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How-To-Perform-A-Thorough-Employee-Background-Check

Background checks are an excellent way for companies to weed out undesirable or dangerous candidates. Almost all companies perform background checks on candidates in order to learn more about them and their past. These checks are also great ways to avoid hiring potentially damaging employees and to prevent high employee turnover.

Here, we will discuss how to perform a thorough employee background check the legal way.

Criminal Background Checks

It is the responsibility of the employer to provide employees with a safe environment. This is done in various steps, with one of those steps being criminal background checks of all job candidates. All prospective employees should have their criminal history checked prior to being offered employment as part of the background check. The check should go back at least seven years and search for felonies and misdemeanors.

Credit History Checks

Depending on the type of job you have available, a credit history check might be a necessary part of the employee background check. For example, if you are hiring for a financial position, then a credit history check should be included. If you are interviewing a candidate for a financial planning position who does not know how to manage their money well and has bad credit, you want to know that before offering him or her employment.

I-9 Verification

Even though an applicant might say that he or she is legally allowed to work in the United States, they might be lying in order to get a job. This is why it is important to perform the I-9 verification with all employee background checks. I-9 verification is done using the Department of Homeland Security’s interface. Any red flags that come up will be sent to your company so you do not break the law in hiring someone who is not permitted to work in the United States.

Motor Vehicle Records Check

As with the credit history check, there might be a job you are trying to fill that requires a check of a candidate’s motor vehicle records. These jobs include bus drivers, truck drivers, emergency vehicle drivers and taxi drivers. A motor vehicle records check will help you determine if a candidate will be a liability in your company vehicle. This check is not limited to a job that requires driving though. They can be done by a company to determine how responsible the candidate is by having a clean record.

Employment and Education History Checks

The final aspect of a thorough employee background check involves employment and education history. Many candidates lie on their resumes and companies find out when it is too late. You can check the status of any degree they claim they earned and which schools they attended. You can also check where they have been employed in the past, for how long and what salary they earned.

As you can see, thorough background checks are vital to the success and culture of a company. Make sure yours are being done properly the next time you hire for an open position. Use a third party background check company or have the expert staffing services at Davis Staffing handle this important task before you hire the next person.