Home > Background Check > How Long Does a Background Check Take?

Have you ever felt it a must to check someone’s background information? There can be various reasons for it. We meet new people from our workplaces, schools, neighbors, and social media applications.

However, now, everyone hesitates to trust a person that has just walked into their life. This also implies corporate organizations. Employers refrain from trusting a new candidate's educational background without running a background check on them.

However, some background checks hold up to provide the data that makes bizarre delays in assembling the report. This article will discuss how long a background check takes for a job to provide the report.

For this cause, the article will cover the following topics:

How Long Does a Background Check Take?

A quick background check has various kinds depending on the information you want. The turnaround time of a background check depends on its type. We will discuss how long does it take for a background check depending on the kind of background check.

Employment Background Checks

Employment background checks are conventional while applying for a new job. Employers tend to gather information from different public engines before hiring you.

The turnaround time of an employment background check depends on the variety of information included in it. It can be ready in a few minutes, or it could take five days. It can take longer if the information has to be gathered by corporate organizations, educational institutes, or colleagues.

The employment background checks include educational data, certificates, employment history, social media applications, and basic details of the person.

Criminal Background Checks

The turnaround time of a criminal background check depends on the required criminal data and the means to gather it. The normal turnaround time of a criminal history varies from 1-5 business days. Some background checks require authentic data from courts, national and international databases.

This information takes longer than the average time. Some of the engines gather data from online sources like online database directories and national criminal record searches.

People might question how long does it take for a criminal background check and why? Criminal background checks contain information that is quite sensitive. This is what makes a considerable amount of time as compared to another quick background check.

Federal Background Check

A federal background check finds the data across the federal courts. Federal background checks look for federal law violations, identity theft, federal tax fabrication, mail fraud, and federal property crimes.

The report can gather information from both state records and federal records. Since a federal background check only looks for federal law violations, it takes 1 day to prepare the report.

Driving Record Check

A driving record check finds the target’s driving license number and driving history. If he has been arrested for his driving negligence, the report mentions it. The turnaround time depends on the state. It can take 1 to 3 business days to conduct a search and check all records on the state level.

What Causes the Background Check Delays?

We have discussed how long it takes a background check to come back with a background report. However, in some cases, the background check reports get extra delayed. Here, we will discuss the reasons that cause a delay in the background check report.

Candidate’s Prolonged Response

According to the Fair Credit Report Act (FCRA), employers must obey the compliance act. Therefore, the background check engine must receive authorization from the candidate to compile the report.

For this purpose, the candidate is sent various documents to his email address. He needs to read them and provide authorization. However, the delay occurs if the candidate takes a long to respond. If he takes 3 days to check and authorize, the report will obviously pause from the compilation process.

Category and Scope of Search

The variety of information from different sources directly impacts the time taken to compile the report. The report will consume more time if the background check requires criminal history, verifications, employment history, and driving check.

It will take relatively more time if the background check includes international database information, address history, and multiple identities.

Accessibility to the information

Some background information providers gather the data from county and state records. Due to this, some background checks return the report within 1 day. Some of the applications have connectivity with court records and jurisdiction websites.

Therefore, it is easy for them to access the information. However, some background check services fetch information from manual searches or in-person investigations. It leads to a delay in composing a background check.

Confusion Due to Name Variances

Sometimes, the target person has used different names in his past or has a common nickname. It can also cause a delay in the background check reports. The background check tool keeps finding the record of the provided name.

But, in some cases, the target person has registered records with another name. This is a major reason for delays in gathering information about the relevant target.

How to Speed up the Background Check Process?

We have discussed the general causes that cause a delay in the background check reports. Here, we will recognize some techniques and ways to speed up the background assessment procedure.

Set a Time Constraint of the Permission Span.
 As an employer, you must set a time limit to the authorization process. You should inform them that the authorization should be granted within a specific time. If they fail to do so, their hiring process can also be delayed.
 Select a Factual Background Information Provider
Select the correct background check tool if you want to get factual and timely information about your target. People only focus on the fees and amount of information they can receive. They must also check the tool's average turnaround time of providing the background report.
 Double-Check the Given information before you hand over the identity of the target, e.g., his name, country, and state, double-check it. Ensure the accuracy of the name before you run the background check on him. Some people use variances in their names which causes difficulty in gathering their legal records.
 Communicate the Delay in Court Records
If you are not receiving the court information in the average turnaround time, communicate it with the service. They should be aware of the problems you might face due to postponing in giving the report.
Know What you Require
Be sure if you need the employment history, criminal records, driving history, or anything else. If you know what you exactly want and work on it, it will reduce the delays in your background report. It will refrain the background service from searching countless records to give you data that you don't need.
Keep a Check on Drug Clinic
Being an employer, if you have pushed the applicant to take a drug test, take updates from the clinic. Usually, the drug testing clinic provides the report within 3 days. Make sure to keep following up with the clinic to avoid further delays.

Use RealPeopleSearch to Do a Quick Background Check

RealPeopleSearch is a people search engine that provides a quick background report with detailed information about the target. You can gather his public records covering any criminal misdemeanor, offenses, felonies, or court proceedings.

The background report also contains the residential addresses, social media applications, and relatives. The application provides a quick report without any delays. It has advanced options that enable users to filter the results.

If you want to remove your information from the website for privacy reasons, contact customer service. The customer support of RealPeopleSearch is very responsive and quickly answers the problems of the users.

However, RealPeopleSearch does not allow the misuse of given information. It has a transparent policy that does not permit screening employees or tenants. If the user exploits the provided background data, they will face the consequences.

Here, we will learn how to find background information of the target with RealPeopleSearch:

Step 1: Access the Website
Open the RealPeopleSearch website from any browser. Access its “Background Search” service
Step 2: Provide the Name
Enter with the correct first name, last name, and provide the city and state information. Tap on the "Start Search."
Step 3: Access the Report
After a few minutes, the application will display the relevant profiles in the searched outcome. You can access the detailed background information of the selected profile.

Final Verdict

The article explains how long does a background check takes for a job and the types of background checks. The article also explains the turnaround time of different background check types.

It is quite important to understand how long does background checks take. For this, we also acknowledged the techniques to speed up the background check process in different ways. Anyone who reads the article will get interesting knowledge about the background check topic.