (so your mugshot was the first thing that came up on searches), charging money to de-prioritize those results, and not necessarily following through.