Pre-employment background check?

They can check everything from your driving record to your police record. They can look for bankruptcy or if you haven't paid child support or if you are a sex offender. It is amazing what is made public. I really wouldn't worry. Most of the time, they say they are going to do a background check and they don't go through with it b/c it costs them $. To sum things up, all a background check is, is your public records. Oh, I forgot... they can look up your credit, divorce records, law suits against you

A lot of places do that not as much because they want to have the tightest security in the world (although inside theft or "shrink" is a huge problem in retail) but also a lot of stores get insurance breaks for lowering their risks to hire "good people." Also helps dissuade people who would be likely to get a job to pilfer things. Used to work undercover security for a major department store. We weren't watching the customers as much as the other employees. Youd be suprised how many people think they are the ones who invented the idea of having a friend come in and go to the checkout line with some very expensive items and a paid of socks, then just charge their friend for the pair of socks... then the next day the friend comes in and returns the expensive things ("they were a gift, I don't have a receipt!") and they pocket the cash.... (Oddly enough we had every register on camera and anything that happened on the register came up on the monitor too (like the closed captioning on TV) and if we saw a HUGE bag of clothes and shoes and a $5 tab ring up, we usually met the people at the door and offered to help them carry their bagss -- part of a special courtesy we did there :-) They were always so suprised when they ended up in a lockup room with their evidence already in our hands!

They find out all they can on you, since you will be working around money and people.

Every things.. your education, your identity, your previous employement, your code of conduct.. etc.