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Screening your Nanny with Criminal Record Checks

Thursday, December 31, 2009

GreatAupair utilizes several commercial and public records systems as well as third-parties in the performance of its records search services.

Click here for a list of the background and reference checks offered by GreatAupair.

If your candidate will be driving for you, we strongly recommend a motor vehicle records check. A state background check is a good overall report. And if a candidate has lived in only one county for the past 7 years then a county check would be the best to order.

Typically candidates move around, so a state check covers more territory. A federal check searches for crimes at the federal level in a particular state. Any criminal activity will show up in the state, county or federal reports. If the candidate has moved around between several states, we split the reports and do state in one area and county or federal in another. If you decide to do only one background check, then we recommend a state check.

Reference checks are recommended for any candidate.  If you are paid member, you can download our “reference interview questionnaire“  and do your own reference checking. We also recommend a credit check to get an idea of how financially responsible the candidate has been in the past.

For the best overall background screening of your nanny applicant we suggest ordering the following reports:

• A county criminal record report
• A federal criminal record report
• A state criminal record report
• A reference report
• A credit check
• A motor vehicle report

These are our recommendations for the most thorough screening, but the decision is up to you based on your concerns and needs. If you are a US family hiring an international au pair through the J-1 visa program, the agency will do the background checks for you. This is included in the program fees paid to your J-1 agency.

When you purchase your background checks, you are provided with service tokens. These tokens are used to redeem reports. When you are ready to order, click on the service tokens that you have purchased on your account page and then enter the locator number of the candidate for which you would like to order the reports. When you redeem your tokens, we automatically send out an email to the candidate requesting that the she fill out a online release form providing authorization and all necessary information for the reports.

When a US or Canadian report is ordered, it will be delivered to you via email within 4-6 business days  (U.S. reports) from the time GreatAupair receives a signed release authorization form from the candidate. International background reports require a minimum of 6 weeks processing time after we receive the candidates signed release authorization form.

Tags: Categories: Background Screening, Featured, Resources for Families, Tips and Tricks

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