Back ground checks: Required, but how?

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I once worked for an automotive supplier. We were launching a new plant in Tennessee.  We had the equivalent of a casting call in the local community for people to work on the line assembling car seats.  We had trouble getting 120 employees who could pass the mandatory drug screening.  Over 3,000 people applied.  That was an eye opener.

I am guilty of espousing the oft repeated security mandate:  thou shalt perform background checks on all new-hires and contractors.  But just how do you do that?  Someone from HR can call past employers and schools I suppose.  That seems like a lot of work.  Can't I outsource that?  

70+ advertisers who have bought those keywords.   There were even background check rating sites that would rate the various service offerings which cost as little as $18.  That site linked through to the services they recommend using affiliate urls so their rankings  were suspect and leads me to believe the industry is ripe for abuse.

A Google search on "background check" reveals 25 million web pages and

  launched their approach to background checks today.  A Web 2.0 simple interface allows you to quickly verify a job candidate's employers etc.   The cost model is based on items you want to check so it could cost $10-90 to verify someone's claims.  What I really like about BeenVerified's approach is the transparency offered the individual. They get to approve - on a line by line basis - which aspects of their background an employer can actually check.

BeenVerified just

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If anyone tries this service I would love to hear your thoughts/feedback on it.   My question would be: how would you catch the cyber criminal or even a spy recruited into a foreign espionage service?  Or would you just be increasing the investment the bad guys would have to make in their own recruitment efforts to make sure they got people who checked out clean before inserting them into your organization?

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