Background Checks: An Integral Part of the Pre-Employment Screening Process
Despite the level of meticulousness exhibited by employers throughout their recruiting and interviewing processes, there can be some uncertainty in the minds of those responsible for making the ultimate hiring decisions, due in part to the fact that they often have incomplete background profiles for many candidates. This may be due because of a lack of proper background screening. Although resumes and face-to-face conversations can provide valuable insight into these prospective new hires, the information gained through such avenues does have its limitations.
Thus, to help narrow the margin of error in the hiring process, or conversely to strengthen their confidence in the decision-making process, many organizations are including a number of background checks as part of any pre-employment screening. Whereas cursory reference checks with one or two friends/former colleagues of the applicant were once the norm, such a practice has time-and-again proven to be both unsatisfactory and unreliable; background checks are now more comprehensive and extensive in depth and breadth, thereby providing the additional information needed to make more educated and assured hiring decisions.
Criminal Record Check
It is considered good business practice to make sure that employees and customers are not placed in situations where they are asked to work or collaborate with individuals who have been convicted of a crime such as theft, assault, or driving while intoxicated, among others.
A criminal record check will confirm whether that individual has previously been convicted of a criminal offence in a court of law and for which a pardon (or a record suspension) has not been legally documented. If a criminal record is confirmed and if the conviction is relevant to the position, an employer can refuse to offer a job or can cancel a conditional job offer to that candidate.
Reference Check
An extensive set of questions that can be augmented by a list of questions developed by the client company to assess their particular needs; all reference checks are performed by direct contact with co-workers, supervisors, executives, or other business colleagues.
This comprehensive professional service provides valuable insight into an applicant’s skill set and work ethic while validating the information gathered from their resume and face-to-face interviews. It offers several benefits to employers, stemming from thorough and consistent administration of the process by an independent and impartial third party.
Driver’s Abstract (for Residents of Ontario)
For positions that require employees to use personal or company vehicles to perform any/all assigned tasks, driver’s abstracts permit employers to assess the suitability and reliability of candidates for those roles, and to forego extending job offers to those deemed to have poor driving records.
As a certified record of a candidate’s driving history over the previous three years, obtaining a driver’s abstract can help employers avoid the embarrassment of a bad hiring decision and prevent any potential liabilities that may subsequently result.
Exit Interviews
An objective questionnaire designed to elicit open and honest feedback from the departing employee with respect to their reasons for leaving the organization and to assess policies or practices that should be modified to help retain top employees/contributors moving forward.
The results of such exit interviews can be particularly beneficial to the organization relative to reducing its overall hiring costs and minimizing employee turnover as well as maintaining strong employee communications and engagement.
