As a hiring practice, a background check for a potential hire is a subject that universally most people tend to agree is important. However, the practice is anything but universally applied. All too often, when questioned as to why they did not do a background check, the usual response is, "you can't get any useful information from a prior employer." With the tightening of privacy laws and, a growing risk of being sued for libel, that expectation has essentially become the norm.
Even so, the importance of having an understanding of an individual's background is still important; especially the higher up the position is within your organization. It simply means you may need to be more creative and apply more effort to the process. Remember too, there are other sources, beyond employers, which can be utilized to provide you with information about an individual's background.
Many of these background information resources provide extensive pre-employment
screening services, including:
• Employment Verifications
• Education Verifications
• Reference Interviews
• Professional Licenses & Certifications
• Criminal Checks.
• Social Security Number Traces
• Drivers License History
• Pre-employment Credit Reports
• Pre-employment Credit Reports
• Substance Abuse Screening
• Workers Compensation history.
After doing your normal, vendor due diligence, you may decide that outsourcing this activity may be the most efficient, cost-effective method.
Frequently employers will relate they didn't do background because, from the interview
process they got a good connection and strong feeling about how good an employee
the person would likely be. You hear this most often from individuals that are
interviewing for positions that report directly to themselves. While good chemistry is
desirable, it is not a true indicator as to a person's background or integrity. A client of
mine hired a person into a position of financial responsibility in his company without
doing a background check. Within a month of her hire, she processed a 25% pay
increase for herself and was actively embezzling additional funds from the company.
The client stated he did not feel a background check was necessary because he had such a good feeling about her from the interview process. After the fact, a background check revealed the person had a criminal record for similar activities at two other companies. Aside from the larceny, she was actually doing a pretty good job in handling the responsibilities of the position.
How likely are you to run into this extreme an example? While it's hard to say with
certainty; it is certain that when hiring someone into your company you will be basing
salary packages and positions on the individual's education and job related experience.
Failing to verify important information can result in hiring someone into a position they
are not qualified for and don't deserve. Research indicates the number one discrepancy on job applications and resumes relates to the applicants employment history. Hiring an individual with overstated education qualifications and/or job experience is not only unfair to internal applicants that came in second to the inflated claims, but can put your company at a competitive disadvantage.
If you've been paying lip service to pre-employment screening and background hecks,
rethink that element of your hiring process. Hiring new persons into your organization is the same as the acquisition of a capital asset and involves a significant and ongoing
investment. You owe it to yourself and the future of your company to ensure you are
taking all appropriate measures to ensure the quality of the asset and the ability of that asset to generate the necessary return on investment.
Good hiring!
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