Many businesses and companies have a talent acquisitions team as part of their human resources department that shortlists and interviews potential candidates for a particular job profile. One of the tools that the HR department can use before in the process of recruitment is to have a pre-employment screening done to see how suitable a particular candidate is. This helps to confirm that no candidate is hired on the basis of false information provided in the application form. Pre-employment screening helps to minimize the risk of hiring a candidate who may become a liability for the Company later. Thus, a properly executed employment screening helps to perform various checks including employment verification, education verification and criminal background check, among others.
It will help to outsource this process to an expert third-party agency. If you choose to outsource, then you may have questions as to how can this help your company select the right candidates. These five questions and their answers will help you understand how beneficial it can be financially to have a pre-employment screening done.
What does an employment screening consist?
A standard pre-employment screening consists checking for any kind of criminal background, verification of their record of employment, educational qualification and social security number among others aspects.
How long does a pre-employment screening take?
As a lot goes into acquiring accurate information about a candidate's background. Hence, it may take anywhere between 3-5 days for the screening to be complete in order to put together accurate information and avoid any fallacies in the same.
How will I come to know about the status of screening?
Once the screening has been done, the screening company will get in touch with the HR with the results. After reviewing the results of the pre-employment screening, the company can then decide if they want to proceed with the recruitment process.
What will happen if the pre-employment screening shows negative results for a candidate?
If the pre-employment screening shows negative result or mismatch between the actual information and the one provided in the application form by a candidate, then it will help save the company both cost and prevent the HR from hiring the wrong candidate.
When will the employment screening take place?
The job applicant will need to provide their consent for a pre-employment screening. From a candidate point of view, you will be made aware of the screening when the job offer is put forward to you. Afterwards, the concerned authority will place a request for the screening to be done on the candidate to check their background.
Which agency can I turn to get an employment screening done?
Although, there are a number of agencies that perform pre-employment screening for companies, you should always approach an employment agency which follows the rules and regulations as specified under FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) such as The Source, Personnel Information Service. Please leave comments below.
