Background checks are the usual process followed by every hiring company. It is primarily conducted to know the background of a candidate applied for a job. The details checked in this include the person’s financial, criminal, commercial, educational, and the experience.
Reasons Behind Conducting Background Checks
The employer wants to confirm that the candidate has submitted real information on papers. Only relying on the resume may not help as most of the time resumes do not have the genuine information.
The employer must know whether the person applied for a job graduated from the mentioned college or faked the degree certificate.
Further, the checks can help employers from any right problem post joining of an employee. The past employment check can support the current employer to know if the employee did not create any issue and was his exit a smooth one.
In short, hiring a resource is a costly affair and failing to know their background will lead to many complications. Also, it is not easy to terminate an employee per the labor law. Hence companies take the extra step of conducting Background Checks to support their hiring decision.
Before conducting the background checks, employers must follow the below mentioned guidelines:
- First, the employer must take permission from the employee to carry out a background verification. It is also expected that the company explains the reasons for not hiring an employee with appropriate reports and the same can be download from the site of the agency offering the background check service. This is mandatory as per the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) rules.
- The employer must check the background of both male and female employee. It cannot be biased under any situation.
- They also must remember not to use the check for discrimination. It is a criminal offense by the company when it does discrimination. Discrimination includes sex, religion, age, gender, and social status.
When to Conduct Employment Background Checks?
It is best to conduct the employment check in the following sequence:
- Check for the employees’ character and financial records before issuing the offer letter. It is better as one need not get into any trouble post recruitment.
- Next, do the education check even after giving the offer letter. This may be slightly causing less trouble as degree certificate might be verified hence with that evidence letter can be issued and then verification can be done.
- Conduct the employment check parallel after issuing the offer letter. The candidate might take time join and this time can be utilized to verify the employment. But remember to check only the previous jobs and not the one where the candidate employed as it may cause a problem getting relieved.
- Finally, check for the last employment once the candidate joins the firm. On the safer side, it is good to mention a probation period in the offer letter so that if any issue found on the check, the employee can be sent out before damaging the system.
Thus, every company must understand the need for a background check and take help from the professional service provider to hire the right talent.