How do you properly say "reference check" or "employment verification" in Mandarin?
I noticed that when I say I need to do a 背景调查, people get scared and tend to cut the conversation off. So what I normally say is 我要核查您以前工作人员的工作信息. I sometimes substitute "工作人员" to the actual job title of the person, eg. 会计. I believe I'm saying it incorrectly because although some people do understand what I mean, others still ask me what I'm talking about. I'm hoping that somebody here can help me out. Thank you in advance!

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To me, that is more because the words you choosed is pretty scaring. 
If i were you , i probably will speak like this. 您好, 我有件事情需要您的帮助, 我需要一些关于xxx的情况, 他曾经在您的单位工作过
You know, most of time, more long means more polite.

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@ Jessica: Thanks for rephrasing my sentence.

@ Eva: Thank you for your response. So you mean "我要核查您以前会计的工作信息" is ok? What about "我要核查您以前工作人员的工作信息"? It's technically the same, right?

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背景调查  means  background check..and actually, it is a little scary ..
and the pronunciation of 会计 is  kuài jì .  you sure you didn't make mistakes ?

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我要核查您以前工作人员的工作信息.

我想跟您核实一下，以前在贵公司工作过的**（the person's name）的情况。