Some people applying for jobs will intentionally mislead, inflate, or conceal the truth about their background. Pre-employment screening must be performed on new employees by companies when they are hired. The majority of employers conduct some background checks. Your company can suffer if you don’t take any action. You want to ensure that potential workers are who they say they are and that the information they provide about their education, career history, and lack of a criminal record can be independently verified.
Here’s a list of information that we may initially search about a certain individual:
- work history
- education
- criminal record (public records)
- medical history (if required by the company)
- social media usage (if required by the company)
- and drug tests (if required by the company)
If your preliminary examination shows any warning signs, you may be eligible for more detailed reports. Further standard checks of background include the following:
- Inmate Record Search: a person’s criminal history, including any convictions for violent or sexual offenses, fraud, embezzlement, or other felonies, will be investigated.
- Background checks conducted for employment in the healthcare industry supported by the federal government seek for offenses relating to the healthcare industry.
- Perform identification checks and checks on eligibility to work electronically.
- It is required that organizations run by the government conduct background checks based on fingerprints and a review of criminal records from official authorities. These checks must take place at regular intervals.
- The employment, educational, and criminal histories of foreign workers are investigated during background checks conducted at the international level.
- Candidates for financial positions are routinely subjected to credit checks, during which information on the candidates’ payment histories, court judgments, tax liens, bankruptcies, outstanding bills in collections, and recent credit queries are investigated.
- The results of background checks determine the authenticity of a professional license on the applicants for the license.
The role you are hiring for will determine the types of investigations into the applicant’s past that you can and should carry out. Additional background checks can be required for jobs working with the government or with children and teenagers.
Final thoughts
Make sure you are aware of the local regulations before performing a background check on a possible employee to avoid any legal difficulties. Employers have the option of contacting a candidate’s previous employers to verify the information contained on the candidate’s application or resume. This information may include employment dates, jobs, duties performed, and start and end dates. It would help if you researched the laws applicable in your state because each state has its rules and regulations regarding the questions that employers are permitted or prohibited from asking candidates, such as about their previous salaries.
