5 Different Types of Background Checks Employers Should Perform

Having your candidates interviewed before hiring is great. You get to have an idea of what they bring to the table. You ask them questions and try and analyse whether they are the right fit for the position you offer. But the process comes with several limitations.

As an employer, you need to ensure that whoever steps through the door of your office isn’t a risk. That means you need to be cautious with a lot more things than just superficially assessing the candidate’s competence.

A third-party background checker can offer great services in this regard. Why? Because there’s a limit to how much you can know about a person. What’s their life and character outside of the interview is crucial to assess. By having some checks, you can have an idea of the type of person you’ll hire.

Here’s a list of background checks that you must consider running on a candidate before finalising their hiring:

Criminal History Check

You’d want to see if someone has some criminal record or not. You do this to try and develop a safe workspace for everyone. There’s no point in hiring a highly competent employee but who could end up being a danger to the staff.

A criminal check helps you assess how much of a threat a person is. Oftentimes it may happen that a person has a criminal record many years ago but are now ready to be a normal part of the community.

If you want to help them have this chance, then sure, that’s up to you. But as an employer, you shouldn’t be in the dark about a candidate’s past activity and have all the necessary information that’ll help you make informed decisions.

Employment Verification

You’d want to see a candidate’s professional past records. A lot of times, people will lie on their resumes to hide something that’s not worth sharing. However, as an employer, you must know the kind of professional record a person holds.

You must know the type of performance a candidate has maintained in the past. If there’s any gap period or something suspicious, then that can be found via employment verification. You may question the candidate and ask them for the justification, but as an employer, you must know their work history.

This check may not be relevant for junior level or entry-level resources but can help a lot when filling up for senior and managers level posts.

Education Verification

A diploma from a prestigious university isn’t equivalent to a professional degree. A lot of candidates spice up their educational achievements to make their CVs shiny and pompous. For instance, they’d attend a 6-week workshop in Harvard and mention it as something else.

As an employer, you must know the right educational achievements of your candidates. That way you can better assess who deserves the job. Those who lie about their educational records might pretend to be something that they are not.

That way, they can easily prove to be an incompetent resource and become a liability for your business than an asset.

Social Media Check

You must try and understand the personality of the person who’s likely to become your candidate. Doing a quick scan through their social media can help you understand their likes and dislikes. Some people may argue what does it matter what a person does in their personal life.

However, remember, the same rules and principles that a person applies to their lives shall come to your workplace. Seeing their interests can help you understand who you are hiring. For instance, if a person has shared a lot of drug-related posts, then you may need to observe caution while hiring them.

Or if they regularly enjoy dark humour, then that’s a red flag you need to factor in before hiring them.

Final Words

Employee background checks are an essential tool that helps employers make better candidate choices. While it is true that people shouldn’t always be judged based on their past, knowing their tendencies can help you have a better idea of who they are.

If you are an employer looking for Employment screening services in the UK, then contact us. We’ll help you with different background checks and help you refine your hiring process.