A STEP-BY-STEP
GUIDE TO A PRE EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECK
What if you missed a crucial detail and ended up hiring a terrible employee.
For employers, a pre employment background check is the most important way to make sure you’re gettiLLPng a good employee. However, it’s possible for you to miss important details during this process.
That’s where we come in. Keep reading for our step-by-step guide to conducting these background checks for all of your employees.
What to Do Before the Pre Employment Background Check
There are a few things you should check on before you do a single check. These things ensure that your company is in full compliance with various laws and regulations.
First, consult with your human resources department about what you can and cannot check. And have them research the legal ramifications for how you use any information that you find in a check.
Second, make sure you have a consistent background check for every screening. This makes sure you are fair to all prospective employees and that your every screening is as thorough as possible.
Finally, if your check involves the credit of an employee, research the Fair Credit Reporting Act. This act determines both who you are allowed to check and how you are allowed to use their information once you have it.
Now that you’ve got that sorted, read on to discover every step you should take for the background check process!
The Criminal Record Check
Arguably, one of the most important steps in the background check is the criminal record check. However, there are a few rules you have to apply while doing so.
For instance, you are certainly allowed to ask about an applicant’s criminal background and to research it yourself. But the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act of 1974 places certain limits on what you can do with this information.
To be extra thorough, your business may conduct a fingerprint background check on a prospective employee. This is a really great way to be thorough, and the mere presence of the fingerprint check may serve as a deterrent for people with backgrounds you would consider a bit too shady.
Social Media Background
A more modern way of checking a prospective employee’s background is by researching their history on social media. When doing so, you should focus on potentially incriminating behavior.
For instance, people boasting about violent or illegal behavior on social media would obviously make for bad hires. They could end up making your company look bad or even use company resources to do something illegal.
There may also be clues about antisocial behavior as well. Job candidates with a history of racist and/or sexist posts on social media may not work well with a diverse set of fellow employees. And it’s very likely they would make those employees uncomfortable.
However, you must be careful when conducting social media screening. If the candidate finds out this is a primary reason behind them not getting a job, they may be able to claim discrimination, especially if their post alluded to them being part of a protected class.
Worst case, such a candidate could take you to court and be awarded compensation. This is why social media screening should be one tool in your toolbox, but not the only one.
Credit Check
A credit check is one of the oldest methods of conducting a pre employment background check. And the information that it provides can be very useful to you and your company.
First, you should establish if a credit check is required for this role. Typically, a check is only necessary if the applicant will be responsible for any aspect of company finances.
It’s also important that this is considered one of the more intrusive ways of gathering info on an applicant. This is why many businesses only use this if there is not an alternative way of getting the information they require.
Nonetheless, a credit check is the best way to see how well a job candidate is able to manage their own money. This remains one of the best barometers for how well they will be able to manage someone else’s money.
Credentials Check
Another great way to check an applicant’s background is to examine their education and credentials. This lets you verify the information they have provided and also verify whether this person is the best fit for a job.
In some cases, applicants may be deliberately committing fraud by falsifying their education and credentials. In such cases, a check helps you weed out someone who might be a very dangerous hire.
In other cases, the applicant may simply have an education from a “diploma mill.” They may not be deliberately committing fraud, but you should still be wary of hiring someone with a substandard education, especially for important positions.
Reference Checks
Typically, the final element of a pre employment background check is to check the applicant’s references. This allows you to have individual conversations with those people who might vouch for an applicant’s quality.
It is important that you avoid asking the references any discriminatory questions. And if you are contacting references provided by the applicant, you may choose to take what they say with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, reference checks are one of the best tools for background checks. They allow you to talk with previous supervisors and coworkers and get a more three-dimensional view of a prospective hire.
Combined with the other checks, this should allow you to make your decision regarding whether to hire the candidate or not!
The Bottom Line
If you are reading this, then you care about creating the best workplace that you possibly can. And that means having the best employees to collaborate with.
You made sure they were the best when you conducted their pre employment background check. Now, you need to make sure to keep your chosen employees satisfied from day to day.
USA Today Classifieds are a great authority on starting and maintaining a quality business. To see how we can help improve your workplace, check out our genius ways to improve employee satisfaction.
A STEP-BY-STEP
GUIDE TO A PRE EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECK
Tags: A STEP-BY-STEP
GUIDE TO A PRE EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECK |
A STEP-BY-STEP
GUIDE TO A
PRE EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND CHECK
|