The Three Keys to Conducting a Background Check

Hiring new employees can be an exciting adventure.  However, one bad hire can be damaging to your business and in some cases, costly too. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to protect your business and recruit the best candidates during this process.  A good way to do this is to run thorough background checks for any potential new hires in Detroit MI before you bring them on board.

Conducting background checks doesn’t have to be complicated.  Here are the three keys to running background checks for all new hires.

#1 – Use a standardized and legal, background screening process.

There are certain pre-employment background checks that you can and cannot perform on candidates, under current employment laws. The Small Business Administration provides these guidelines to help simplify this concept. Keep your focus on criminal background checks, drug screening, credit checks, and workers’ compensation claims are permissible, but on a limited basis.

#2 – Get every candidate’s written permission to perform any background checks.

Remember that all candidates must give their consent by signing off on a permission form before any background checks can be completed. This usually involves a permission clause during the application process or a chain of custody form that they take to the drug screening agency. Use a third-party company that is approved to conduct criminal background, credit checks, and workers’ compensation checks — don’t try to do them yourself.

#3 – Never release the results of any background checks to the candidate or others.

The background checks you perform are considered to be your company property, and the information is of a privacy matter with any candidates. Therefore, you are not under any legal obligation to provide candidates with access to this information at any time. In the case of credit records, the candidate does get a letter stating they are eligible for a free credit report due to information determined during the credit check only. If you decide not to move forward with a candidate, simply state it is to pursue other candidates. Do NOT state it is because of something on a background check, which could open up a discrimination lawsuit.

Performing background checks on candidates is something that all recruitment professionals face at some time, but it’s a solid practice. Use a staffing agency to handle details like this and your company will have one less thing to worry about.

We hope you enjoyed this post and share it with your networks! Also, we look forward to your comments and feedback! Want to learn more? Explore important recruitment and employment topics by reading a few popular posts from Advance Staffing Solutions – a premier temporary employment agency in Detroit, MI.

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