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Pre Employment Screening and Employee Background Checks

Pre-employment screening is one of the most effective tools that are being used by companies nowadays to ensure that they get the right kind of employees. However, one needs to consider the repercussions this kind of screening has on the employee and see whether it raises any stress levels in them.

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What is Pre-Employment Screening?

A Pre-Employment Screening, also known as a background check is a term that implies to any process carried out by a potential employer for acquiring details about a prospective employee.

Simply put, the background checks are a way of determining the future actions of an individual depending on his or her past records. Background checks enable the employers to make informed hiring decisions in a timely, systematic and foolproof manner.

Need of a Background Check

The recent IT boom at a global level has made pre-employment screenings necessary. Many companies have come across falsified information on resumes. These botched-up resumes may pass in the initial stages and may also provide the individual with a job, but it may create problems for the company in the future.

Further, the number and payments of employees outside the state as well as outside the country has increased. Therefore, companies may well invest in an international pre-employment screening rather than face the trouble afterwards.

Employment screenings are used by companies to know the professional background of the potential employee. Some of the factors taken into consideration are the employee’s employment history, academic history and other credentials.

The pre-employment screenings are said to increase safety for the company, as well as increase the employee’s productivity. Pre-employment background checks ensure that the company has hired a person with the necessary skill-sets, qualifications and experience.

Employment Background Checks also minimize chances of negligent lawsuits. Pre-employment screenings ensure that the potential employee has a clean criminal record and that he or she have a conviction free record.

If a background check is not initiated, the company may be blamed for any illegal actions done by the individual after he or she is employed with the company.

Also, an employee background check decreases the attrition rates of the company, since the company knows the background of the employee, and therefore can create the atmosphere catering to the employees.

Confidential Verticals

An employment screening is of utmost importance in some verticals that require complete confidentiality and an increased level of assurance for both the company and the employee. Some industries like banking, finance, childcare, health care, law enforcement and various military positions do have compulsory background checks for the would-be employee.

How it is done

There are many ways for a company to do a thorough pre-employment background check of a prospective employee. Many companies have their own background-check departments, however most companies would rather hire an external entity who is experienced in pre-employment screening and other background checks.

These companies do a check through various public and personal domain facts to decide whether an individual is employable with the company. Some of the records these companies check are:

• Criminal records
• Driving records
• Educational verification
• Sex offender lists
• Patriot Act
• References

Other specific information these checks may include are:

• Litigation Records
• Drug Tests
• Financial Information
• Social Security Number
• Military Records

There are various websites on the internet as well as companies which offer a free employment screening. However, these websites and companies offer nothing else but a glorified version of a generic people search, along with relevant details like marriage record and employment history.

Laws Pertaining to Employment Screening

Institutions offering employment verification services go through information about an individual available in the personal as well as the public domain. This information can also be abused by unscrupulous individuals and institutions. Therefore, there are laws pertaining to the pre-employment background screening. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) is one such act that regulates the use of consumer reports.

Controversial Findings

While a majority of individuals do not mind people raking up their professional and personal past, there are some who do. Some people do not appreciate the investigation into their credit or drug reports included in the pre-employment background checks.

It has been concluded that some detailed background checks can find information that is irrelevant or simply untrue. Some background checks also take facts out of context to change the character of the individual.

Further, the legality of some of the information unearthed during a background check is being questioned.

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