If you’re hiring or promoting an employee, you’ll have to perform a background check. Although someone may seem like a good candidate for a position, you never really know what’s in a person’s past unless you conduct a thorough investigation.
A background check will provide you with an extra layer of security and can prevent problems down the road. However, many employers end up committing crucial mistakes when conducting background checks that could come back to haunt them down the road. Here are a few of them.
Avoid THESE 6 Background Check Mistakes
Here are 6 Mistakes Employers Make When Performing Background Checks:
1. Not Having a Background Check Policy
Running background checks on certain employees could be a discrimination issue. This information can get out and cause your business to face a lawsuit.
Make sure that you have a policy in place to run background check services to avoid any problems down the road. Having a clear in writing will protect your business.
2. Only Checking a National Criminal History Database
Although national criminal history databases can provide employers with some useful information, they’re not going to be adequate for a thorough check. It may not be a bad idea to use multiple sources when it comes to verifying an employee’s background.
For example, you can go on a site like Free Records Registry in addition to other databases. Using multiple sources will allow you to get a more complete profile of an employee and catch some omissions a particular database could’ve made.
3. Using Social Media as a Sole Information Source
Employers often use social media to find out more personal information about employees. While it may be tempting to look at these accounts, you may be more discriminatory against certain potential employees.
This isn’t a bad process per se but be sure that you don’t use this as your only impression of a job candidate.
4. Not Verifying Education
People can easily lie about their education and may assume that an employer won’t check. You should always contact the person’s school and ensure that they graduated and that their major is listed correctly.
5. Skipping Background Checks on Vendors, Temp Employees, and Contractors
These positions are often overlooked when it comes to background checks, but you could face increased liability by not paying attention to this detail. Even temporary employees need to go through a thorough verification process if they are going to work for your company.
Make sure that you have this in your policy and verify any employee information before they start working for the company.
6. Forgetting to Obtain Permission
You do have to obtain a person’s permission to run a background check on them. Performing a background check without the prospective employee’s permission could open you to legal action. Make sure you have them sign a document, give informed consent, and understand that a background check will occur.
Common Background Check Mistakes That Are Unavoidable
You’ve seen some of the top background check mistakes made by employers in the above section, now let’s look at the mistakes, not your fault! Check out the list below:
- Incorrect criminal records: This is common when the information is inaccurate – it’s someone else’s! That’s the worst nightmare of any recruiter. This is usually due to a mix-up of files where another person’s information appears on your candidate’s file.
If you come across such information, you must immediately report it to the authorities as it can be detrimental to someone’s life. - Mistaken Identity: As fun as it seems in movies, mistaken identity is very unfortunate! Think of losing your job to someone else when it was for you! That’s ghastly.
This is a mistake that recruiters may also make, but it is usually due to technical or manual faults where the files mix up. - Outdated paperwork: in this digital era, all the manually filled paperwork is shifting to online databases. This is when a mix-up may happen where the paperwork presented to you isn’t updated and you end up with a candidate that seems to have been living in another state!
They’ve been operating for a long time. This can only be cleared up once you inquire about it to the candidate directly – it usually makes for a funny story.
- Not allowing candidates to correct their background check data: this is a common mistake that can lead to poor results in the future. This mainly taints the employer’s reputation. This shows that the employer is not open to disputes regarding their background check mistakes.
It can also result in legal consequences that can be harmful to the brand name and culture.
Conclusion
When hiring employees, performing a background check is the only way to verify the employee’s credentials. These common mistakes could cause issues for any company, and they can easily be avoided with some basic policies and procedures in place.
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