7 Elements of a Thorough Employer Background Check

Although more than 80% of companies reported that they conduct some sort of employment verification checks using the top background check companies for employers, these background checks seem to lack a robust mechanism. For example, according to a survey, four out of ten organizations do not cross-check the candidate’s educational level, six out of ten businesses do not perform international background checks, and one-quarter of organizations do not verify the professional certificates that the applicant claims to possess.

The most interesting fact, around 5% of the businesses accepted that they do not perform criminal record checks. This may seem a small number, but if we consider companies across the country, numerous companies don’t know whether their employees are in a dangerous situation.

So what are the complications in a thorough background check?

Based on the survey result, there are two significant obstacles, and you shouldn’t be surprised at all: money and time.

• 65% of the companies believe that it takes too much time to receive the results, significantly hindering the recruitment procedure.
• Sixty-two per cent of businesses believe that money is an issue, especially for businesses that conduct mass recruiting.

According to the top background check companies for employers, lousy employment costs:

• 41% of companies have lost more than $25,000
• 25% of companies loss exceeds $50,000

And we are not even calculating the opportunity and cost of time spent in the recruiting process. 

If a company wants to perform employment verification on its employees, they must invest wisely. Whether they want to perform background checks during the interview process or after sending them a conditional job offer, they can squeeze everything if they maximize their expenditure. Usually, a comprehensive background check of the company covers two general areas: security and credibility. Both of these factors apply to companies themselves, employees, brands and customers. Each of the seven background check elements falls into one of two categories.

Criminal background check- Security

This should be the priority. No one should be forced to work with someone with a criminal record to make everyone feel unsafe. It does not matter if they have or do not have any reason to feel insecure. If they feel unsafe, they can make drastic decisions like quitting or persuade others to quit too, leaving the company understaffed and scrambling. If the employee is a member of some strong union, they can report a grievance, further complicating the issue and tarnishing the company’s image.

However, even if such things don’t happen, insecurities at work can hurt the working culture of the organization as well as affect productivity and quality.

Work experience- Credibility

Almost every resume has some sort of discrepancy. According to a recent Statista article, a recent survey revealed that around 80% of Americans lied on their resume. Such a thing can put the company in an awkward situation, or worse, in a dangerous situation at work that expects your employees to be able to do something. The last thing any company wants is to have an unqualified person represent them, especially if the position requires a certain level of experience.

A complete employment history check using top background check companies for employers will verify that your application did what they said, got what they said, and any experience they have mentioned in their resumes is authentic.

Education history- Credibility

As necessary as work experience, this step confirms whether your candidate has acquired the knowledge to perform the job at a high level. Even earlier, companies have witnessed several mishaps and overall decline without verifying the educational level of the candidate. The most famous one is of Liv Loberg, a nurse from Norway. She claimed in her resume that she has a health degree from the prestigious London School of Economics and is a registered nurse. Nothing was true. She ended up spending fourteen months in prison and also negatively affected the credibility of the Norwegian healthcare system. 

Criminal history- Security

As Indians, we all must protect the safety of our country. Part of this responsibility also includes the duty to identify those among us who are deemed as a threat by the government.

Performing criminal background checks using top background check companies for employers makes your employees feel safe. Avoiding it can cause low morale, staff turnover and reduced productivity. 

Reference check- Credibility

Earlier, we mentioned the number of people lying on their resumes, and companies will be surprised to find how far some people have reached. Some people also recruit their friends in elaborate backstories, trying to mislead potential employers. 

Driver’s Summary- Safety

This is necessary if the job involves driving skills, but in these cases. It is especially very important because it is legally a matter of life and death. 

Imagine how much training is necessary to drive a truck and how dangerous it is. The same is applied for delivery truck drivers, taxi drivers, public transport drivers, and especially school bus drivers.

By using the top background check companies for employers, companies can not only find qualifications to operate special vehicles. But also applicant status regarding drunk driving, reckless driving history, speeding, driver license details, driver license status, active suspension and fines.

International background check- Security

The global economy offers adequate space for people to hide their real identities. However, companies need to understand that any overseas violation can cause a problem for your organization.

How to choose a company for performing background verification?

As mentioned above in the article, poor employment costs can cause economic upsets. However, from the perspective of organization morale and reputation. This is pale in comparison to the losses that bad hiring might bring to your company.

A bad employee can easily affect the happiness, productivity and output of other team members. If that wrong recruitment happens to be a supervisor or manager, they can adversely affect the whole company. 

Simultaneously, wrong recruitment (relying on how poor they are) can also attract negative publicity. Which can result in loss of customers and the ability to hire top talent shortly.