How To Pass A Background Check for Employment

Background checks for employment have become a routine part of recruitment – you can learn about what gets checked here. Over 90% of US employers run at least one type of background check.

What began as simple identity confirmation now includes credit pulls, drug tests, and deep dives into public online behavior. A Harris Poll found that 55 percent of companies using social media screening discovered content that led them to skip a candidate

Background checks could grow to encompass a long list of data about you – but the data is clear; your digital footprint is already a massive part of the evaluation.

Core items employers review in a background check

Employers review a variety of data about you when conducting a background check – depending on the role, this can be extensive, potentially encompassing;

• Identity and right-to-work documents
• Criminal court records at county, state, and federal levels
• Employment dates, titles, and supervisor references
• Degrees, certifications, and active licenses
• Credit history for finance, security, or leadership roles
• Motor vehicle reports for driving positions
• Drug test results where required
• Public social media posts, likes, follows, and comments

This article will focus on the biggest areas that apply to almost all candidates, for almost all roles – social media, financial and criminal records. But first- lets understand if recruiters and employers will be checking your socials (and what they look for).

Will your social media be checked by employers and recruiters?

CareerBuilder reports that 70 percent of recruiters research candidates on social platforms and 54 percent have rejected applicants because of what they found. You can learn all about how social media is used in background checks here.

Screens often search:

• Evidence of illegal activity
• Leaks of confidential information
• Threats or harassment
• Excessive negativity toward employers or clients
• Provocative photos or heavy partying

Third-party vendors scrape content across Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Reddit, and even old forums. Algorithms flag risky posts in seconds, sometimes before a human sees your résumé.

If you want to give yourself the best shot at passing background checks with flying colors, the first and most important step is simple. Run a background check on yourself.

How to run a background check on yourself

Background checks vary widely in how deep they go on your history. The three steps below are the highest-impact actions you can take right now.

1. Pull your credit report (soft inquiry) and fix errors

Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and download the free file from each bureau (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion). This is a soft pull – it won’t affects your score – and it’s the exact data many employers see for finance, security‑cleared, or leadership roles.

Flag inaccurate late payments or fraudulent accounts, then file disputes under the Fair Credit Reporting Act so they’re corrected.

2. Order your FBI “Identity History Summary” (rap sheet)

For US candidates, the FBI will send your nationwide arrest/charge record for $18 once you submit fingerprints online or by mail – learn more here.

Local county dockets feed into this database, so it’s the fastest way to confirm that old, dismissed, or expunged cases are truly gone. If you spot a record that should be sealed or corrected, submit an Identity History Summary Challenge through the FBI’s CJIS portal – the bureau’s official process for changing or updating your rap sheet – and then file the appropriate sealing/expungement petition with the court; once the case is sealed, background‑screening vendors must purge it.

3. Audit and sanitize your online footprint

Seven in ten employers now screen candidates’ social‑media and search‑engine results – often before scheduling an interview. Follow the steps below to ensure there isn’t anything the could be misconstrued in a background check:

1. Google your name, common usernames, and email addresses in quotes
2. You an also use Google’s “Results about you” tool to find and request removals
3. Audit your social media platforms and make a note of any posts, photos, or comments that could be misconstrued – you’re going to need to delete these.

With social media forming a significant part of employer background checks, it’s essential that you review all your handles and remove anything unprofessional that might be misunderstood.

This can take days or longer if you’ve been on socials for years – that’s why we build redact.dev.

Fast-track social media cleanup with Redact

Manual deletion can burn days if you have years of activity. Redact automates the process and gives you granular control:

• Bulk remove posts by keyword, date range, or content type across Facebook, X, Reddit, Discord, and more.
• Preview mode shows exactly what will disappear before you confirm.
• Selective wipe keeps positive content while erasing risk.
• Full account wipe delivers a blank slate if you are switching careers.

With Redact you can align your online presence with company standards long before HR runs its search, so the only thing standing out in your background check is how thoroughly you prepared.

Redact supports dozens of major social and productivity platforms. You can try it free for deletions on Discord, Twitter, and Facebook, and Reddit.