For most of us, our personal history is recorded across social media, credit history, employment and all the other little trails we leave as we go along. If you’re looking for a job, moving house or submitting an important application, some of this background might be of interest. In this case, it’s good to do a background check on yourself, so that you know what information is out there, what’s right and what needs correcting.
While many checks require you to go through official channels (such as a national coordinated criminal history check), there’s actually quite a lot you can do yourself. Interested in how to run a free background check on yourself? This guide will take you through all the steps you need to know.
What Is a Background Check?
A background check is a way of discovering publicly-available information about someone. Employers will often do a background check as a way of screening job candidates. In the case of a personal background check, they can be particularly important to ensure any public personal information is updated and correct.
Benefits of Performing a Background Check On Yourself
There are a few reasons you might want to perform a background check on yourself, including:
- Knowing what might come up: If you’re applying for a job, for example, an employer may do their own background check on you. By performing a background check on yourself, you’re able to anticipate any potential questions that could arise during an interview.
- Correct mistakes: The internet is not always fact-checked and it’s possible that public information about you is incorrect. In these cases, performing a background check on yourself can give you a head start on correcting any mistakes or inaccuracies.
- Fill in the blanks: It’s possible that there are elements of your life (such as work history or education) that don’t match up with the information available online. A background check can let you control the narrative and add details that might be missing.
What Does a Background Check Include?
Unlike a national coordinated criminal history check, there is no standard procedure for performing a background check on yourself. Typically, though, a personal background check takes into account anything that’s available to the public, such as social media accounts, news articles, credit history, publicly-searchable watchlists, records of family history and genealogy, published court judgments and more.
How to Run a Background Check on Yourself
Running your own background check can seem daunting, but it’s actually fairly simple. The only tools you’ll need are a computer and an internet connection. To get started, it’s worth covering all the bases listed below. Here’s how to run a background check on yourself:
Verify Personal Details
Important documents like your resume or rental history need to match up with the information publicly available. By searching social media for important personal details about yourself, you should be able to find out if any details are wrong and then correct them yourself.
Obtain Your Credit Report
A credit check can be vital for securing a loan or even working in financial industries. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to check your credit history yourself. You can request a free credit report from places like Experian or Equifax. This will tell you information like your credit score, current credit products, repayment history, past credit applications and overdue debts.
Request and Check Your Criminal Record
In many cases, it is illegal to discriminate against someone based on a criminal record, it’s still important to understand what information might come up about you in any criminal checks. This could include past convictions, current warrants and pending criminal cases. While it’s more complex than requesting a national coordinated police check through an agency like Intercheck, it is still possible to request a NCCHC yourself through institutions like Victoria Police. To request a national coordinated criminal history check yourself, you’ll need to apply directly to an ACIC accredited body.
Receive Your Driving Record
Your driving record can be of interest to employers and other agencies in general. State-based institutions like Vicroads will let you check your driver history, with details such as current demerit points balance, licence verification and other historical details.
Look Over Your Education and Employment History
It’s important that any publicly available information matches what you’ll be showing your potential employer. For example, if your resume says you attended one university, but your LinkedIn account lists another, that could be a red flag for an employer. Other important things to check could be dates you’ve worked jobs, supervisor names or your right to work status.
Review Your Address History
There are multiple reasons as to why reviewing your address history is important. In the context of moving house (or submitting rental applications), having an accurate address history can help build trust with potential landlords or property managers. Alternatively, if you’re applying for a driving record check, it’s a requirement for the address history to be up to date; this way they can determine if there are any outstanding issues linked to specific locations.
Check Your Social Media Presence
For many of us, social media has existed and recorded the better part of our entire lives. This means that we have left a long, often detailed trail of who we are, who we associate with, where we’ve been and what we do with our lives.
Not all of this information is negative when it comes to employment prospects or moving homes, but it’s important to make sure that what’s publicly visible is sanitised regularly, removing anything controversial, salacious, illegal or otherwise likely to reflect badly on you.
Alternatively, Make Use of a Screening Company
While it’s certainly possible to complete the tasks above, the time and effort (and, for some applications, money) required makes it a tough prospect. If you need a background check at any stage, it’s always easier and more reliable to go with a screening company.
Here at Intercheck, we’ll cover everything you need, completing a national coordinated criminal history check that will help you feel prepared for your next job interview, real estate application or anything else.
Obtain Your Nationally Coordinated Criminal History Check With InterCheck!
Ready to order a background check on yourself with Intercheck? Our trustworthy process makes getting a national coordinated criminal history check simple and straightforward, while taking away the effort of doing it all yourself. Get in touch today!
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