How To Do A Background Check For Employment

What Is An Employment Background Check?

An employment background check searches national, local, and online records to gather information about potential employees. Background checks typically are employed by employers to evaluate a candidate's suitability and qualifications for a position beyond just what is offered on a resume or job application. Exactly what information appears in a background check varies depending on the type of screening you choose, but often includes criminal history, driving records, and past employers. Employers also have to conduct ongoing employee background checks in some industries, such as commercial trucking.

Organizations only have to know how to run a background check for employment before investigating a candidate's past. Most employers are subject to various regulations when conducting background checks, including federal, state, and local fair hiring laws.

The Importance of Background Checks For Employers

Employers use background checks to confirm an applicant's qualifications, to promote a safe work environment, to mitigate risk, to advance trust, and to stay compliant. Some federal, state, and municipal laws may dictate the need for background checks when hiring for specific positions, and specific positions may call for screenings, such as criminal background checks on employment.

For instance, in many states, potential caregivers who would work with vulnerable groups, like children and the elderly, must undergo background checks. School bus drivers are commonly required to submit to a criminal history check and review of their motor vehicle records, and rideshare drivers generally are obligated to receive a background check prior to transporting passengers. Positions in the health sector for that matter, usually require strenuous checks to be done, such as criminal checks and license checks.

Employers can conduct employment background checks manually or with the help of an experienced background check provider. Conducting background checks internally is usually a slow process of manually searching through publicly and privately available information—such as court records and professional recommendations. Where a record may be available online, generally, the types of records available online varies depending on the city and county (still, in-person requests are often necessary).

Organizations that decide to partner with a background check company often benefit from an efficient background check process that returns reliable results quickly as well as compliance assistance.

Types of Background Checks for Employment

There are many different types of background checks available to employers depending on company policy and industry regulations. Work history checks are frequently performed as part of employment background checks and may include criminal history inquiry and a motor vehicle report on top of a drug test. Employers can also verify employment, education, or professional licenses or check professional references, as well as look at a candidate's civil court records or credit history.

What Does A Background Check Show?

What a background check includes depends on the type, as well as who is the one searching and what they're searching for, among other considerations such as laws and regulations. Here's a look at what commonly appears on various kinds of background checks:

• What do Criminal Record Checks Reveal: A background check for criminal history will show conviction, closed cases, sex offenses, misdemeanors, felonies or pending charges. A look-up will return federal, state and county jurisdiction data based on the search.
• Employment verification: seeks to validate details about a potential employee's former jobs, including company names, job titles, and dates of employment.
• Education verification: is intended to verify an individual's academic attendance, dates of attendance and graduation and degree earned.
• Civil court checks: detail a candidate's litigation, judgments, liens and other non-criminal court records.
• Credit reports: reveal a candidate's credit and payment history, bankruptcies and accounts in collections.
• Drug Testing: Drug test screens applicant for use of illegal drugs, including prescription and other drugs.
• HealthCare Sanctions Checks: medical sanctions checks report on results of fines, suspensions, or actions on a health professional.

How To Run Employment Background Checks

The process to run employment background checks will be determined by whether you want to perform your own searches or work with a consumer reporting agency. Here is a guide to some of the steps you might take:

Step 1: Create An Employment Background Check Policy

A background check policy outlines your screening program so it can be used consistently throughout your organization. This policy would normally consist of the following:

• What kind of background checks will be performed, and on whom. Customize your background check packages to fit your positions.
• How background check findings will impact employment decisions. Look to the nature of the position, the nature of the crime, the period of time between the two.
• When the screenings will occur. Determine at what point in your hiring process you want to screen applicants and how often you will screen your employees.

A background-check policy in writing is a way to guarantee a fair and equitable consideration for every poor applicant you reject, while keeping from being sued (and fined) by the feds for discrimination.

Step 2: Understand Legal Compliance

Regulations and statutes concerning background checks are outlined at the federal, state and local levels. The employer is on the hook for making sure things are done properly. Non-adherence can be expensive, in terms of fines, settlements, and litigation.

Key areas of federal compliance include:

• Consent forms: The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires employers to inform candidates in writing that a background check will be run for employment purposes.
  
  
  
  
• Adverse action: The FCRA requires employers to follow a three-step process when intending to take an unfavorable action based on a background check.
  
  
  
  
• Ban the Box: Laws that may impact when employers can ask about a candidate's criminal history or conduct a background check.
  
  
  
  
• Title VII: The Civil Rights Act prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
  
  
  
  

Step 3: Choose a Background Check Company

Your background check provider selection should be generally consistent with your hiring volume, size of business, the number of sites, budget, background screening policy and legal advice. Some of the key features to be considered are:

• Built-in compliance support
• Adverse action processes included in the system
• Personalized assessment leverage opportunitiesUILT assessment tools
• Flexible screening packages
• Candidate experience that is mobile friendly

Step 4: Communicate with Candidates

Be Transparent Discuss the background check process with candidates. Explain why the background check is needed, how the job applicant can review his reports and how to dispute inaccuracies. Candidates also have rights under the FCRA, including the right to view and challenge the results of a background check.

How to Run a Background Check on Yourself for Employment

And candidates may want to know what employers would see. Individuals may also conduct a personal background check via a screening provider or contact law enforcement agencies and courts directly. Some of the reports can consist of a Social Security number trace, sex offender registry check, international watch list search, and other criminal history index search.

Begin Using Fast Background Checks, Someone Fast happen to be Deciding!

Pre-employment background screening is a valuable practice for employers to make better-informed decisions, maintain safer working environments and reduce risk. Managed internally or by a background check provider, a consistent, compliant background checking process leads to quicker, more assured hiring.

Conclusion

All levels of employment background checks are essential in the employment process allowing employers to confirm candidate information, lower risk, and make for a safe and reliable place of work. Through establishing a comprehensive background check policy, knowing legal obligations and transparency with employees, employers could design hiring process that could hold up to both efficiency and compliance. Regardless of whether background checks are managed in-house or through a 3rd party firm, the end result should be the ability to make better hiring decisions and increased success once employees are onboarded.

Conducting employment background checks helps you make smarter hiring decisions, but it's important your background check process is consistent, legal, and fair. Here's what hiring managers need to know about how to do a background check for employment.

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