Recently my company encountered a situation that although very benign needs to be mentioned. When an applicant submits his or her paperwork and work experience for a potential job opening the applicant needs to know a few things. What you were named at birth may be totally different than the name you choose to be known by today. One of my investigators was canvassing a local neighborhood doing what is known as a background neighborhood check. The background neighborhood check is when one of my investigators goes to your place of residence and interviews your neighbors to get a different perspective of what kind of a future employee you may be. By talking with those in your neighborhood a whole other dimension of who you as an applicant are can be discovered. If your parents gave you a first name you are not happy with it and you choose to be known by a middle or unrelated name, it is necessary for the background investigator to know this. My investigator kept speaking to the neighbors about an applicant calling him one name while the neighbors had no knowledge of the applicant due to the fact they all knew him as something else.
This can be a red flag for a background investigator.
Are there bad debts, or fraudulent drivers licenses in this secondary name? Does a complete and thorough background on both the birth name and the name the applicant "goes by" need to be done? Has the applicant applied for or received workman's compensation, social security benefits, or other items under the secondary name? Has he or she ever been arrested under the secondary name? The lesson to be learned is simple. If you are known by neighbors, former coworkers, or even the gang at the bowling league by a different name let the background investigator know so that they can rule it out, before it rules you out!
Tyra Hearns
President of Pebi Services Inc.
www.Pebiservices.com
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