Background checks have become an inseparable part of recruitment processes worldwide. Gone are the days when recruiters simply go through a job seeker’s résumé and hire them based on that raw data.
Many prospective employers today are keen to establish whether a job applicant is who they say they are and that their qualifications check out. Most importantly, they want to understand more about the individual’s criminal record and how it might impact the company’s reputation.
These are just some of the six primary background checks to conduct thoroughly during an employee onboarding. Read below as we expound further on what the checks entail. But first things first.
What Are The Benefits Of Conducting Background Checks?
The benefits of conducting a background check are immensurable, especially for potential employers. Through these checks, recruiters get to countercheck the credentials of new applicants before finally hiring them.
Not only do background checks verify that job seeker is who they say they are. The assessments also confirm that the applicant possesses the academic qualifications, technical skills, and professional experience outlined in their résumé.
Conducting a background check is also a proactive way for companies to avoid future legal problems from hiring a person with a criminal past. Besides, regulations might require recruiters to hire background check verified applicants in certain jurisdictions. Not conducting the relevant background searches might lead to prosecution in such cases.
Who Should Conduct Background Checks?
By now, you probably already know that prospective employers are the biggest beneficiaries of background checks. However, they’re not the only ones.
Those courting ambitions of entering a long-term romantic relationship should also conduct background checks. Relationship experts highly recommend digging into the past of your love interest to uncover as much information about them as possible before committing fully to the relationship. You could be planning to get in with a sex offender or serial killer for all you know.
Background checks are also crucial for off-campus students who wish to share rooms. Cases of roommate murders in colleges and universities are on the rise. And while most of these incidents are often dismissed as crimes of passion triggered by bullying, many perpetrators are usually victims of a troubled childhood.
Tourists may also benefit immensely from conducting background checks. That’s especially true for budget travelers who prefer to stay in Airbnb facilities. The last thing you want while vacationing is for your family to be informed that your lifeless body was fished out of some river.
Top 6 Background Checks You Can Run
1. General Background Checks
General background checks are among the most common searchers. They’re relatively easy to conduct too.
These checks entail confirming that a person is who they say they are and not going by a fake name. People will easily take on fake identities if their true identity is stained by a criminal history or if they plan to commit atrocities with their assumed name before reverting to their official name.
One way to perform general background searches is to dig deeper into the person’s family history by contacting their referees. Pay particular attention to the surname and determine if the person has connections with that lineage.
2. Education Background Checks
Many job seekers understand the consequences of making up their educational qualifications. That said, some applicants still falsify their academic documents to gain an unfair edge over their fellow jobseekers.
You don’t want to discover several months after hiring a person that they didn’t go to the college they said they attended and were far less qualified than they claimed to be. The only way to save yourself from this agony is to conduct extensive educational background checks.
First, you’ll need to establish whether the mentioned academic institution does exist. Then, check if the jobseeker is listed as an alumnae. Finally, establish that they actually attained the qualifications listed on their resume.
3. Employment Background Checks
It’s standard practice that jobseekers indicate their employment history in their résumés. Such information proves that the applicant is a resourceful individual who has had extensive experience working in similar environments. But that’s only if the details are accurate, not exaggerated or falsified to gain undue advantage of the situation.
A background search lets you verify that the software engineer or graphic designer you’re about to hire is truly worth their salt.
Ideally, the best way to know is to contact the company where the said individual claims to have worked for. That’s in addition to asking a series of industry-specific questions as part of determining the applicant’s suitability for the job.
4. Criminal Background Checks
This is perhaps the main reason the concept of background checks has caught on in the corporate sector.
No company wants to endure the publicity nightmare resulting from criminal or unethical conduct on the part of its employees. And certainly, not the financial losses accrued when such cases end up in law courts.
The good news is that there are plenty of software and tools that you can use to conduct criminal background searchers. Most of these services let you perform different background checks. However, you can also find those exceptionally dedicated to unearthing criminal backgrounds.
5. Drug Screening
Not all recreational drugs are illegal. However, most are regulated due to their potentially intoxicating effects.
If you work in industries like truck driving and machine operation, you’ll be wary of having a recreational drug user on your staff. And much less if the said person is a chronic addict.
Unlike most background checks, drug screening doesn’t require extensive external inquiries. You can make arrangements with a local laboratory before the interview date.
Be sure not to disclose your intentions of screening for drugs to the job applicants before the actual interview date. However, remember that screening should be on a willing basis.
6. Social Media Behavior Checks
Some job seekers may come across as reasonably cultured individuals with a refined sense of integrity, human decency, and cultural diversity. But you’d be naïve to take them at their word.
Ask around before you give a lucrative ten-year contract in your company. Better yet, peep into their social media profiles for more insights into their twisted minds.
Remember that many employees can easily have multiple personalities. They will be charming while in the office but become total psychopaths fueling intolerance on social media.
Summary
The importance of employee background searches cannot be overemphasized. But with lots of checks to conduct, it’s always best to have a team drawn from relevant fields to help expedite the process.