No one’s perfect, right? We make mistakes. But when it comes to background screening of your job candidates and employees, a mistake could have severe consequences.
At GroupOne Background Screening, we believe an organization that runs background checks on all of its incoming employees is doing a lot of things right. But simply requiring pre-employment background screenings is not enough to keep criminals, lawsuits and other unwelcome presences out of your organization.
Through the years, we’ve learned that many companies with established employee screening policies are still making mistakes. Here’s a list of the 10 most common errors:
1. Consistency: Every company needs a standardized, uniform background check policy that is consistent across all employees. This standard operating procedure should be outlined in writing and observed by every employee, applicant and hiring manager to ensure across-the-board compliance.
2. National background checks: Employers can decrease the effectiveness of their background checks by linking them to in-state criminal screenings. Only nationwide criminal background checks and sex offender registry searches can ensure that you are doing everything you can to prevent unsavory workers from entering your pool of employees.
3. Verifying past employment: While the primary focus of most background checks is criminal history, employers often make the mistake of not verifying past employment. By contacting references and running checks to make sure the information your applicant provided on their resume was correct, you’ll be able to develop a better impression of that applicant.
4. Verifying education: Just as looking into an applicant’s past employment is an important step, verifying education should be a key step in the process. Especially for younger applicants, where college education is a key factor of the resume, education verification is important to make sure the applicant is who they say they are.
5. Verifying licenses and certifications: Licenses and professional certifications can make a person stand out in an applicant pool. Whether the certification is in a medical field or electrical or mechanical specialty, running a background check to make sure the applicant is properly licensed and certified can save you headaches and even potential lawsuits.
6. EEOC standards: The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) has a long list of rules that companies must follow when hiring new employees. Before running any background checks, make sure your screening policies are adhering completely to EEOC regulations.
7. Social media: We do not recommend the use of social media checks in background screening. The EEOC is very critical of is the use of social media because a Facebook page or another social media profile can reveal personal information about an applicant (race, religion, sexual orientation) that the hiring manager is not permitted to know, potentially leading to biased hiring decisions.
8. Transparency: Even the most effective background check can be hampered by an employer’s failure to be transparent about it. All background check policies should be outlined in writing for applicants to see. Any hiring decisions made using background check information should be related to the appropriate applicants in writing to avoid discrimination lawsuits.
9. Background checks on full-time employees only: An organization may have an extremely effective background screening policy for its full-time workers, but then fail to run no checks on part-time workers, contractors, temps, or volunteers. As a general rule, anyone given access to the systems, facilities or assets of your company should be subject to a background check.
10. Post-employment background checks: Failure to run repeat background checks on your current employees is a risk. Businesses screen their applicants thoroughly prior to hiring, but could potentially let corruption, poor behavior and criminal activity slide with longtime employees. Running repeat background checks on employees every year is a great way to ensure a safe, liability-free workplace.