When Is It Important to run a Background Check When Hiring?

Protect your businesses from potential risks and dangers, services provided by companies like CheckPeople are a crucial measure to take before making an employment decision. Recruiters assume candidates’ resumes are accurate most of the time, and that’s usually the case. However, it can and does happen that a candidate will be less than honest. A background check needs to take place to make sure the company is hiring the right person.

1. What is Background Check?

A background check or verification is an extensive review of someone’s criminal and financial records. That container combines some or all of the following: criminal history, employment history, education history, credit history, professional license verification, and identity verification.

2. Top Reasons to Run a Background Check

A business would need background check services for several reasons, such as avoiding liability, detecting a criminal record, ensuring safety at the workplace, discouraging less than stellar candidates, and generally eliminating uncertainty in the recruitment process. All of these aspects guarantee a sound hiring decision. We’ll go into each one below.

3. Avoid Liability

A company may face liability due to negligence if it has failed to screen job applicants properly. Let’s say a cab service is hiring a driver and ultimately does so without filtering him. At one point, he gets into a massive accident.

It emerges he was driving under the influence. Following his arrest, police report he had several DUI stops in the past. The company will be considered liable for damages to other vehicles and personal injuries because they didn’t do a background check.

4. Detect a Criminal Record

Flagging a candidate for criminal history is probably the main reason companies do pre-employment background screenings. They are best able to make a final decision if they know any crimes the applicant has committed in the past.

Sometimes the changes are minor, or there are none at all. However, companies should always run a criminal background check to make sure the person is suitable and will meet expectations.

5. Ensure Workplace Safety

Recruiters might be faced with objectively dangerous job candidates, from violent criminals to sex offenders. The risk is too high. The presence of such a person in the team will compromise the safety, and that’s putting it mildly. Every organization is aware that security at the workplace is a top concern today. It may be held accountable if safety is compromised.

6. Making the Best Decision

Ultimately, everything is about peace of mind. Hiring managers want their companies to flourish, and that’s why they want to select the best applicants. Employment screening can be stressful and hectic – that’s a fact – but you need to do what’s best for your business.

What’s more, it doesn’t have to be a lengthy and cumbersome process if you choose the right provider for the job. Some background check companies are much better than others. A background check is crucial if you want to make sure that you’re hiring the most suitable candidate.

7. Failing a Background Check

One can fail a background check for many reasons, and a criminal record is just one of them. Other causes include a failed drug test, inaccurate job history, education discrepancies, a poor driving record, or adverse credit history. Some are more severe than others.

Final Thoughts

Background verifications can confirm certificates, degrees, or employment dates and provide other relevant data related to employment history. Apart from providing a safe workplace for staff and clients, a background check will help you hire the most qualified applicant to contribute to your company’s success.

You want to encourage openness and honesty in the recruitment process and limit the risk of liability by exercising “due diligence” in the course of interviews. It’s simply not enough to rely on instinct in our day and age.

Comprehensive background verification of each candidate is the only way to make sure you’re thorough in the screening process. Forgoing a check is not the smartest of decisions, particularly if the job comes with security clearance or involves contact with vulnerable populations like children or seniors.