Why Background Checks Are Important For Construction Companies?

As an employer or recruitment agency in the UK, you may have asked yourself why you need to carry out background checks on potential candidates. Today there are a number of reasons why employers and recruitment agencies should carry out background screening.

Finding The Right Candidate

It is becoming increasingly apparent that it is becoming difficult to find the right candidate for a job. Recruitment agencies are competing with each other to hire the very best candidates whilst also trying to keep their costs down. They cannot afford to waste precious time checking every possible criminal. To avoid this, we would recommend going to a background screening company to check prospective candidates before making a decision as to who to recruit or hire. Background Screening helps eliminate any unsuitable candidates during the hiring process.

Criminal Records

It is also becoming evident that companies and recruitment agencies need to use background checks to make sure that the people that they are hiring have not been involved in any criminal activity. Many workplace safety and health issues arise and these have to be dealt with before serious problems occur. If you’re an employer who is considering employing new staff members, you should check for any past criminal records.

Finding The Best Candidate

Employers and recruitment agencies can also use screening as a way to filter out the best candidates. When a job goes to an individual, it is important that they match the job requirements well. There is a possibility that an employee could be great at one job but not so good at another, by conducting a background check you can ensure that only suitable candidates are selected.

Candidate Risks

When it comes to the construction industry, screening is especially important. Many construction projects happen on someone’s property. This can be a huge risk for the individual working on the property, their family, and their belongings. Safety and health issues can arise if construction workers are not properly screened prior to being hired. By using background checks, you can ensure that you are hiring only the safest and suitable individuals to work on your property.

Employers and recruitment agencies may use background checks as a way of pre-screening candidates. By screening candidates well, they can ensure that they are not likely to have any criminal records or health issues that they haven’t disclosed that can pose a danger while on site. By using background checks, you are able to eliminate a lot of potentially problematic employees without having to spend your valuable time and money interviewing and hiring them. There are a lot of potential problems that can arise in the construction industry but having a screening process in place can help to prevent many of these problems from occurring.

By using a professional background screening company, you will be able to have a fair and thorough screening in taking the necessary steps to ensure that there are no safety or health risks with your prospective employees.

Easier To Select A Candidate

Employers who conduct background checks on potential candidates can often find certain things that may surprise them when it comes to a candidate’s criminal history. This can make their decision in the hiring process much easier as it ensures that you are hiring a safe and suitable candidate.

If you want an Employment background check done before hiring a new employee, please contact The Background Checker UK. We have immense experience conducting background checks for new hires for companies all around the UK.

Why Applicant Screening Is So Important for Small Businesses?

Why Applicant Screening Is So Important for Small Businesses?

Not too long ago, a job application, a decent resume and a simple interview were considered enough to hire someone. However, nowadays, news reports and social media news sections are fraught with countless crime stories. Therefore most hiring managers have now become increasingly cautious.

Considering the potential risk, pre-employment background checks have become a common practice. However, the idea of running background checks on one’s existing and prospective employees is still in its infancy. This is why a lot of business owners wonder why it is even necessary. If you also happen to be one of the sceptical business owners, here are some practical reasons to change your mind.

  1. It protects your business from liability

Picture a scenario where you hire someone solely based on their credentials, professional attire and friendly attitude. Since you did not seriously consider background screening, you will likely see the applicant’s different version after hiring.

Most of the time, in similar situations, the hired employee can turn out to be manipulative and sometimes evendangerous. Consequently, the other staff members get adversely affected by the new employee’s practices.

For example, an employee could seriously harm someone. Being a business owner, the liability incident would fall on your lap and defame your brand.

It is every business owner’s responsibility to keep guard of the well being of their employees. Thus, they ought to do everything possible to ensure the security of their hired staff.

  • It helps you determine whether the prospective employee can be trusted to handle money

Financial background check is an integral background checking technique. Hence, by employing background screening, business owners can discern whether their candidates can manage funds. For example, the may have the responsibility to money shuffle to and from stockbrokers.

You can judge one’s cash handling capabilities by observing how one manages their funds. Credit checks also provide valuable information regarding your employee’s financial past.

  • It tells you whether you can trust the employee in future

Unfortunately, not everyone tells the truth about their past in the job interview. Lying about the length of your work experience and glorifying its quality has become so common that people no longer deem it deception.

If you are keen to unearth your candidate’s past work experiences, we would recommend hiring professionals to do the job. A reputable background checking companywould help you find whether your employee is honest or not. Plus, they would help you decipher your candidate’s professional license, spot their educational background and verify their past job experiences.

Many malpractices stem from dishonesty. Therefore most employees prefer an unqualified honest employee over a qualified dishonest one. So if you also want your staff to be loyal and truthful people, background screening is the way to go.

  • It indicates towards your candidate’s performance in their earlier job

Background checks involve reference verification that looks into the employee’s personal and business references. Employers use this information to formulate judgement about their potential employees.

Sometimes, this process includes talking to the employee’s former bosses and colleagues.  Although times change, you will be able to make a better judgement on who you are hiring into your company based on their previous experiences.

Conclusion

Background checks do not just help you learn more about your applicant, but they are also a means to discover traits about your candidate that are not mentioned on their CVor disclosed in their interview.

So if you want to employ resourceful staff, contact The Background Checker today!

Know Your Candidate| 4 Reasons To Conduct Web Footprint Analysis On Prospective Employees

Often, high employment turnover rates are associated with a candidate’s dishonesty during their interview process and CV screening.

To abstain from making major hiring mistakes, most employers have started hiring employment background checking companies. Reputable background screeners such as The Background Checker help employers to hire better and more honest individuals.

Web Footprint Analysis is an effective modern technique that allows employers to better picture their candidate’s personality. Web footprint analysis is a broader perspective of the specific social media screening, however as the name suggests, it does involve all aspects of the web social media analysis.

Although this is a modern technique is still foreign to many employers, its trend is growing at aim measurable pace. Today, human resources experts are expected to judge potential employees based on their social media presence.

If web footprint analysis is an enigma for you, you have come to the right place. This blog has compiled a few reasons why numerous companies are including this web footprint into their hiring process.

  1. The majority of the candidates put up a front

Acting like an intelligent and gentle person to draw the interview’s attention is not dishonesty. Everyone knows that people try to put their best foot forward during job interviews. No matter how lengthy or brief an interview is, it provides barely any insight into the candidate’s personality and devotion to work.

On the other hand, a meticulous social media analysis can reveal the candidate’s likes, dislikes, passions, and proclivities. Therefore, web footprint analysis can easily enhance someone’s employability. Similarly, it can also derail a great impression left by an employee because of their questionable social media presence.

  1. The potential employees have started to brand themselves on social media platforms

Influencers are content marketers on social media sites who showcase their capability by persistently posting intriguing content on their social media accounts.

Fortunately, the influencer culture is increasing, allowing different organisations and companies to approach the talent they seek. Given the tremendous online presence they have amassed, individuals behind inspiring social media accounts prove to be valuable assets to the companies.

  1. Social media profiles show vital personality traits

Since many people use social media accounts to post everything relatable to them, one can understand their self-perception by scrolling through their online feed. Assessing someone’s web footprint can also help you decipher the kind of frontage people want to perceive themselves.

Therefore, companies can get a clear sense of their candidate’s personality by hiring professionals for social media assessment. Consequently, this helps them understand whether the candidate would be a befitting addition to the staff and what kind of tasks would bring the best in them.

Although one’s social media profile is not an absolute indicator of all the positives and negatives instilled in them, it cancertainly paint a vivid picture of a candidate’s biases and values.

  1. It reduces employers’ time

The conventional recruitment process can be long and tedious for both the employer and the candidate. That is because conventional methods involve timely research and reference verification. Unfortunately, not all candidates are appropriate for the role, and so lengthy researches on them turn out to be a waste of time.

Web footprint analysis is not just the means to know more about your prospective candidate’s persona. It can also shorten recruitment time for you. Since most people are more upfront on social media, social media analysis can make everything clearer and quicker for human resources.

To summarise, employing professionals for webfoot analysis is imperative to maintain the company’s well being and reputation.

If you would like some further information on web footprint analysis today, contact The Background Checker.

Racism on Social Media – Why Should You Run Checks?

As you may have seen, There has been disgusting online racism following England’s Defeat in the Euros 2020.

This has led to some employers of the individuals who posted Racism online to be identified leaving their reputation damaged.

in this article, we highlight the importance of carrying out a professional Social Media Screening Check on your current and prospective new employees.

Reputation

Racism in the media from your employees can cause great reputational damage. To avoid this, we highly recommended running a Social Media Check  in order to gain further information on the conduct of your employees on social media platforms.

With social media being so widely accessible it is important to look at these public areas in which your employees represent themselves and ultimately your company.

Potential Liability

Racism may lead to more than just an internal disciplinary hearing, it may in fact go as far as making you or your company liable for discrimination claims while using ‘company equipment’ or even whilst on ‘company time’.

This may be avoided by carrying out a Social Media Check on your employees, as this would help you gain a more advanced picture of who you are hiring compared to the old school method of phoning a few references from a CV.

Racism Within The Workplace

If your employee makes racist comments online then they could bring that mindset into the workplace.

Employee wellbeing should be a priority in a company, and to ensure that racism and discrimination of any sort is avoided in the work place then we would advise a Social Media Check to be carried out on your current employees and as a part of your pre-employment process.

Why Should You Use a Professional Background Screening Company?

A professional background screening company will have a team of experts that will hold no bias towards any individuals in order to gain a wider understanding of the individual you are hiring or even current employees.

To summarise, we would find it very appropriate following the current racism online to recommend to completion of Social Media Checks on as many staff members as possible, especially those who would be deemed as public-facing. This is due to the level of the potential risk to your company both from a financial and legal liability standpoint.

Hiring the right talent: 4 lies that candidates put up on a resume and how employers should handle this issue?

It is common for job applicants to decieve in interviews, on their resumes, on their LinkedIn, or even on their social media platforms. They’d do anything that can boost their chances to secure a job. Many people may even justify this act from a candidate’s perspective, but this could damage your company greatly.

On the other hand, this can cost time and money to employers. There’s a high chance that they may end up hiring the wrong talent. This is because most companies don’t have the right background check policies in place. Even if they do have some protocols, they don’t have the right resources to perform the task.

As a result, many companies get stuck with the wrong people. The first thing that goes to an organisation is a candidate’s CV.

Down below, we shall discuss the most common forms of deception on a CV. We shall also discuss why background checks are necessary for companies to acquire the right talent. Without further ado, let’s jump right at it:

Tamper with experience and expertise

Candidates are often deceitful about their years of experience. Many jobs require senior resources, and juniors with some knowledge in the domain try and apply for senior positions. Obviously, they’ll score better packages through this and tend to lie about their experience.

Many candidates also deceive to hide gap years in their careers. This is often complemented with false declaration of skills and expertise. They create pompous CVs to attract employers, but when hired, they struggle with even menial tasks.

This costs employers their precious resources.

False Credentials

Most employers believe in candidates for what they say. Many candidates take advantage and mention things that aren’t true. Some even go on to mention false degrees and diplomas. They do so to appear more eligible than the others.

Falling victim to this deceit can cause companies to hire the wrong talent. Hiring the right background checking company can resolve the problem, though. They have a database of necessary details that can verify whether a candidate is truthful or lying.

Unreal Salaries

 Not telling the truth about salaries is more common practice amongst candidates than one would think. This deciet is often conducted to secure better packages. To avoid this problem, many companies will contact previous employers to verify if the candidate provided the right data.

However, many companies take the word of the candidate. Also, most companies aren’t in favour of revealing confidential data. To work around this problem, the employer can run a background check to find out if the candidate is being truthful.

Hide Drug Use and Addictions

Nobody is vocal about their drug use to their potential employer. However, this information is of upmost importance to the companies. Having drug users can be harmful to others in the company.

In fact, having a drug user as an employee can also taint a company’s image. However, it is a difficult task for companies to find out about someone’s drug history. Of course many companies require employees to have drug tests before joining, but drug users can find their way around tests.

Hiring independent background checkers can solve this problem easily. They know the right methods on how to find out information about someone’s drug history.

Final Word

Having the right employees is crucial for companies to perform well. However, candidates can go to any extent that can earn them secure them a job. Most don’t care that their deceitfulness can cost companies precious resources.

The above mentioned are a few things that candidates often bend the truth or just outright lie about on their

CV’s. Companies on their own may never have the necessary data to conduct an efficient background check.

Those companies that wish to have efficient employment background checks should hire independent background checkers. They know the right tricks and tactics to validate the information provided by the candidates.

4 reasons why small businesses should run background checks before hiring employees

There are many important aspects that make a business successful—pricing, marketing, location, and fulfilling legal obligations. However, what you should hear is having the right employees is probably the most significant aspect of running a successful business.

Hiring the right employees serves as a solid base for any business. Employers must never neglect the importance of running background checks. By doing so, they are exposed to certain risks that can

really harm them and the business.

People are masters at creating a façade around their personality. After all, nobody portrays themselves themselves to be frauds or criminals. Hiring the wrong employees can even put you and the business into some legal complications. All these things are unnecessary troubles and can be avoided by running a thorough background check before hiring.

Here are 4 reasons why background checks are extremely important, especially for small businesses:

Reduces Risk:

Small businesses are at great risk when they just hire someone without conducting background checks. While there’s no way how a person would behave in the future, knowing their past can give you a fair idea of their future behaviours.

If you have a potential employee with a pristine record, the chances are that they’ll like to maintain the same when employed under you. If someone is involved in fraudulent activities, chances are they might do the same to you.

Knowing who you hire largely keeps you and the business on the safe side. You don’t know what risks come attached to a person who has a tainted background. It is always better to know who you hire.

Protects your clients

Privacy is a myth in this digital age. Bad hiring can cost you your clients. If you have a business that requires you to ensure that the privacy of your clients isn’t invaded, you must particulary be careful while hiring.

Hiring deceitful employees can put your clients’ information and privacy at risk. Therefore, running smooth operations is only possible when you can fully trust your employees.

With thorough background checks, you can know who you’re hiring. With the right employees at your side, there is little that’ll stop you from flourishing!

Your reputation is at stake

Malicious employees can bring long-term harm to a business. Remember, your employees are ambassadors to your businesses as well. What would you prefer? Good ambassadors who are responsible, or bad ones who’ll risk the company’s reputation for personal gains?

Running a background check will help you mitigate this risk. After all, you wouldn’t want people to speak poorly of your company just because an employee got involved in corrupt activities.

You can get exceptional employees

There’s only so much you can know about someone in a couple of interviews. Many people are, in fact, very shy at expressing their talents through words.

You shouldn’t let risk letting go of outstanding talents just because they were inexpressive in the interviews. With background checks, you can easily know the merits of a person. Knowing that a person was a high-performer at their previous job is a significant factor in deciding to hire them or not.

Running background checks will help you distinguish between talkers and doers. After all, a charmer who’s good with words will always find ways to avoid tasks. Make sure you make the right decisions and avoid bad hiring. After all, incompetent talent is always a liability for a company, not an asset.

Final Thoughts

Background checking is a smart way to hire employees. Small businesses in particular should never overlook this. Large companies may have their background checking processes in place, however this may be costing them crucial time by not using an expert company.

If you are running a business, then hire the best background check service to ensure you get the best pool of workers. Reduce risks wherever you can.

Minimize your risks by making every attempt to hire the best talent.

4 Biggest Risks Your Company Might Take By Not Conducting Pre-Employment Screening

Companies devise strict policies to select a reliable candidate. Yet, if you believe in just your judgement and think you know all there is to know about the prospective employee after a couple of interviews, you ought to think again.

All kinds of candidates in the professional attire lineup for the selection process. Each candidate makes sure to act like the best version of themselves. Furthermore, their CV is typically filled with a combination of truth and deceiving information. The only way to filter the truth about your potential employee is to perform a pre-employment check.

If you are skeptical about the importance of pre-employment screening, read on to the following risks you might run into by being lenient about the background checks.

1.Your prospective employee could have a criminal record

According to popular research conducted by Northwestern and Kellogg University’s Pritzker School, people with criminal backgrounds can appear highly likeable during job interviews. Ironically, they are also the people who are likely to commit misconduct and get fired.

The risk of hiring someone with a criminal history could not just risk the company’s operation you have entrusted them with, but it can also tarnish the company’s reputation.  Not to mention, a criminal mindset can transform a company’s productive atmosphere into a highly volatile atmosphere. 

Although an employer has every right to examine their candidate’s criminal history, no employee admits to their criminal past per se. This leaves you with the only possible way, i.e. criminal background check. To perform a pre-employment criminal background check, it is best to hire a professional to ensure you are running the correct level of check for the prospective role.

It is important that the services offered by the professional are liaising with the police authorities of the relevant country. Doing so will not only help you obtain criminal information, but it would also encourage you to make a well-informed decision.

2Negligence in background checking could jeopardise the safety of other workers

Not performing any background checks before hiring someone is a danger to not just the atmosphere of your company but also a threat to existing employees. That’s because you could hire employees with a history of substance abuse.

Believe it or not, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) findings, around 9% of severe drug users are currently employed in either part-time or full-time jobs.

These numbers are alarming, because an abuser not just greatly struggles with work productivity, but they are also likely act out of character, being unpredictable and dangerous around other employees

3.There is a 1 out of 6 probability rate of hiring the wrong candidate

It goes without saying that the number of fake organisations and diploma mills is on a constant rise. Thus the risk of recruiting an ineligible candidate has never been greater.

It has been said that 1 out of 6 interested candidates has misrepresented or exaggerated records to lure the employers into offering them the job. Candidates do not just use fake employment records, they also tend to have fake degrees. Therefore it requires more than just a phone call to find the absolute truth.

Education background checks come to your rescue in such matters. Education background checkers use various methods to make sure your candidate’s educational claims are accurate. Sometimes they even visit the organisation or university where they claim to have studied.

Always keep in mind that applicants who lie about their achievements lack honesty and integrity. Thus even if they meet the eligibility criteria, they should not be hired.

4.It puts the company at risk of Increasing Attrition

As mentioned above, employees with inadequacies can find their way into your organization.

Pre-employment background checking stresses quality over quantity, and thus it ensures that you have hired the most suitable candidate from all the prospective applicants.

Hiring the ideal employee with adequate qualifications and an immaculate attitude can mitigate the chances of employee turnover and thus boost the overall productivity of your company.

Now that you are aware of some of the potential negatives of not performing employee background checks, you must be wondering which company to entrust.

No other company is better equipped to conduct unbiased and budget-friendly background checks than here at The Background Checker.

Common Hiring Mistakes: How Can Employers Hire Better Staff?

Hiring the right talent has always been a struggle for companies. After all, there’s only so much that you can make out of a person’s CV and interviews. Many people know how to deceive employers and make them believe they are the right candidate.

A couple of months down the road, employers find out that they made poor hiring decisions. To assist employers within the hiring process, it is recommended that they run background checks and ensure that they are investing in the right person.

This might even be a manageable situation; however, if businesses hire people with criminal backgrounds, they are at serious risk specifically if they relate to the prospective role. Many companies don’t have the necessary policies in place to ensure they don’t hire candidates with specific offensises relating to their role.

It is still a common practice to hire people based on CVs and a couple of interviews. The world has become an uncertain place. You never know who’s sitting in front of you.

While many would like to believe that people are nice and that no one can have an poor intention, optimism is good, but being ignorant to realities can be detrimental to your company.

To ensure you don’t put your company and other employees at risk, you must conduct a criminal background check before hiring someone. Down below are few hiring mistakes that companies make and how can they rectify their errors to get the best employee pool:

Social Media Checks

Companies believe that running through a potential employee’s social media is enough of a background check. What they don’t realise is that it’s a really superficial way to judge someone. Most people consciously create their online presence and choose not to post anything that can harm their image.

For example, many people wouldn’t openly post that they consume unlawful drugs. That’s why it’s important to run your potential workers through solid background checks. A professional background check will easily assist you in the task.

Professionals understand that there’s a lot of ways to obtain actual information. Sure, social media can be helpful at times, but it doesn’t display true characters most of the time unless you have a professional with the experience and training to help you find the truth behind the profile.

Never check criminal backgrounds

Your employees, your business, your assets, and above all, your reputation. That’s one reason where companies should maintain extreme caution. Sadly they don’t do so and end up paying the price.

To ensure that you don’t hire criminals, it is essential to pass your candidates through a thorough criminal background check. Professional background checks will find out if a candidate has a criminal history or was ever involved in malicious activity that could later come back to harm your company.

Breach of Privacy

Many companies that run background checks by themselves are at risk of breaching the candidates’ privacy. If mistakes are made either through lack of knowledge or error this can lead to the company being  held accountable for their actions, and may even have to pay fines.

Primarily because they don’t know the right ways to conduct the checks while remaining ethical, to ensure that companies aren’t at the risk of breaching laws, the best approach is to outsource background checking to professional agencies.

They know the right ways to gather information without breaching laws and privacy.

Final Thoughts

Hiring the right talent is a struggle for most sectors. It is especially important for businesses to hire the right people and to invest in professional background screening service to allow for a more informed decision.

With the help of a professional background screening company, they can have the necessary information that’ll ease their decision-making process. That too without breaching regulations and official boundaries.

To know more about background checking, feel free to book an appointment with The Background Checker. We are happy to help and guide you in any way possible.

New Employee Background checks: Is it worth it?

A CV is never a full determinant of the kind of person you’re interacting with. Many industries regularly complain about hiring bad employees. Even though they did whatever they possibly could, they ended up with poor outcomes.

There’s common practice that people bend the truth or outright lie on their CV. Making impressive CV is one thing, but companies should really investigate deeper whether the person is worth hiring or not. In this article, we shall analsze whether background checks must be conducted.

Without further delays, let’s jump right at it:

Validating the person’s records

Many people deceive to get jobs. They glorify their CVs to impress employers. This practice can cause significant losses to employers. The wise move for businesses is to run a background check on the potential employees.

Getting their academic records confirmed would verify whether they are truthful or not. A person who can deceive or outright lie to get a job can lower the potential level of trust within the workplace. While you might not know the intentions of a person for deceiving; gaining the truth early on in the process can save you a lot of time, effort and ultimately money in the long run.

Validated records will tell you if the person is true to their words or not!

Background checks keep others safe

Businesses only grow if they provide a safe work environment for everyone. To ensure the safety of your company and other employees, ensure that you run thorough checks before new hiring.

People with poor intentions can cause harm to others. As an employer, it is your responsibility to create a healthy and safe working environment. If the environment isn’t safe, the chances are that you’ll end up losing your high performing employees too.

At least conduct a check for their performance. For instance, if you need drivers for your truck businesses, you must run a check to see their driving records. Have they gotten tickets for drunk driving? Breaking signals? Or violate other laws and regulations? With this example you see running checks specific to the role in the same way we see specific checks for many sectors

Know the necessary details before hiring someone to keep your business and other employees safe.

Reduce chances of malicious activities

In many cases, the past is a good representation of how a person will behave in the coming times. That’s why you should have an idea of who you are hiring. CVs are never the litmus test to measure a person’s character or caliber.

For instance, if a person has stellar academic records but has been caught stealing at their previous job, would you want to hire them? Would you want to risk the company’s assets with someone who is not trustworthy?

Sure there may be some exceptions where a person’s situation was not right. However, as an employer, you should have all and every information about the person before making a decision.

You can rely on the employees better

Background checks will not only communicate a person’s merit but their character as well. With the right information, you can know how much you can rely on your workforce.

Businesses can’t function without trust and honesty. If you end up hiring fabulists, you’ll never be at ease of mind. There’s a high chance that they’ll cause your company harm.

Considering the points above, it is always in favor of employers to run thorough background checks before hiring someone.

Final Words

Hiring the right people is essential for any business. While large companies may have some protocols in place to check backgrounds, most businesses don’t have that facility.

That’s why you should hire agencies who know How to do a background check on someone. The right agency will know the right tools and procedures to procure necessary information without privacy intrusions or breaking laws.

To conclude, thorough background checks put employers in an advantageous position. With the gathered information, they can make the best decisions that’ll benefit them at every step. As the saying goes in the HR world, you can never be cautious enough when hiring.

After all, your employees are your asset. Ensure that you have the necessary checks in place so that you hire the best asset!