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Have any of you underwent a background check? How long do they usually take?
From, what I know, this covers criminal history internationally and domestically, and I don't think it covers credit but maybe anything filed in court is game.
I have been waiting 3 weeks to find out the results (I'm not worried, practically, as I have never even gotten a speeding ticket), but I am beginning to wonder/get impatient/get offers from other companies.
The ones the Boy Scouts for their volunteer leaders usually takes a couple weeks for the full cycle, since names are sent in and reports sent back only once a week.
For deep background checks like those needed to work for the federal government, it can take anywhere from weeks to months.
From what it sounds like, it doesn't sound like one of the major ones. I'd call the company and check on status - it may be sitting in someone's inbox somewhere.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Katharina: Thanks! I have dug around the company's website and the background check website. It looks like it will cover all variants of criminal history, civil history, all real property owned by me (I'm a renter and uh, my permanent address is home), and bankruptcy records (maybe). Thank goodness it does not appear to have a credit check.
This isn't for the government; my gosh I couldn't imagine waiting months (especially as my lease runs out in September!).
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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It took nearly six weeks for the one my current employer did for me. I don't know why so long. Except for one thing - I found out later they were requesting records also from a neighboring county -where they THOUGHT I lived -- but I actually live one mile inside THIS county. So they wasted some time there.
Posts: 9538 | Registered: Aug 2003
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A background check I recently had took forever (like over 6 weeks) and by the time it finally came through I had already committed to another job.
Posts: 511 | Registered: Mar 2006
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quote:It looks like it will cover all variants of criminal history, civil history, all real property owned by me (I'm a renter and uh, my permanent address is home), and bankruptcy records (maybe).
What does civil history include?
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The one that was done on us for this apartment took about 2 weeks and wasn't all that extensive.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I had one for a Secret clearance once for a consulting job I did. It was a pain in the butt, but only exceeded by the one I did for my job with NYC government. In the federal one, I only had to report my addresses for the past 20 years. For the NYC one, they wanted every address I'd ever lived at, including as an infant. It was stupid.
The NYC one was detailed to the point of insanity and, I learned later, was a back door way of firing people if they needed to. There's always some foul up on the form, and if you "lie" on it, you can be fired. I don't know how often they ended up using that gambit, but I have it on good authority (from a person working in that department) that it had been used that way.
On the plus side, NYC would hire you while "conducting" the investigation. Ultimately, the real truth is they never looked at the stuff in most cases. Again, if they needed to fire you with extreme prejudice, they'd start digging.
I understand that the process for Secret clearances with the US government now takes a lot more time than it used to. Mine took about 6 weeks. I got it and never had a single question back from them.
It was kind of fun having it, but I never once actually used it. There was no need. Every piece of equipment we evaluated was declassified, as were the manuals and the training protocols. But we had to have the clearance because the contract called for it. There was a chance that I might get to see something I shouldn't have access to, or whatever...
It was fun visiting training centers around the country. The Navy has some VERY cool declassified stuff. I can only imagine how cool the classified training equipment is. Wait, no I can't. I'm not cleared to imagine it.
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I could never fill out a form like that. I don't even know the addresses of all the places I've lived within my memory - and we had ten addresses before that! I don't think it would even be possible to reconstruct. Good thing my field would never require it. Posts: 2762 | Registered: Sep 1999
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I had one done when I volunteered at Head Start, but I thought it only took three business days. Either it must have been a significantly simpler check or my memory's going.
Posts: 866 | Registered: Aug 2005
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My fiance finally got his secret clearance through the government. It took him about three weeks for a provisional one and then the actual one just came in last week. He had done the application in September. Plus to make matters even more obnoxious, they want him to go up a level in clearance so he has to go through the whole process again except even more thorough.
Posts: 416 | Registered: May 2005
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Thanks everyone. Guess background checks are a hassle all around. On the other hand, this does relate to obtaining a visa, so you can understand the need for thorough research, especially with criminal history. I think the civil check entails all civil court records, defaults on child support etc. I did have to list my last 7 addresses and with subletting, renting, boarding school, and all sorts of nonsense, it felt like a big jumble.
I'm just paranoid that I messed up somehow and I won't get the job. I emailed them about how long they take and have yet to receive a response. Grrr. As I have gotten another offer, it looks like I have to make the pushy applicant phone call. Hate to do it, but I don't have much choice (unless those people I bugged on Friendster actually check their messages).
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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at the moment Secret is only 10 years of history, but probably takes 6+ months, and it's not uncommon to take more than a year. I just submitted a few rounds of DoD and DoS clearance back in about Jan-Feb and have yet to hear the first peep from the govmt about it all...
The particularly fun thing is when you're filling this all out after co-oping (i.e. moving every 3-4 months, and changing jobs) for the last 5 years while going to school... I think I tallied it up at 36+ references I was supposed to give based on the number of distinct residence periods, number of distinct times I was employed (for the same company the whole time but diff departments) and the number of times I went back and forth from school... such a headache. But the nice thing is that it should boost my career.
As for you Kristen, it seems somewhat odd/unfortunate that you'd have to wait more than a couple weeks without them getting back to you at all/giving you the job on a probationary basis etc... if it comes down to it, just tell them the truth. if they still can't hurry it up, then you might just have to take the other job.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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Grimace: Wow, look at me complaining about a measly 3 weeks! Thanks for your input, I am DEFINITELY calling them tomorrow. During the initial interview stage, they told us that if we were asked to get a background check, we were "in really good shape" so I figure my (polite) pestering of them won't make much of a difference at this point.
But really, how hard is it to give a general timetable?
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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well, to be fair I'm already employed so all the wait is doing for me is limiting what I can work on for the time being... not really as big a deal.
I wouldn't worry about pestering them. Likely as not they are as frustrated as you with the delay (as usually these checks are done through a 3rd party company) it might actually give them the leverage they need to speed up the process. Or it might alert them that your paperwork somehow slipped through the cracks and was forgotten on accident.
Posts: 1038 | Registered: Feb 2006
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I had one for tutoring that took about three weeks, then I had one for nuclear plant work, and it took ages. I had to fill out a 27 page form going back 10 years, and give them five contacts of people who knew me. I gave them people I'd known for many years, and then it turned out they wanted those to be people I had contact with every month. Only it can't be relatives by blood or marriage. Oh, and they fingerprinted me and gave me a ridiculous psyche test, and made me get a physical at their doctor's office. It was crazy.
The funny thing was they justified all this by saying it was necessary for unescorted access to nuclear plants, but I just found out that I have another 3 day training course and another background check before I can be badged at the plant itself. All I have so far is access to the corporate office in another city.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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