Cleveland Metropolitan Area (Greater Cleveland)

Located near the shore of Lake Erie, the Greater Cleveland area is Ohio’s northernmost metro with Cincinnati and Columbus situated to the south. The region’s population of approximately 2 million makes it the smallest of the state’s metros by a slim margin. The metro comprises five counties: Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina.

Traditionally an economic crossroads area based on its proximity to Lake Erie and its famous canal, Greater Cleveland continues to possess a very vibrant economy today. A large number of Fortune 500 companies call the area home, including Goodyear, Progressive Insurance, Diebold, and Sherwin-Williams. Other key area employers: Nestle and Jo Ann Stores.

Deeply interconnected with the surrounding region with many highways crisscrossing Greater Cleveland, the area offers a robust job market across all five counties. Businesses hiring in the area can expect a strong chance of fielding applications from outside the company’s own county. This trend can be beneficial, as it allows for fresh, motivated talent to seek out your open job roles-but it also comes with some caveats. With job-seekers coming from farther afield, the strength of your hiring practices and background check procedures is more significant than ever. 

It’s likely that you already employ background checks as a component of hiring but operating in a metro region means giving your vetting process a closer look. How much information are you really reviewing? Conducting a background check at the county level in your area of operation, say Cuyahoga, may cause you to miss records held nearby in Lorain. The potential consequence of such an oversight: a costly hiring error.

Avoiding such problems is simpler when your business adopts of a metro-wide background check policy. Taking a wide view of the entire metropolitan area allows businesses to improve their confidence in every hire they make. Before adopting such a policy, review all relevant state and federal rules regarding fair hiring. 

Ohio does not have many laws on the books restricting how businesses handle the hiring process. There are no “ban the box” rules in the state that apply to private employers–only public and government-linked operations. Conviction records are permissible for consideration and so are arrests, though background checks do not usually report arrests. While abiding by state law, it is also vital to respect federal fair hiring statutes such as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. 

Once you’ve implemented your new metro-ready vetting policy, equip your business with a reliable way to vet prospective employees. backgroundchecks.com offers a range of products designed to enhance confidence throughout hiring, including our US OneSEARCH. This multi-jurisdictional report includes instant record results from Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina counties. 

To include other nearby metro areas such as Columbus, choose a state-specific background check to expand the scope to all of Ohio’s databases. To fold in additional states, such as those that are a part of the Cincinnati metro, choose a regional OneSEARCH instead and search up to 5 states at once.

Data provided for Ohio criminal background checks originates from several locations, including the state sex offender registry (updated bi-weekly), county-level court pleas (updated monthly), and the Ohio Department of Corrections (updated monthly). Information from these databases typically includes the subject’s:

• Name 
• Date of birth
• County of offense and offense description
• Degree of offense
• Sentence and sentencing date

For Greater Cleveland businesses, using a metro-wide background check policy is a smart decision that offers the opportunity to safely tap into rich employment opportunities. Find out more about how backgroundchecks.com equips businesses like yours with the tools they need for successful hiring.