It is illegal to ask a job candidate if they have ever been arrested. The arrest could have not lead to a conviction. The arrest could have been downgraded to a different crime altogether. This could mean the difference between a felony and a misdemeanor crime. Criminal background checks do not legally research arrests.

The legal way is to ask about any convictions. That means a court found them guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. If the court found them guilty, then this information is generally public record, which means you can have access to it, as a potential employer.

Convictions are the end result of an arrest. It is the final determination of guilty or not guilty. It is also the final result of any plea bargains or other considerations to reduce a conviction to a lesser crime.

By asking about arrests, you can have a potentially negative response to a job candidate. This is an unfair stance for the candidate who may have been cleared/ found not guilty of those charges. You can be held liable for not hiring someone because you asked the wrong questions.

The best way to do this is to inquire on the application. This gives the applicant the opportunity to disclose any convictions and also give any explanations they feel necessary. You are then allowed to validate these convictions during pre employment screening and any further criminal background checks you need to conduct.

Even a lesser crime will show up if there was an actual conviction, not just an arrest.

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 

Every time my brother applies for a new job, he dreads the part where the potential employer runs pre employment screening. Mostly because he knows that his criminal background checks will show up with a laundry list of convictions from crimes committed in various states.

The dread doesn’t come from the results of the criminal background checks; the dread comes because he knows that he is actually two of a kind. These negative reports are actually from another person with the exact same name, same spelling of his name, and the same date of birth. My brother, on the other hand, has a squeaky clean criminal record.

He first found out about this problem after interviewing for a job and then receiving a rejection letter in the mail from this company. They stated that he did not divulge his record to them on the application, and based on the convictions he was ineligible for hire.

He then had to go through several other steps to prove that the records were not his and he had never even been to the states in which the arrests had happened. The proof came from the information found on his driver’s license such as race, hair and eye color, and the photo. Once matched to the mug shots and the arrest records, my brother was cleared and offered the position.

He now lets potential employers know that there is a second person out there with the same name. When they run the pre employment screening, they should anticipate that they would see this other person’s records in his search results.

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 

Pre employment screening that goes beyond a simple reference check can uncover some crazy situations that you might have never thought possible. Before you become a target for organized retail crime, do a little extra research before you make a hiring decision. Better yet, hire a background check company to do the digging for you.

A reputable background check company should have the ability to decipher data that might lead to other questionable things the employee is trying to hide. 

A criminal history, as well as a pre employment screening involving previous addresses or acquaintances might show that this employee is associated with gangs, mafia, or other known criminals.

While not all employees are going to be criminals just because they associate with other criminals, many are looking for jobs at specific stores that the crime ring needs an insider. 

If they get one of “their guys” hired at your stores, it will be infinitely easier for them to steal, rob and defraud you. If they have to try and convince one of your honest employees to help them out, their time and resources are spent recruiting an unknown, who may turn them in, instead of profiting from their deceit.

Do not be fooled into thinking that just because you are giving someone a paycheck, his or her loyalties lie with you. If these employees are working for a crime ring, their loyalties are actually with the ring that has put them in your store. The fact that you are paying them to steal from you is their bonus, but one that a background check company can potentially help you avoid.

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 many small businesses, the average length of employment for their non-management positions is only about one year. In those twelve short months, many things can happen – both good and bad. Since that length of time is so short, conducting employee background checks and pre employment screening is absolutely essential.

Coincidentally, the majority of employees who are caught stealing confess to their first theft incident within the first year of employment. They can be discouraged because they feel trapped in a job they thought would be better than what it actually is. They can feel like they were misled in the interview process about how great the business is.

These dishonest employees also can feel slighted over job promotions they do not get, or working harder than more tenured employees. Sometimes employees apply for jobs at businesses they know they can steal from, and start their thefts on day one. All of which are justifications for an employee to steal from their employer.

All of those situations are more avoidable by using employee background checks. The checks are designed to show work history, previous theft issues, criminal arrests, and validations of educational backgrounds.

When there are only a few short months between an employee’s hire date and their first incident of theft, having the right people in place from day one becomes increasingly critical. There is not an extended amount of time that you can hire someone and then find out what his or her real employment or criminal background is.

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 you would hope that an applicant who has had several addresses- in particular in several different counties or states had moved for valid reasons- such as job transfers with previous employers, not every move by every applicant is that legitimate. Frequently, employee background checks turn up criminal convictions for potential employees who have moved because they are trying to cover up previous mistakes.

Some job candidates with a criminal past fear they will be misjudged by their mistakes and look to start a new life somewhere else. Others are trying to escape neighborhoods or groups of people that will continue to drag them down the road of criminal activity.

Some cannot find employment or opportunities where they have been convicted and go someplace else (out of state family an friends) who can help them shed their criminal pasts and stigmas.

Whatever the reason, without an in depth pre employment screening process in place, these criminal convictions can be easily overlooked. You are then at the mercy of the applicant to provide you with completely honest answers to their criminal past.

If the applicant is running away or otherwise trying to move on from their past, they are less likely to be completely honest and readily divulge that information to you.

Based off of length of time since the last conviction, or type of criminal conduct, you may still choose to offer employment, even though there was a history found during your employee background checks. That being said, having the full history to know that the last conviction really was ten years ago, and not last month is crucial to making 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 

When you need to fill an open position, you understand that you are short someone to do the required job functions. That means someone else needs to pick up the slack. If you are the one left picking up the pieces, do you reasonably have time to sift though hundreds of under qualified, or outright bad applicants?

What many companies are doing to reduce the number of unwanted applications to sort through is to include intent to perform a background check. Somewhere on the application, whether it is computerized or on paper, there is wording stating that the job requires a through check to be conducted before final approval to be hired. Next is a signature line for the applicant to authorize the check to be completed.

What major hiring companies and managers are finding is that questionable applicants are declining to turn in these applications. They know that they have potential red flags in their history that they do not want to come up. Instead of completing the application, they move on to the next business that does not require a background check.

In the meantime, you are left with fewer overall applications to sort through. Of those remaining applications, you are left with better overall applicants. They are more honest about any previous criminal activity, previous work history, and can actually validate their education and degrees earned. Your valuable time is spent on hiring the right person, not on weeding out the wrong ones.

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 

Pre employment screening is not just about conducting formal employee background checks. Pre employment screening is also about how to streamline your hiring process to get the best-qualified and most productive employee each time you hire.

While employee background checks are absolutely essential to the hiring process, and can help you avoid more serious damage done by a thieving or mischievous employee, there are some ways to do a pre employment screening that keeps them away from the applicant pool to begin with.

Most businesses rely on a standard application process. Computer generated and screened applications are common in larger businesses with more resources. Smaller businesses still rely on paper applications, since it is easy to purchase a pack of pre-made ones from the local office supply store.

What if you started streamlining your application process and allowed applicants to give a better look at their capabilities. A recent report told the story of a company hiring a marketing coordinator. In a generic job posting, several hundred applications were received, many of who did not even meet the basic job requirements of experience or education.

When the same job posted with a requirement that a sample of a marketing flyer was included with their application, only twelve candidates applied.

Not every open retail position can have a job posting this specific, but there are ways to incorporate these tests of skill. Ask a potential employee to “sell” you an item, or solve a fictitious customer problem. It can give you a better insight into their skill level and their potential dedication to the job.

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

After careful evaluation of the pros and cons, you have decided to conduct pre employment screening on all of your potential employees. To save some money, you decided to forego using a background check company for these employee background checks.

You figured that just about anything can be found by searching the internet with a little bit of digging on your own. That’s what a background check company charges for anyway, isn’t it- their time to dig up information- to surf the web?

Well, there are two missing parts to the puzzle that may cause you some problems. The first concern is how far you are going to go to get these histories and employee background checks– especially if this applicant has moved around at all.

The next concern is what happens if you dig up incorrect information on a potential candidate and subsequently decline a job offer to a candidate based on those findings. You (your company) can be held liable for that information and can be sued by that candidate for slander and other offenses in a court of law. Would you know how to fix that information if the situation came up?

This is the larger part of what you pay a background check company for. They are responsible for the accuracy of the pre employment screening they conduct. If there is a discrepancy, this company has the legal obligation to have it corrected in a timely manner.

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 

Looking for a new job to build your career can be just as frustrating as it is for employers to find a suitable candidate for their open positions. This is partly due to changes in how both employers and employees approach interviews and hiring in general. Pre employment screening still plays an important part in the process, but is left to be one of the last steps before a candidate is finalized.

There was a recent survey conducted by a popular employment website. It went through many of the pitfalls employers were coming up against in finding new, qualified candidates. The employers interviewed spoke of candidates not showing up for interviews, declining positions after they had accepted them, and some candidates not even showing up for their first day of work with no communication.

Then the survey flipped around to interview the candidates who had actually applied for posted positions. It was surprising to find out that the amount of disconnect from employees communicating with employers, there was a major lack of communication from employers back to the actual employees.

Many employers, who received applications, sent out an automatically generated email stating that the application was under review. That was pretty consistent, it was in additional communication that things started going downhill. Of those received applications, very few were notified by the company that they had not been picked for an interview. Of the ones that had been picked, even fewer candidates were actually notified that they did not receive the job.

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 

Employee background checks are changing, just as new application and hiring practices are evolving. Many companies have rid themselves of the paper applications of yesteryear, and the ability to speak directly to the manager in charge of the hiring process. As such, applicants are wheedled down to a few generic statements in a standardized on line application.

The auto application eliminates the personal touch given by one on one interaction. Unfortunately, because the computerized applications don’t evaluate personalities, red flags and warning signs about an applicant are often overlooked. Employee background checks are needed to help fill in the blanks.

Since computerized applications request most of the needed information to complete employee background checks, it should be a simple process to have one done. By adding a sign line allowing a request to do pre employment screening, it is easy to get the potential employee’s approval before they are even brought in for an interview.

For businesses that are still using paper applications instead of computerized or online applications, it is easier to do a quick pre employment screening at the time the application is handed in. Even if a manager does not do it, there are simple questions that any employee can ask.

Start with basic questions about the hours the candidate is available to work. Ask why they are leaving their old job, or looking for a second job. Ask if they have experience in the job they are applying for. Follow up with a brief description of the job responsibilities; include some of the less desirable tasks, and ask if they are still interested. Make sure any hesitation is noted on the pre employment screening form.

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