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What can an employee do to prepare for a Background Check?

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To an employee, the prospect of a background check can be frightening. Small mistakes in the past loom large in an employee�s mind, and applicants with a checkered past wonder if they are doomed for rejection.

If you are a job applicant, you cannot change your past, so you should simply be honest with yourself and with employers. If you are aware that an employer will run a background check, and you know that certain aspects of it will be less than helpful, be proactive about it. Offer information to the employer, preferably in person, but perhaps in your cover letter or resume, explaining the problems that appear in your background check.

Don�t hide from your mistakes, but do compensate for them. Distinguish yourself as an applicant through what you offer in the future, not what you did in the past. Cultivate quality references and encourage employers to contact them for proof of your good character. Demonstrate through your cover letter and resume that you bring a great deal to the table. If an employer questions you about an issue, respond confidently with a brief description of the problem (without putting blame on others) and a more lengthy description of the solution.

Another way to prepare for a background check is to order a background check yourself. There is no need to send a background check to an employer (if they want one, they will order it themselves), but it could be helpful for your personal information to know what a background check will turn up. If there is erroneous information in your background report, move to correct that information; otherwise, focus more energy on your present and your future than on worrying about your past.

Next Page: What areas might be covered in a Background Check?

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