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I realize there are several other threads on background checks, but most of them have to do with criminal convictions. I am curious if anyone has experience with firms contacting past employers to verify employment and how they do so? Or do these background checks usually focus on criminal stuff? If you worked for a large company it would be easy enough to just google and call company HR and ask about you, but what if you worked for a small business that isn't necessarily easy to find? Do they ask for you to provide reference information for these jobs or will they be able to find them and contact them on their own? I ask because I left a previous job on really bad terms with my boss and I am worried that if he is contacted he will either say he has never heard of me or give a terrible and untrue report of my previous employment experience.

They'll ask for your last X years of employment history and the phone numbers of the companies. Hard to know if they'll call them or not though. This is distinct from the official background check.

It really depends. The farther away and less relevant the job is, the less likely they are to call. I got a copy of my background check from a prior employer (my job before law school) and they had only called the most recent employers, so things like the random job I had one summer in undergrad they didn't even bother with.

If you're worried about it, you really shouldn't be. Basically a background check is just something the firm does to cover their ass, make sure you don't have some crazy criminal history, etc. The firm has already decided they want to have you for the summer, it would take them uncovering something crazy to derail that. Even if they called that job and your boss didn't say the greatest things about you, they probably wouldn't even bother contacting you about it or making anything of it.