They are not a walk in the park. I have passed everyone of my background checks through the years.
After the first one, they get easier and quicker to fill out. It doesn't matter who you are, everyone has to fill them out and endure the scrutiny. Even the candidates who are transferring departments or doing lateral moves.
The packet that you retrieve can be up to 80 pages or more. Your packet has a space for you to list everyone in your immediate family, former spouses, up to 30 friends, sections for your neighbours and a space for previous co-workers, as well as medical and citation history. Okay, got that?
The investigator interviews all of the people on your list. Besides answering questions, everyone on the list are asked to provide more names of those who might or might not know you. Then it begins again. The investigator contacts all of the new names given to him/her.
You could give the investigator 40 names but by the time they are done checking you out, they might have retrieved up to 100 more names. This all depends on how many people you know and your age. A young person starting out won't have as many names to provide.
The length of time it takes to be investigated depends on the investigator.
Oh and they don't stop at those who like you, they also ask for names of those who do not like you. I usually put down angry people before they ask for them. You might as well get it out of the way. Still, I have never worried and have yet to be found not fit for hire because of something in my background.
Oh, and they frown on you warning people about being on your contact list. The investigator wants to catch everyone off guard....lol
It's overwhelming to the those who try to crack into a LEO spot. And along with the many pages you have to fill out, there is a time limit on the submission. If you do not have all of the information of your entire history or addresses, numbers, employment, birth dates for everyone and family history at hand, you have a great deal of homework to do.
When the department tells you that by the time they are done with their investigation, they will know what kind of diapers you wore as a child.....they aren't kidding! Way back, before things got politically correct, my first investigator told me that he would know if I was breast fed or not....*giggles*
The simple background check is just a drop in the bucket compared to the Secret or Top Secret Security Clearance for other positions. I have endured those as well. Like I mentioned, once you have all of your ducks in a row, it's a slice of pie. I keep duplicates of my information and just have to tweak addresses and numbers.
When I get asked about how to fill them out, I remember one simple rule when being investigated. It isn't what you put down, it's what you don't put down. Cause trust me, they will find out.
All of that and more is worth it for the rewards of moving on up in your career or just staring one. It is a competitive field and I may be passing all of the tests and checks, but that doesn't guarantee anything. There is so much more to applying or transferring.
That is for another blog...lol
You are truly under a microscope.
