When you’re hiring a potential employee, you should always have them screened through some form of a background check. This is essential to making sure they have a verified Social Security number, positive past activity on all social media, and no criminal background or history of illegal happenings. When your business involves children, elderly, or those with disabilities, it’s crucial to have reliable employees that won’t provide any future problems. Here are some key things to include in an accurate screening and thorough background check for a prospective employee:
Good typical things that you can check for in a potential employee are the kinds that might affect their performance or how other people will perceive them working at your company. Things that you can commonly check for are driving records, credit records, criminal records, medical records, drug test records, incarceration records, and sex offender lists. These are all things that you can get from public records created by government agencies. If an employee can’t give you this information, there’s a chance they are hiding something that might ruin their chance at keeping the job.
There are often things that you don’t have to get a professional background check done for find out. Fortunately (and unfortunately for some), there are many outlets online that people provide personal information on. With social media platforms and even personal websites available, you can check their educational background, personal life and growth, and which jobs they’ve had over the years (and how long they stayed). Through pictures and posts you can determine what kind of person they are and if they’re reliable enough for the job you’re offering them. This is a simple option that can really affect the growth of your company.
While it’s nice to have as much information on a future employee as possible, you have to remember to be cautious about how personal the questions you’re asking are. Concerns about highly personal information can lead to lawsuits if considered “unreasonable” by the Supreme Court. You cannot ask for this information in a consumer report: bankruptcies after 10 years, civil suits/judgements/records of arrest after seven years, paid tax liens after seven years, and other negative information (except for criminal convictions) that occurred over seven years ago. It’s important to get the information you want without overstepping your bounds into someone else’s personal affairs when doing a background check.
While getting your employee’s background searched is necessary and wise before hiring them, don’t rush into the first background checking company that you find online. Many of these companies find their information illegally or will overcharge you for a service that’s within the public’s right to check. Working with a company with HR Support like PayTech that can answer your questions and guide you onto the right path. Working together can help you verify your employee’s information faster and more efficiently.
