The statistics show that some 85% of all employers run a background check on applicants for their vacant job positions.
However, in many cases these checks are either very basic or performed incorrectly.
As a result, the companies suffer financial losses and their reputation is damaged.
You can protect your business in the best possible way by designing a complete policy for pre-employment screening.
What to Cover In order for the policy to be effective, the background check has to be perfectly comprehensive.
They should cover the key details of the job applicants' history.
You have to run criminal checks.
They must cover the criminal records nationwide.
You should not rely solely on local records.
You have to screen the employment and education background of every applicant as well.
This is especially true for positions requiring specialty knowledge and skills.
You should consider running a credit record check for positions which involve working with cash and/or with financial documents.
Such checks are necessary for applicants for managerial positions as well.
It is essential for the policy to cover screening of the vital records.
These include birth, marriage, divorce and death records.
These records will help you identify any applicant who uses a fake identity.
Regulatory Compliance You have to ensure that your background check policy is compliant with all regulations for data privacy and employee screening and hiring.
It is best if you involve one or more experienced lawyers in the development of the policy to ensure full compliance.
That way, you will protect your company from lawsuits, financial losses and reputation damage.
You should also adopt a system for monitoring the changes in regulations so that you can ensure compliance at all times.
Standards and Processes The policy must establish a clear set of standards on the hiring of employees.
These standards must protect the company in the best possible way without being discriminative in any way.
The second major component of the policy consists of the processes which will be used for running the checks.
They must be clearly established and tasks must be properly allocated.
The primary process is data collection.
You must require applicants to provide the start and end dates of education programs and previous jobs plus basic details about the schools and employers.
The screening process comes next.
It is best if it includes local, national and even international checks when these are relevant.
The analytical process involves the analysis of the data in line with the established standards.
With a complete background check policy, you will hire only the most reliable employees.