Smart, safe recruiting is critical to growing your business. It’s not all about finding the right talent; it’s about finding talented people who are a good fit and who will help take your company to the next level. Candidates who have been less than honest about their credentials or who pose a safety risk have no place in your organization. Employee criminal background checks and other screening tools help you eliminate the risks from the application pool so you can focus your efforts on identifying individuals with talent and drive. Here’s a look at two ways pre-employment background screening benefits your recruiting process and your business:
Safety, Security, and Risk Mitigation
No one is perfect and many people have brushes with the law in their past. A criminal record in and of itself should never be a disqualifier for employment; the key issue is really job impact. Running a criminal background job on potential new hires gives you important information about the applicant. With that information in hand, you can ask the following questions:
- Does the position in question legally require a clean background check? Federal and state laws prohibit certain positions from being held by anyone with a criminal record. Education and healthcare are two examples.
- Is the criminal activity relevant to the position? For example, previous fraud or theft convictions could be an issue for jobs dealing with cash or other fungible assets and motor vehicle crimes such as DUIs are an issue for transportation jobs.
- What has the applicant done in terms of rehabilitation following the crime? Giving the applicant the opportunity to explain prior behavior and the changes they’ve made gives you the opportunity to employ people who have done the hard work to turn their life around.
At the end of the day, the goal of a background check is risk mitigation. Crimes in the workplace are expensive by any measure. A clear, fair, thoughtfully crafted background check policy protects your business from undue risk without discriminating against anyone because of past choices.
Experience and Credentials
Fudging resume information is alarmingly common; some estimates say that half of all resumes contain false info. Background checks allow you to verify that the candidate’s identity, their education, their professional credentials, and their work history. Objective verification of these important qualifications ensures the following:
- Your employees possess the degrees, licenses, and certificates legally required for their position.
- Your employees have the requisite experience and training to be successful in the job.
- Your workplace morale will not be disrupted by unqualified, untrained employees struggling to perform their responsibilities.
Conclusion
Pre-employment background screening is important. It’s up to you to protect your workplace by doing your due diligence on every new hire.