These days, employers are looking for any chance to weed out applicants and bring the pool down to a manageable number. In addition to résumés and interviews, many employers are requesting background checks from applicants and promotion candidates. A practice once reserved for medical and education professionals, background checks have become commonplace for many job applicants – even for the teenage counter clerk at your local electronics store.

Does the thought of a background check send you into cold sweats? Pacing the floor, and wondering what kinds of skeletons the checker might unearth from your metaphorical closet? Most likely, not. For most upstanding citizens, we expect to know exactly what’s going to be on our background check – after all, we were there – and we don’t think twice about signing off on access to our personal histories. No one considers a background check to be like a medical test, where you might or might not find a malignant tumor. Even if you haven’t always followed the rules, you would know what kinds of things might show up on your background check, right?

Wrong.

Unfortunately, many background checks can be a work of fiction as opposed to a biographical history, and the main character might not even know. According to a study by a consumer interest group, almost 80% of background reports contain serious errors or inaccurate information. Some of these mistakes may come from clerical errors – if your name is Katie Johnson or Robert Smith, I’m guessing you’re no stranger to such mix-ups. Other inaccuracies, however, can be a result of identity theft. Either way, these errors can cost you – big time.

For instance, what if the “other” Katie Johnson had received numerous traffic violations that got attributed incorrectly, and the real Katie didn’t discover it until a trucking company showed her why she didn’t get the job? Or if the real Robert Smith applied for a position at a kindergarten, only to be escorted off school grounds due to an erroneous child pornography charge that was found on his background check?

These are real possibilities in this age of technology (computers are not infallible, as we’ve all learned) and rising identity theft. So what are we all to do?

As always, vigilance is key. Being proactive about your personal history is the best way to ensure its accuracy. If you’ve already reviewed all of the components of your background check, you won’t be blind-sided when an employer asks to see it. There are a variety of different checks that employers may perform to view your history, depending on the nature of the job, but the big ones include credit reports, criminal records, court documents, driving records, wants and warrants, and sex offender registries. These can be easily obtained through specialty services designed to allow you complete access to your own history. Don’t be fooled by cheap “instant” reports that don’t require you to verify your identity – make sure that you use a trusted provider who is aiming to provide your report to you and only you, instead of to nosy neighbors and ex-girlfriends. Additionally, there are many Specialty Consumer Reports that are available to you, for free, if you dig a little.

After you’ve looked over all of your reports, you can set about fixing any errors – before they get the chance to reach the eyes of a judgmental employer.