If you do not weed out the bad seeds up front, how much will their initial training and later on for the training of their replacement cost? What about your potential inventory or cash losses created from hiring a career criminal? Not every employer prosecutes for theft, even though they terminate employees for it. That means that running criminal background checks along side employment verification is critical to pre-employment screening.

Only you can analyze the costs of hiring background check experts versus accurately speculating the costs of potential employee theft.

Most companies find out that conducting some form of pre-employment screening will eventually balance out the costs associated with a single bad hire. Unfortunately, most of those companies figure it out only after a major case of employee theft has surfaced.

In order to conduct a realistic cost/benefit analysis, you need to be able to anticipate both the short and long term costs. In this situation, the comparison would be between the immediate or short term cost of paying background check experts, and the long-term costs associated with hiring and then rehiring a replacement for a bad hire.

When you hire background check experts, chances are they can investigate more points than you can yourself simply because they have the time and better resources. Once you factor in the time you would have to be paid to do the checks yourself, you might find the cost benefit analysis is swayed in a different direction.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

Even before they see the results from a pre-employment screening, many hiring managers look at a few very important things when they review applications.

They look to see if this is someone with the skill set required for the position. They look to see if this is someone that might have some longevity with their company; reducing turnover costs.

As small business owners, we are the hiring managers. There is rarely payroll for someone other than us to be a hiring manager. As such, we need to determine what our end game is going to be for this employee. This is where we can take a hint from the hiring managers. We need to look at the long-term effects that hiring a specific applicant will have on us.

All too often we tend to hire the disposable employee. We need a position filled quickly. We can no longer wait for the perfect applicant to show up, we simply pick the best from what we have. “The Best” being very subjective.

When we do not hire an employee with the intention of training them properly, growing and motivating them to be promoted later, or even just to be a quality employee, we are starting a vicious cycle.

These are the applicants who will eventually cost us more money than they are worth. We may have bypassed the pre-employment screening in our rush to get them hired. As a result, we have the potential for dishonest or physically aggressive employees to be working in our stores

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

Maybe it’s just me, but if I was caught committing a crime that I was later convicted of, I would tell as few people as possible. In particular, if I were trying to get my life back on track, I would definitely try to avoid telling any potential new employer to try and get a better shot at being hired. That is why Criminal Background checks are a critical part of the pre-employment screening process.

It is about having all of the facts. The more information you have, the better qualified you will be to make the best possible decisions. Criminal background checks help give you those advantages. It helps you discover if an applicant is telling the truth regarding their criminal activity.

Sometimes, an applicant may even admit to having a prior conviction, but they might down play what the actual conviction or offense was. That way they are being truthful about having a record, but are trying to make it sound better on paper than what it actually was.

Just because you find out (through the criminal background checks or the applicant’s honesty) that there was a conviction, does not mean you absolutely must reject that applicant. We built the correctional system based on the premise of rehabilitation. Some applicants will have learned their lesson and will not commit another crime.

Ultimately you can now make that decision because you truly have all of the information to make that determination.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

My husband received an application for a high level position in one of his stores. The applicant seemed qualified on paper, so my husband did a little pre-employment screening via a phone interview with him. It was only after asking some questions, did it come out that this applicant may have worked under one of my friends supervision at a previous job.

When my husband asked me if she might know him, I actually said yes, and that I was also one of his previous supervisors and I could speak to the position he held at my place of employment. My friend also confirmed his position with her company.

The interesting thing was that this applicant worked in a very different capacity at both of our companies than the job he was applying for. Most likely, this was not a simple oversight on his application. This was an intentional omission in the hopes of avoiding detection during reference checks or other pre-employment screening.

This is unfortunately not uncommon – an applicant omitting details of their work history to seem like they have more relevant experience than what they really do. It was only by chance that my husband asked the right questions to get more information. Had he only relied on the information provided on the application, he would have missed some critical information he needed to make an informed decision.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

We have seen in some of the more tragic recent events, major companies whose pre-employment screening has been outsourced and ended up missing something big.

So why spend the money and take the risk of outsourcing your employee background checks? There is a lot of time and money involved in hiring a Background Check Company to conduct these employee background checks.

Simply put, if the background check company can’t always find everything, what makes you think you can do better? I am much more willing to let the experts spend the time to be as complete as possible because I know that I have a better chance of missing something than they would.

Do you have their resources, time or their technology to more thoroughly conduct these employee background checks? I know that I don’t, and realistically you probably don’t either. This is not a testament about how an outsourced background check company can fail. Rather this is a realistic look at how hard it really is to conduct thorough pre-employment screening.

I am much more willing to let the experts spend the time to be as complete as possible because I know that I have a better chance of missing something than they would.

These are the people who have nothing to do in their day but to follow up on leads, contact out of county or state jurisdictions and run traces on work and address histories. I am happy to let the experts take over such a difficult task than to try and muddle through it on my own.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

We all know better than to hire or not hire someone based on their age, but it is important to understand the current trend Generation X employees are setting. It needs to become clear why running background checks are so important. There is a lot more that can be uncovered during pre-employment screening that might not be found during an interview.

The Generation X age range is the section of employees that have had ample time to get their college education – this includes Master’s and Ph D levels. They are also the ones that have years of experience in their field, but still might take a job for less money. This makes them a desirable hire for the current workforce.

However…

According to a recent poll about 44% of all jobs are held by a Generation Xer. Of those, 53% are completely disengaged and an additional 19% are so unhappy at their jobs they feel the need to make everyone else around them miserable too.

The flip side is that once hired, these employees tend to become very unhappy. That makes them more likely to perform poorly, or even starts to cross lines into employee theft.

Background checks help you evaluate potential risk. They can uncover high frequencies in job changes and possibly a trend that they might be leaving jobs quickly due to theft or other job related investigations. Background checks have a better potential to determine if there is a habit of theft of performance related issues than simply looking at an application.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

For most small businesses, employee background checks are a luxury that they do not have. Small business owners and managers usually have to manually review a multitude of paper applications.

The plus side is that you might end up with a paper resume with the application. I personally feel that you can see into an applicant’s personality better on a paper resume than through an online, standardized application.

Electronic resumes usually are amended to the website’s fonts and formatting. By seeing a paper resume, you know that everything was hand made by the applicant. This gives an insight into your applicant that cannot be tracked through an electronic employee background check.

You get to see more of their personality. Is the resume formal or personable? What type of paper was it printed out on- stationary or plain typing paper? How about a bright neon color paper with a crazy hard to read font? Did they bother to spell check and proof read their writing?

This type of pre-employment screening shows how well they take care of their things- and eventually yours. If an applicant comes in with a folder or binder that is protecting their resume, you can reasonably assume that they understand the difference between being professional and showing up with a crumpled or folded resume. That professionalism is insight into how they function.

No employee background checks can replicate that kind of advantage as a potential employer.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

Having a background check company run social security traces is a good way to have accurate pre-employment screening. Just because someone applies for a job and can provide a social security number does not mean that they own that number and are working in this country legally.

Let me make it clear that there is absolutely nothing wrong with hiring employees who are not natural citizens. Many are here legally and have the proper work visa or other documentation. It is simply a reality that there are some illegal immigrants who steal or borrow social security numbers to gain employment.

A background check company can conduct pre-employment screening that involves a social security number trace. This trace can be beneficial to your hiring process. No matter what an applicant says or shows you for proof, it is still the responsibility of the employer not to hire illegal immigrants.

If the trace shows something that seems suspicious like multiple employments in multiple states, or just simultaneous employments, you might need further research on this applicant. Law enforcement will need to be involved in any identity theft situations, even if the social security number’s owner’s credit or finances were not involved.

A background check company will know the steps to take if such a situation is uncovered through the course of their pre-employment screening. They will have your company’s best interest in mind when it comes to screening applicants.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547

While it is completely legal to conduct employee background checks, there are certain regulations that need to be followed. The biggest thing is complying with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. As an employer, there are a few points that relate specifically to what and how you can conduct this pre-employment screening.

In order to protect the employee, only certain outside people can have access to this person’s credit report. An employer is one of the people who have a legitimate need for this access. The Fair Credit Reporting Act calls this having a “valid need”.

However, this does not mean that as an employer you have carte blanche access to anyone’s credit report whenever you want.  To further protect the potential employee, they must give a written consent prior to you conducting a background check that involves their credit report.

Upon completion of the background checks, the employee has a right to know if they were declined employment based upon the information found within the report. This gives the employee an opportunity to determine the validity of the items reported. If there is an error, the employee has the right to have those items corrected and resubmit the report to the employer (you).

While it is in the hands of the credit reporting agencies to validate these disputes, they must still be completed within 30 days. Your applicant will probably tell you that the information is inaccurate, but a month’s time may go by before the applicant comes back with an updated report. This may delay the employee background checks ability to be redone. Don’t get too suspicious if you don’t hear back right away.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547 

Who would you rather have working for you? Someone who is responsible and alert? Or someone who is reckless with themselves and others? Yep, someone who is responsible is the ideal employee. Conducting a background check is a good way to decipher if an applicant is responsible.

If someone has been in criminal, financial or legal trouble, they have been reckless with themselves. For whatever reason, they did not hold themselves to a higher standard. By comparison, someone who has stayed out of trouble has been more responsible for themselves and their actions.

If a future employee has not proven to be responsible for themselves, why would we believe that they would miraculously be responsible with others?  An extension would be that they might not be diligent in protecting the store, your customers and your other employees from accidents.

Creating a safe work environment takes the responsibility of each and every employee in your business. They are the ones that will quickly respond to a spill or a wet floor. They will report or repair broken fixtures or ladders.

A background check won’t tell you who is a safe person, they will only tell you about the ones that have previously engaged in unsafe behaviors.  Pre- employment screening that shows results of violence or neglect are not employees who will generally create a safe environment.

There is a difference between not creating an issue and creating a safe environment. You want the employees who are going to take that extra step to keep themselves and everyone around them safe.

To purchase Pre-Employment Screening Services or for more information on background check experts, background checks, criminal background checks, employee background checks or pre employment screening contact us at the background check company or call 1.770.426.0547