Reasons to Conduct Background Screening after Giving Job Offer

Most organizations across the globe are in consensus when it comes to taking the decision of conducting background checks on potential candidates. However, the timing of the check is something that has received mixed response. While there are certain section of experts who have the opinion that organizations need to wait till the final job offer is given to the candidate others think that background screening process should start immediately after the screening process. If you wait till the final job offer is given, it can mean letting go of talented candidates due to shortage of time. But, acting too early can also have its own negative consequences.

Let us now figure out the reasons that prompt organizations to conduct background screening after giving a job offer to the candidate:

Policy

Most of the organizations today have designed their hiring policy in such a way that they need to wait after offering a job offer to conduct background screening process. If they go against this policy it can spark legal issues. Let us explain this with the help of an example. Suppose, your organization has a policy to conduct background checks only after giving the job offer. But, for some definite reason you perform the pre-employment background screening and reject the candidate. He/she might question the policy as to why him/her and not the others? He/she will attribute his/her non-selection due to unfair organizational practices and might even sue your organization by citing unfair hiring practices for singling him/her out. While if you conduct post-offer background checks there is no way candidates can question your logic for conducting the screening process, thereby saving your valuable time and money that you could have spent otherwise on legal cases filed by the candidates.

The cost factor

Generally speaking background checks do not cost much to an organization as they help businesses from hiring a candidate who is a misfit for the position. But, if you perform background checks before giving an offer it will involve an unnecessary expenditure of carrying out screening of each and every candidate who has applied for the position resulting in a financial setback. It also will become impossible for an organization to plan for the expenditure as it would not know the number of candidates who would be applying for the vacant position. Businesses can conduct background checks on the final two or three candidates shortlisted for the position but, it is still more costly than conducting the process on a single person who has been offered the job.

Discrimination

With the help of a background check report, it is possible for you to get so much information pertaining to a candidate than a mere job application. While there is no way the job application can reflect about the candidate’s age, sex, race, religion, color, national origin, disability or family medical history this information is sometimes extracted from background screenings.

If you conduct pre-offer background check and reject the candidate on the basis of the background screening report generated, there can be a case of subconscious bias that can hamper your hiring process. On the other hand, if you conduct post-offer background screening process without having knowledge about that individual’s protected characteristics and find out something negative in the screening report, it will become very hard for the candidate to argue that the reason for their rejection was discrimination and not negative background screening report.

In the end, we would like to conclude by recommending that you take the help of any of the leading background verification companies in india for conducting the screening process after giving a job offer to stay away from legal hassles. This way you will be able to select the best talent available for the vacant position in the shortest turnaround time.

Author Bio:

Vivek Asrani is a content specialist at cFIRST Background Checks, one of leading employee background verification companies in india. Vivek writes about the various aspects of recruitment technology.

Some Do's and Don'ts of Conducting Pre-employment Background Checks

Pre-employment background checks have become a norm in organizations recently. We are seeing more and more organizations irrespective of their employee strength, opting for the screening process. The reason being, bad hires can cause lot of damage to the brand reputation of the organization. Bad hires invariably lead to the firing of the individual hired for the vacant position which results in double efforts from the employers since they now have to restart the hiring process from the scratch resulting in unnecessary wastage of time and money.

But only practicing the process of pre-employment background check is not enough. There are certain things that need to be taken into consideration while conducting the screening process. We have highlighted these things in the form of some do’s and don’ts that will help you take the wise hiring decision and protect your organization from legal hassles.

Do’s

1. Do perform comprehensive background checks on candidates which includes different facets of information like the candidate’s education, employment history, criminal history, social media search etc. It has generally been found that organizations that perform only a single form of screening tend to lose out on great candidates. Then there is this restriction from EEOC guidelines that lays down restriction on ignoring a candidate on the basis of their caste, religion, color, sex etc.

2. Do ensure that you follow the legal compliance while conducting the pre-employment background check process. You need to ensure that FCRA laws are followed to the “t” by taking the written consent of the candidate to conduct the screening. It is also important to let the candidates know about their rights when it comes to adverse action communications and getting a copy of the background check report in case of any discrepancy.

3. Do be consistent while screening all the candidates. If you have multiple candidates who have applied for the same job designation the background check should be conducted with the same investigations. Although different jobs may have different levels of investigation. But, for the same job designation, ensure that the same process is followed to avoid any charges of discrimination from the candidates.

4. Do opt for one of the leading background verification companies in usa. The company should have adequate experience and expertise to conduct the screening process in the best possible manner by providing precise reports. Such an organization will also ensure that you follow all the laws pertaining to background check to avoid any discrimination charges from the candidates.

5. Do look for consistent patterns of behavior while conducting the background check process. A single good behavior or bad behavior should not be the parameter to measure the capability of the candidate in question. Once you have done that it will result in objective judgment that will quite helpful in taking the final hiring decision.

Don’ts

1. Don’t ask criminal history questions from the candidates in the job application forms due to the emergence of Ban the Box laws across the US. Instead of that treat every candidate equally and run a thorough background check.

2. Don’t break any legal laws pertaining to the background check process even if you are tempted to do that. Remember, the rules regarding background check differs on the basis of state, federal, local and job-specific laws. Always take the help of a professional legal counselor before initiating the screening process for best results.

3. Don’t procrastinate by avoiding any communication with the candidate in case you find anything that can impact their hiring decision. Always remember, direct one-to-one communication is a great way to let go any mistakes, misconceptions and reporting errors that can unnecessarily lead to a dispute.

4. Don’t search for negative information while conducting the background check process. If you do that invariably you will find everything negative about the individual. The best thing is to look for the positives while comparing the reports of two candidates who are applying for the same position in the organization.

5. Don’t try to find everything online. There is a restricted amount of information that can be retrieved from online sources. The best resort is to hire a licensed background check firm for taking well informed hiring decisions.

Author Bio:

Vivek Asrani is a content specialist at cFIRST Background Checks, one of leading employee background verification companies in india. Vivek writes about the various aspects of recruitment technology.