Are you confident that you hire the best applicants each and every time? Are you properly and effectively utilizing your existing background screening solution when vetting candidates, to its fullest potential?
Pre-employment background checks are an essential part of the recruiting and onboarding process for all new job candidates. When properly performed and the limitations understood, a background check will aid in distinguishing high-quality applicants, from undesired ones. Here are five tips to help ensure your background screening solution is an effective and reliable tool:
- Search for criminal records in all counties in which an applicant has lived, worked, or attended school at any time over the last 7 years.
Most crimes are committed in cities and towns where people spend their time on a regular basis. The records of these crimes can be located in county courthouses. A county criminal search is conducted by sending an independent contractor called a “court runner” or a court searcher to a courthouse to retrieve the most up-to-date information from a court clerk. These “hands-on” searches, have been considered reasonable due diligence in a number of court cases. [Section 613 of the FCRA sates public record information for employment purposes should be complete and up to date] - Do not use a national criminal database search as the primary criminal records check on an applicant.
National criminal searches are compiled from a variety of online sources, including partial county criminal data, available statewide repository information, sex offender records, department of corrections records, and other proprietary databases. The title “national” can be deceiving, as database searches have limited coverage area and may not include updated records. For example, California has 58 counties, but the majority of those counties do not have online data and are not included in the nationwide searches. In addition, records contained in database searches may not include the most up-to-date court activity. It may only report arrest information for some jurisdictions and not include the final disposition information.
Because a national search casts a wide net, it can be a valuable tool, but only when used in conjunction with a comprehensive countywide criminal search. - Use caution when ordering a federal criminal search.
A federal criminal search is another tool that can be deceiving. “Federal” is often mistaken for a type of national search; however it has to be ordered by district. (There are 89 districts in the 50 states.) Approximately only 5% of the criminal records in the U.S. are records of federal offenses. Federal offenses include financial fraud, drug trafficking, and interstate crimes. In addition, most federal court cases are “name matches only.” Identifiers like date of birth or social security number are no longer allowed to be viewed on the record information. While a federal criminal search can identify serious crimes committed, the limitations of the search should be fully understood and countywide criminal searches should be relied upon to find the vast majority of criminal records. - Have each applicant sign a consent form, not just an employment application, before performing a background check.
Background screening is regulated by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). The FCRA requires that the consumer (the job applicant) authorize in writing before a consumer report can be ordered on them. In addition, the disclosure must be on a document that is separate from the employment application. [see FCRA Section 604 (b)]
Supplying the applicants consent form to your background check provider as soon as you place the order will help reduce the turn around time and allow you to get complete results. Many employers, education facilities, and states require a signed release before they will release information to employers or background check companies. - Allow enough time for the background check to be completed accurately.
Between interviews and hire dates, a background check is often a major piece of the puzzle which must be concluded as soon as possible. While a reliable background check provider strives to complete reports in 72 hours or less, it is important to order the background check well in advance. Accurate, reliable results are not always instant and take time to research.
Delays can and do present themselves along the way and should be accounted for in the hiring timeline. At times weather conditions can impede a court searcher from going to the courthouse each day. In addition, the current economic strain has caused hiring freezes, which have left many courts understaffed. Court clerks must perform their primary functions first and foremost, leaving background checks solely to their spare time. Lastly many employers and educational facilities take time to return verification requests, and common names can generate multiple criminal record hits, which must be sorted through manually to corroborate the date of birth on each record.
Allowing adequate time for a background check to be completed will help ensure that you are delivered accurate and reliable results consistently, enabling you to choose the best candidates.
By following these five tips your organization can improve its employment screening solutions effectiveness, and minimize the risks associated with faulty background screening.
Background screening has become mainstream. That means that if you are looking for a new job, a new apartment or home to rent, or perhaps even just getting an insurance quote, the person on the other side of the desk will be running a background check first.
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