>>With potential employees lying on their resumes and certain categories of questions not allowed by law, how does an employer screen out the "bad actors" from the applicants with really solid backgrounds?<<
Good question. How did they used to do it?
I like the concept of "innocent until proven guilty". IOW, I think a criminal record check is fine. It will tell them if you have actually done the crime. This is just way too proactive for 99% of the jobs out there. There are exceptions, just as some crimes call for the death penalty. But just as applying the death penalty to all crimes would drastically reduce crime - but be obviously draconian - I think this does the same regarding individual human beings lives.
And our country was founded on the concept of individual rights. Take that away and the country as we know it ceases to exist. But to be frank, I think we crossed that bridge years ago.
By the way, our company does not perform a credit check until after the applicant is hired. A drug test is required before hire however. You would be surprised at how many applicants know about the requirement to get a security clearance and yet still fail the drug test.