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Running background checks on potential hires can be a great way to ensure that you hire the best candidates for your business. This is especially true for small businesses, which may not have the resources to do these types of checks themselves. Fortunately, there are many companies out there that offer affordable and reliable background check services.
In this article, we’ll look at all the reasons why businesses should always run background checks.
Verify Employment History
One of the most important things to verify is whether or not your candidate has lied about their work history. Many applicants tend to exaggerate or lie about their employment history for a variety of reasons. It’s smart to run a background check on potential hires, as this can help you determine if they are actually who they say they are.
Of course, there are some things you can’t look into when inquiring about your candidate’s employment history. For instance, in Oregon, you’re not allowed to ask about your applicant’s past salary as per the Oregon Equal Pay Act.
Thus, when conducting Oregon background checks, you can look into everything, including education and criminal history. But Oregon state law prohibits you from digging into the candidate’s past salary.
These laws are often amended. The latest amendment came in early 2022. This amendment has included provisions for providing retention and hiring bonuses to employees.
Verify Education History
If you don’t require a degree, it may be because you’re in the field of sales or marketing and feel that your candidate’s experience is more relevant than their education. However, your decision not to require an undergraduate degree doesn’t mean that you should ignore the significance of educational history as an indicator of future performance in your job description.
If someone claims that they graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in economics, you need to confirm this information. That way, there aren’t any misunderstandings between you and the employee later down the road.
While most companies today do not require employees to have degrees or diplomas, the educational background can still be an important indicator of potential success once they begin working for you. If one lacks such qualifications, one will likely struggle more during training and rise through the ranks at slower rates than someone with a degree.
Confirm That They Aren’t a Security Threat
Many companies are not aware that they can check for criminal records, terrorist watch lists, sex offender status, and gang affiliations.
It’s no secret that a background check is important before you hire someone. However, there’s an even better reason to do it: to confirm whether or not the applicant is a security threat.
A background check provides information on any past criminal activity. It also tells you if there are any outstanding warrants out for them or any other relevant information that could pose a risk to your company or its employees.
Ensure a Safe Working Environment
Background checks can reveal criminal history and many other offenses. If a potential employee has been convicted of any crime, including drug crimes, theft, and violent offenses, you must know about it before they start working for you.
By learning about these things, you can ensure a safe and peaceful working environment. You don’t have to worry about your other employees and their safety.
Gang affiliation is also something you should keep an eye out for. Recent studies show that joining a gang increases the chances of an individual’s criminal activities. That’s something you can’t allow at the workplace. The last thing you’d want is for your other employees to be influenced by such activities.
Avoid Having to Rehire
One of the highest costs of hiring an employee is actually keeping them. If you find out that someone has lied or misrepresented themselves during the hiring process, you may have to go through the entire process again. This is difficult both logistically and productivity-wise.
Logistically, you have to use your resources once again to find the perfect candidate. Productivity-wise, you’re missing an employee and probably can’t hire one till the end of the month. Thus, a certain amount of work isn’t getting done at the office in such a situation.
According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), on average, it costs nearly $4,700 per new hire. That means not only is the hiring process tedious, but it’s also expensive. Every time you have to rehire, the costs will go up, and you’ll have spent more than you originally planned on spending.
We hope this article has helped you understand why it is so important to run background checks on potential hires. The bottom line is that there are no downsides to doing this, only benefits. It’s easy and cost-effective and will help you hire the right person for your company.
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