placeholder
Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Understanding the Importance of a Background Check

Owning a company comes with lots of responsibilities and often involves many risks. One of them revolves around the people you want to potentially hire, hence, it’s of huge importance to run a background check.

That’s something that certainly must be done before you decide to hire someone. Why does it matter? Well, it’s because you can never tell if someone is completely honest when it comes to previous work experience and skills.

People are prone to embellishing their CVs and hiding things from corporations. Now, it doesn't mean that everyone does this, but unfortunately, that's something that occurs quite frequently. To make sure your firm is hiring the right person, a background check simply must take place.

Learning More About Background Check

What Does It Represent?

It can be defined as an extensive review of a certain individual, or any other company’s commercial records, along with financial records and above everything, criminal records. Besides that, it can also involve things like education, credit history, employment, license record, and many others.

It’s worth mentioning that with the help of numerous background check services providers, you can easily get all the essential information on current workers, or the ones you potentially want to hire.

Why Is It Crucial For Your Business?

There are many reasons why your corporation needs to obtain background check services to make sure they are making the right decision. One of the most important ones is because it accentuates criminal history and reveals info that that person is trying to hide.

You can never be one hundred percent sure if that individual is being honest with you. What if he or she is using an alias? If that's the case, then you should find reliable online tools that contain various options regarding aliases to search if that person seems a bit suspicious. On the other hand, what if that person has a criminal history?

That’s something you should definitely be aware of. Of course, it doesn’t always mean that you are dealing with a serious criminal. Maybe that individual has a criminal history that showcases minor charges.

No matter what’s the case, you still have to run a criminal history check just to make sure everything is okay. If you are conducting an interview with someone who is potentially dangerous, you’ll be jeopardizing the safety of your employees.

There are so many different types of criminals, starting from violent ones, to sex offenders. It wouldn't be recommendable to have these people in your company or surroundings. If a background check doesn't take place, you will compromise the safety of your workplace.

Anything Else That Needs To Be Known?

Relevant Info Found In Background Checks

There are a number of reasons for employers to perform this. Namely, jobs that include work with kids, older people, individuals with some sort of disability, or tasks that involve dealing with sensitive and confidential information are examples of jobs that definitely require this type of check.

Depending on the reason, different types of data will be at your disposal. If it’s regarding the employment screening, then you’ll be able to find these things:

  • Criminal Records
  • Legal Working Status
  • Driving Records
  • Credit Reports
  • Court Records
  • Military Records
  • Incarceration Records
  • Sex Offender Records
  • Social Security Number
  • Education Records
  • Bankruptcy Records
  • Drug Test Records
  • Workers’ Compensation
  • Property Ownership

Now, before you make any decisions when it comes to employment, such as hiring, promotion, retention, or reassignment, you should ensure you are complying with the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act).

Namely, it has some national standards concerning employment screening, which means that some types of information you will not see in background reports. Furthermore, this law applies only to background checks that are conducted by an outside corporation, meaning that this law doesn’t apply in cases when the employer performs background checks in-house.

How Can Recruiters Do It?

If you decide to run a background check, you have to be crystal clear about it and ensure you do it properly. If you do not do it the right way, people may think that you potentially dislike a certain candidate, or are showing favoritism toward the other one.

If by any chance, you reveal something that's fairly negative, then you have to be open about it and tell that person what you've discovered. Who knows, maybe that person has been wrongfully accused or has changed in the meantime? It would be a huge shame to lose a great candidate due to his/her background check.

It is easy to conclude that background checks must be part of each employer’s hiring and recruiting process. No matter how nice and professional someone appears to be, you can never be too sure about him or her.