Employment background check have become the norm for most companies when hiring new staff. The background check allows them to better evaluate the character of a job candidate before hiring. These types of checks are normally performed by recruitment agencies or dedicated service providers.

These service providers know where to find the information to complete a background check as well as the rules and regulations regarding collecting sensitive information regarding a third party. It may be necessary to get the employee or the proposed job candidate’s permission before running a background check.

Although it is possible for a company to run their own checks without the assistance of a service provider, this is not recommended. It can be easy to infringe on the rights of an employee to privacy if the regulations regarding background checks are not adhered to.

In general, a background check should include the following:

1. Criminal Record Check

A criminal record check accesses various databases to search for arrest and criminal records for an individual at both county and national levels. The information should include the crime the individual was charged with, whether it was a felony or misdemeanor, their sentence as well as when the crime was committed.

Although new employee background checks are important to assess the honesty and trustworthiness of an employee, employers should take all the details provided in the background check report in to account. A person who committed a first misdemeanor 10 years ago should not be judged harshly for their mistakes.

2. Social Security Validation

This check is to ensure that the social security number does belong to the specific person and whether they have at any time changed their name, had any aliases as well as their address history. This is important to ensure that the criminal history and other checks are performed in all aliases in all locations where the individual may have resided.

3. Terror Watch List

A search will be run to check whether the name or aliases of the candidate appears on the U.S. terror watch list.

4. Sex Offender Registry Check

It is important to check the sex offender registry to find out whether the proposed job candidate or employee has ever been registered. The check will verify whether a candidate has ever been registered and in some cases, will provide information on the offence that they committed.

5. Credit Checks

Credit checks are normally performed by banks and other financial institutions to find out the credit score of an individual in order to evaluate the risk in offering them a loan, finance or other form of credit. These checks are however being used more and more often by employers to assess the character of employees. It does not reflect well on an employee who has accumulated a large amount of debt, is always late paying their instalments or neglects to repay their debt.

It is always recommended to give each employee or job candidate the opportunity to explain any of the information that is provided by a background check and take these explanations into account when deciding whether to hire a candidate or terminate employment.

Last modified: March 3, 2021