5 things you need to know about employment background checks

Nowadays, Human Resource departments are facing a series of risks caused by carelessness. This is simply because some candidates are not reliable enough to take a position within the hiring organization. With senior management often spread thin, promoting the company's interests can become less evident. This can run the risk of people leaving the company to form their own, similar company – providing them higher salary and personal gain. So employment background check is an important step before salary negotiation.

An employment background check is a necessary method to determine if a potential employee can handle the job and help the company profit. The background check for hiring can be divided into two categories, both checks for interviewees, as well as checks for interviewers and their companies, but most often the check is an employee background check.

This article will provide a detailed introduction about what an employment check really is, the procedures behind them, explain what companies and interviewers looking for in the background check, and explain the benefits of a background check.

Guide Overview

1. What is an employment background check?
2. How to process this effectively?
3. What are companies and interviewers looking for in a background check?
4. How to prepare a background check?
5. What are the benefits of employment checking?

1. What is an employment background check?

• Definition

As the name suggests, is a background check for is a look into historical employment data for upcoming employees. They can also be referred to as "pre-employment background checks", in which employers verify the resume information of the job seeker in a legal and reasonable way.

• Behavioral significance

This process is to evaluate the integrity of employees and the authenticity of information. With online recruitment becoming very common, verifying the information is something which should be considered. Also, the background investigation can help identify any red flags employers should know.

In the recruitment process, the company selects job seekers through a series of methods. But there are still aspects of an applicant a company isn't able to see immediately, so a thorough employee background check can save the company unnecessary expenses in the future, avoid the risk of employing the wrong applicant, reduce the expenses related to recruitment and training, and retraining. Most importantly, choosing reliable talent for a company can avoid the damage caused to the company or customer, thus promoting greater profitability for the company.

2. What is the background check process?

• HR calls the former employer of the candidate

Pre-employment background checks require a variety of means steps. If the candidate has a good relationship with their previous employer, having left on good terms, the previous employer may be happy to conduct an interview or recommendation. However, if the relationship isn't positivize, or if the other company is not willing to carry out the work, then HR needs to figure out another method.

However, each industry has a fixed circle. It is a convenient way to understand the information about candidates through industry contacts and relationships. However, the authenticity of the information can be weak and will be subject to the emotions and opinions of the people being interviewed.

• Utilize headhunting to assist in the hiring process

The cost to complete the background check is usually factored in when a headhunting company is hired to find suitable applicants. This relieves the HR Department of the additional workload, and allows for the headhunter to get specific information from the candidate.

This method isn't without its disadvantages. Headhunting companies hope that the candidates they recommend will be hired by the company, which can lead the hiring manger, or human resources department to question the reliability of the background check. Background checks are usually carried out offline, and the efficiency of communication with the company is not strong enough.

• Internal background checks

If the company wants to make an employee background check, they can usually conduct the entire process online. This method saves time, money, and allows employers to have control over the type of information they are gathering. From beginning to end, the company can complete the entire process online, and have potential candidates begin the interview process more quickly.

3. What are the companies and interviewers looking for in a background check?

What does a background check show for employment? Employee background checks contain a lot of public and private information for the company's HR Department to investigate, including your basic personal information; your work information and work ability. So as an employee, you must be careful about interview questions and answers.

Here are some employment background check samples:

• Criminal background checks for employment
• Employment history
• Work authorization
• Education history (high school, university, etc.)
• Social media profiles
• Driving record
• Medical records

4. How to prepare for an employment background check

• Be willing: Try to cooperate as much as possible. It is better to actively cooperate and make a good impression with the new company
• Tell neighbors and work colleagues, past and present, that they might be asked to provide information about you. This helps avoid suspicion and alerts you to possible problems. In addition, their prior knowledge gives them permission to disclose information to the investigator. Forewarning others speeds up the process and helps you get the job faster.
• Do your own background check: If you want to see what an employer's background check might uncover, hire a background screening company that specializes in such reports to conduct one for you. That way, you can discover if the databases of information vendors contain erroneous or misleading information.
• Background checks may occur at every moment and can be continuous, increasing the importance of building a personal brand
• Make a great resume: Be sure to note that the information on your resume matches your personal experience before submitting your resume.

5. What are the benefits of employment checking?

For employees:

• Improve professional credit rating
• Shorten the hiring cycle
• Improve application opportunities
• Help quickly integrate into the organization
• Help gain recognition and potential promotions

For employers:

• Effectively reduce the chances of hiring unqualified employees
• Reduce losses caused by labor disputes
• Provide fast, comprehensive and objective recruitment advice
• Save on repeated recruitment, onboarding, and training expenses
• Improve the proportion of employee turnover and implement unified recruitment policies and procedures

Finally, it would be better to make conduct a "free employment background check on myself", and a successful employment background check can help you foster relationships with your managers.