How do I order searches for candidates with hyphenated last names?
A. Some applicants have a hyphenated last name, Abdul Smith-Mohammed for example. To completely search for possible criminal records, two names need to be searched. Abdul Smith and Abdul Mohammed. Remember, a thorough criminal background search requires searching under all known names. Criminal records searches must have an exact name match in most jurisdictions to return records. This is vital – without this exact match a record will not be returned. If Abdul Smith-Mohammed was arrested and charged as Abdul Mohammed, and you search for records matching Abdul Smith-Mohammed, you will usually not find this out. You are advised to do criminal searches on all known aliases. Use the SSN trace results as a guide; they will show the names that have been used associated with the candidate’s SSN. If you find a name you were not initially aware of, you can order additional searches. 23. Q. When requesting a background check should we use a suffix to the last name such as Jr. or Sr. ? A. No. Ple
