Employee Background Checks: Overview and Execution
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In today’s complex business landscape, choosing the perfect employee has become more than just reviewing resumes. As businesses strive to uphold their reputations, background checks on employees have become indispensable. In this article, we'll see why and what you need to watch out for.
Why are Background Checks Important?
Pre-employment checks are crucial for businesses looking to hire employees for various reasons. These allow you to protect your business from potentially harmful individuals. By doing so, you are safeguarding your reputation and ensuring no harm to any of your other customers or employees, preventing potential legal issues.
Meanwhile, if you look at it from a team-building perspective, doing legitimate background inspections can give you a more trustworthy workforce, which will help construct a better organizational culture. Like this, your employees are also likely to feel motivated to do their best in an environment they like or feel more comfortable in, making it a win-win situation for all.
What to Include
A background investigation includes vital information about an employee’s history. It can vary depending on the type of business. For instance, a financial institution may have to carry out a credit check on its employees to determine whether they should be hired or not. You must consider everything relevant to your business and dig it up.
1. Employment History Verification
As an employer, it is important to double-check whether your employee's work experience is credible. The first thing you can do is get as much information as possible from the resumé. When asking about past employment experience, add questions about company names, employment dates, locations, positions, and main responsibilities. The more details you ask for, the harder it gets to be untruthful.
However, a detailed resumé is still not a reliable resume. In fact, according to a survey conducted in the USA, over half of Americans claimed to have lied on their resumés. Due diligence is vital to prevent this. Once you have a detailed application, look for generic errors, like spelling mistakes. Assess the report thoroughly to identify any red flags, such as job hopping or multiple career changes, and scrutinize them.
This is likely to give you an overview of whether the applicant is being genuine or not. Then, verify the business your applicant mentioned online to verify its authenticity. Find key details about the company to ensure it exists and operates as stated. Additionally, you can confirm the applicant's role in the organization to determine whether they are a good fit for your team.
2. Educational Verification
Confirm the applicant's educational claims by verifying degrees, certification, and attendance. An easy way to do this is by asking them to provide a copy or transcript of their degree. You can also contact the stated educational institution.
Finding attendance could give you a good insight into how the employee is likely to be when working with you, facilitating a well-informed decision. When evaluating credentials, be wary of Diploma Mills (phony institutions that are not legitimately accredited) and ensure no fake degrees fool you.
You might run into some problems when doing this check. For instance, some institutions may not be forthcoming in disclosing information. Similarly, you might need authorization from the candidate to go through their academic records. You should note that the specifics vary across countries and institutions, so it is best to conduct your research and evaluate in accordance with country law.
3. Criminal Record
A criminal record check can guarantee the safety and integrity of your workplace. You should investigate criminal history in regard to its relevance to the position the applicant wants to go for. For instance, a minor driving offense will not be as relevant to a web designer's job as to a delivery person's job.
One way to make a sound judgment is by considering the severity of any offense and the time that has passed since. Secondly, you must obtain consent from the applicant before running a criminal record check, as the law dictates. Upon receiving the results, allow them to clear out any inaccuracies or explain anything if needed.
The procedure for checking criminal records involves contacting institutions like the local police, state organizations, and even those at the national level. This does not only make the process time-consuming but also unnecessarily complicates it. On that account, you should have a third party carry this out for you. If you are an employer looking to do a criminal record check in Canada, consider yourself lucky. Triton Canada offers authentic criminal record checks and provides them to you in minutes.
Endnote
With the dynamic technology of this age, the best of the best employers can get scammed, and an excellent way to mitigate the risk is through running background checks. Read the tips mentioned above to get the best information on who you're hiring and make a well-informed choice. Remember, stopping problems before they arise is easier than solving them later.