Greater Hartford Metropolitan Area

Arranged around the capital of Connecticut, the Greater Hartford area comprises Hartford, Middlesex, and Tolland counties with a population of 1.2 million. In Connecticut, counties are not governmental bodies and do not maintain any records of their own, but they do serve as boundaries for the jurisdiction of criminal courts. 

Like much of the state of Connecticut, the economy of the Greater Hartford region is primarily defined by service industries such as healthcare, insurance, and finance with a smaller but substantial manufacturing base. Key employers in the metro region include Aetna, United Technologies, and Travelers Insurance. With Connecticut’s economy (and, by extension, Hartford’s) continuing to experience growth year over year, workers throughout the state look to the area for employment opportunities. 

Hartford-area businesses may enjoy interviews for open positions as a result of these conditions, but the benefits are not without caveats. Determining a candidate’s suitability goes beyond cover letters and resumes; ensuring that new hires will be a safe and effective fit for your organization merits a closer look, including through the use of background checks.

Businesses in a metro region such as Greater Hartford must adapt background check policies to fit within the lives of modern job-seekers who increasingly commute and move based on employment opportunities. Expanding the scope of your search to examine records from outside your business’s home county is essential for operation. Otherwise, a business based in Hartford County may not find out about crimes committed in Tolland until it is too late. 

Solving this problem often requires a refresh of your vetting procedures. In doing so, always ensure that your new policies comply with state and federal regulations for fair hiring. 

Connecticut employs a state-level ban the box law which bars private employers from using job applications to ask applicants about arrests and convictions. Employers are not prohibited from asking questions during an interview or during a later stage of the hiring process. While Connecticut otherwise allows employers to consider criminal records during hiring, state laws encourage employers to provide a fair chance to all applicants.

With compliant procedures in place, your business can move forward by selecting the appropriate products to enable informed hiring practices. backgroundchecks.com offers several robust options to support any business or non-profit organization during its hiring phase. 

Our US OneSEARCH provides immediate results for criminal records throughout the Greater Hartford area, including those held in Tolland, Middlesex, and Hartford counties. To look at records held by the entire state and all its counties, opt for a state-level background check. Prefer to cast a wide net and look at as much of New England as possible? Choose the Regional OneSEARCH and customize your results to include up to five states.

Such reports collect information from several databases, including Connecticut’s Administrative Office of the Courts (updated monthly), Department of Public Safety (updated quarterly), Department of Corrections (updated monthly), and the state sex offender registry (updated bi-weekly). Reports may include a subject’s:

• Name
• Offense date and description
• Sentence
• Disposition and disposition date

When addressing the challenges of operating in a busy metro area such as the Greater Hartford region, for businesses, background checks adapted to the area are a critical tool. Learn how your organization can take advantage of a powerful new background check suite built for metro vetting.