My first “real” job demanded a background check where they could “interview my neighbors to get a sense of my character” and other egregious things. I tried man

My first “real” job demanded a background check where they could “interview my neighbors to get a sense of my character” and other egregious things. I tried many times to get in touch with the background check provider’s (backcheck in Canada) privacy team, never ever got to a human or anyone to return my voicemails. The employer was completely incredulous I would refuse to submit to the background check and thought I had stuff to hide. I was laid off in short order. I do t regret anything, this was invasive and unnecessary. I’ve never had to do a background check again beyond providing an extract of my police file that says I have no convictions.