E-Mail: OMNISEC International Investigations, Inc.

[crazybroad]

I too received the email. I am in SSA. My interview is not until late January. My contact is Maria. I'll call her in the morning. I think all that info was already provided to them save the driver's license number.

[doctorwho]

allrise said:

I did not get the email. I don’t understand why you would not follow the instructions and give them what they requested even if they have it already. Qualified people have been dropped during this process because they did not follow specific instructions. If you are tripped up on the background check are you going to appeal and say that anonymous people on a blog told you that you did not have to submit all of the information.

I called and the entire experience took a few, pleasant minutes. I do understand, however, why somebody would be hesitant to respond via email with the personal information requested as we have never heard of this particular contractor before and emails are very easy to fake. The anonymous people on this blog have been very helpful in helping us realize that a big number of us did receive the email and that it was on the up and up. I contacted SSA and followed up to make sure the contractor was legit, and then I called.

Apparently, resumes did not all contain uniform information (because resumes come in different forms) and the contractor did not have all the information it required. I'm suprised everybody hasn't had to call with their license information as normally one would not put that on his/her resume. I asked the contractor what that was for and she said they would be running a DUI/License check .

[nonamouse]

The driver's license number makes it easier to run a candidate's driving record without confusing people with similar names. However, they can pull the records from any state in which someone has lived (eventually) with only the full name and date of birth. This is a pretty standard part of any background check that I've had in the past for state governments since we had to operate fleet vehicles.

It will show them any alcohol-related driving offenses and whether or not someone has been a problem driver over many years. It used to surprise me that so many otherwise intelligent and law-abiding people would have very scary driving records. However, I lost candidates during hiring processes in the past due to their history of very poor decisions while driving.

[aaa]

Got my email today and called Maria. Besides DL, she wanted someone who could confirm my private practice which is more than 15 years ago; however, the attorney I worked for was disbarred several years ago and I don't know where she is. Maria decided it was long enough ago it didn't matter.

[jagghagg]

aaa said:

more than 15 years ago; ... Maria decided it was long enough ago it didn't matter.

Interesting. Maria wanted information on me back to 1984 when I started practicing, no matter what.....

It must be me; I'm doooooomed!

[emphyrio]

I hope this isn't too stupid a question:

I listed my Navy service on my resume, but with no specifics about my duty stations or my commands. I need to list a person to verify my employment. Apparently the DD214 I attached to my application was insufficient.

Does anyone know if there is some central office for verifying military service? If not, I was thinking I could just list the phone number at my last duty station. Has anyone else run into this?

[jagghagg]

peejay said:

Emphyrio, there are no stupid questions on this board! What I did was list the current address and phone number of my last CO, and then gave him a heads up that I had done so. If you do that, I recommend that you refresh the CO's memory with some kind of summary of service.

Yeah, this was a toughie - I had to list every single legal office at all the installations to which I was assigned over a 21 year career (back to 1984). Three of my installations were closed by BRAC, 5 of my SJAs are deceased, and there is NOBODY, of course, remaining at any of those open installations who would remember my service, much less me (seeing as we rotate in and rotate out....) Luckily for me, I had gathered all the addresses of my legal offices in my military assignments, listed the supervisors, living and dead, found telephone numbers, and put them in chronological order for another job application in the past. I updated that and pasted it into the e-mail.

[lee]

Once again, this board has been a tremendous asset to me. After reading other people's comments yesterday, I called Maria before trying to list all the information requested in her e-mail. She only needed my DL # and confirmed that I am only licensed to practice law in one state. It saved me a lot of work. Hurray! Thanks to all for the good advice.

[snowman]

I still have not received the email. Has anybody else not received it?

[mle06]

snowman said:

I still have not received the email. Has anybody else not received it?

Snowman,

When I talked with Maria at OMNISEC yesterday, I understood from what she said that while the majority of applicants (she mentioned about 60%) required additional information, from what she said, it did not appear that everyone was missing needed info.

[testtaker]

mle06 said:

Snowman, When I talked with Maria at OMNISEC yesterday, I understood from what she said that while the majority of applicants (she mentioned about 60%) required additional information, from what she said, it did not appear that everyone was missing needed info.

That sounds odd, considering the required DL info. Who would have that on their application or the info faxed down? Just commenting - I don't think it makes a difference. If they need something from you, they will indeed contact you.

[emphyrio]

Peejay and Jagghagg -- thanks, your advice is well taken. My records (and memory) of my service are a little thin at this point, so I'll have to cut some corners in the email and hope Omnisec accepts it.

[jagghagg]

[peejay

Ah, the USAF's own Typhoid Mary!

Funny guy....... ;D

[counselor95]

I got an email yesterday and called Katie today. She needed DL number, confirmed the states in which I am licensed to practice (even though there was no change from what I had put on both the application and my resume), and wanted to know one contact for each of my three different jobs. Since I originally listed more than three references in each category of the email to SSA [when they asked for "at least three"], I presume this information was basically to "cut to the chase" and give those doing this background check the quickest, most efficient way to verify past employment.

BTW, Katie had the info I had faxed to SSA. After I named a person to be contacted about each of my two most recent jobs, whose names/phone numbers were listed on that info, Katie wanted a name and phone number for the third position (which I left in 1994). That was a bit harder, since a lot of my former supervisors have since retired!

Also, when I explained that my references had asked who would be doing the background checks, as they did not like to respond to unknown, unsolicited emails and/or phone calls, Katie said that "Yale Associates" would be contacting my references, most likely by phone, probably next week.

[secondchance]

My e-mail said to e-mail the info back. I did the driver's license info and the bar admission info but did not attempt to modify my employment information - instead I called and left a message for Maria to call me if she needed it. She called me back in short order, and asked me to give her the info I had e-mail over the phone - said she had about 50 e-mails to print and sort. She also asked for the name/number of my current supervisor, but nothing more regarding my employment history. By telephoning I avoided angst-ing over how/what to add regarding employment, so my advice is to call and, despite the fact that the e-mail asks for an e-mail response, Maria herself seemed to prefer the phone to e-mail.

[kingfisher]

Today I received a voice mail from an investigator at Yale asking me to give her 5 to 10 minutes of my time to answer questions about an ALJ applicant, who is a non-SSA attorney. I plan to return the call when I get to work in the morning. Two other judges were also called today regarding this applicant.

[tootsie]

I just got my e-mail today. They said it was a second attempt to contact me, but I have diligently checked my mail (and junk) every day since this chatter started. Interestingly, there was also NO phone number on it, so I had no choice but to sit down and write out the information. I only went back 20 years. Anybody else?

[corrina]

OK -- this is strange: a second person from Yale Associates is trying to contact some of my references. Today a Judge, who was interviewed concerning my qualifications last week, told me he had erased what seemed to be a redundant phone call from Yale Associates. This afternoon, I picked up a call from the second Yale associate persistently seeking the Judge. I asked if she knew someone else had spoken with him last week. She said the applications had been divided in portions, and several people might be making calls concerning each one of us. Then she had indicated she had just spoken to a colleague who also was called last week. Can anyone make sense of this? Cause for concern?

[chris]

SSA contracted out the investigations to the cheapest provider

[corrina]

It is a relief to laugh at this.