Back in 2019, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported that 83% of employers were often facing insurmountable challenges when looking for the right talent. Among the reasons were high competition from other businesses and a limited talent market. In the wake of the ongoing pandemic, exacerbation of these factors is only to be expected.
Deep vs. Standard Employee Screening
Typically, an employer will perform a background check to determine the extent to which a candidate is hirable. Deep screening helps secure an employee who’s suitable for the organization and validates that they have the competencies, knowledge, abilities, and skills required. It also helps collect further information that can be taken into account as part of the recruitment process.
Standard checks can only reveal civil judgments, severe misconduct, identity fraud, convictions, and other major indiscretions. They are limited to employment and education verification, motor vehicle reports, Social Security number tracing, and a federal, state, and county search of criminal records.
The Importance of Deeper Background Checks
While running a standard background check is much cheaper, these often resort to automated searches that access information from databases without analyzing it. More specifically, such checks fail to detect false-positive results. Standard checks don’t suffice if you want to gain accurate and detailed insight into a candidate’s background, especially if you’re hiring for a high-level position. Non-automated, professional vetting becomes nothing short of critical in this case.
No candidate is immune to transgressions such as undisclosed criminal history, fabricated job experience, and other screening issues. Companies that fail to vet candidates properly face grave risk, particularly considering how effortless it has become to share information online. Deeper employee screenings help companies limit risk and liability by running background checks in compliance with the respective laws.
What Deeper Checks Include
Where applicable to the company, deeper checks will include any options that are legally available. These may include verification of professional credentials, professional reference checks, watchlists, and sanctions lists. If you’re hiring for an executive position, you will benefit from an international media and negative news profile.
Avoiding legal liabilities and damage is the main reason to conduct in-depth background screening. This includes damage to other employees by violence or harassment, to clients, and to the company through loss of money or reputation, and public damage due to actions such as negligent driving. Defense of negligent hiring and other legal claims justifies deeper employee screening, both pre-and post-hire.
Verify Data and Maximize Productivity
Verifying the data provided by the candidate related to their job history, credentials, or education will give key insight into their motivation and reliability. Past performance tends to be a highly accurate predictor of an individual’s future behavior. Moreover, such information can help you determine somebody’s level of productivity, competence, and communication skills.
Rules protecting screening providers and employees regulate the background check industry. There are guidelines within the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) on the way companies can ask employees to undergo screenings and interpret their findings.
Adverse Action
Job applicants can resort to adverse action to dispute inaccurate background check information. This action involves rejecting a candidate based on background check findings. Under the FCRA, the company has three days to inform the candidate of the damaging findings. Moreover, they are mandated to give them a report copy. Before taking this action, an employer must give the person a summary of their rights and let them contest incomplete or false information before making an employment decision.
Compliance with the FCRA is observed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC recommends that recruiters briefly explain what information the background check will include. Any candidate who feels their rights have been violated can use the FTC Complaint Assistant to make a report.
Final Thoughts
Deeper checks combine open web research, publicly accessible information, and information from social media to detect red flags and filter false positives out, such as identity mismatches. These reports will provide details on job qualifications, professional credentials, any criminal activities, financial troubles, and other relevant data to make sure the candidate is a good choice. Deeper employee screening can protect the company’s reputation and brand and verify essential resume facts.