Let’s say someone comes to your business looking for a job. They fill out the application and wait for you to call them back for an interview. This is the easy part. Part of the application process should include a piece of paper that your applicant must sign to begin the process of an employee criminal background check.
Now the hard part begins. While they are waiting for you to call them back for an interview, you must call around to check on the references they gave you and if you have more than one applicant this could take quite a bit of your time.
The main reason you want to do an employee criminal background check is to keep your current employees safe and your business running smoothly. You do not want to inadvertently hire someone who will cause you any amount of trouble or try to steal from you.
As I stated earlier, the applicant must give their permission by signing a form for you to begin the process. Background checks are required by law, in some states, especially for jobs involving the care of children and the elderly.
Government jobs that require the applicant to have a high security clearance or one that deals with sensitive, classified information also must be subjected to a criminal background search.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, is the body of government that handles background checks and they may take weeks to complete. What do you do in the mean time? You could go with your gut and hire the person you think is best for the job based on the information they gave you, or you could wait for the background check to come back.
Here is the sticky part, if you take the time to wait for the checks to come back you may lose out on one of the best employees you would ever have. You could explain that you are waiting for the background check but if someone needs a job they may not have time to wait for you.
This is the chance you take. But with security being on such a high alert these days it also might just be the best thing you can do for your company. Even if your company has nothing to do with government secrets or taking care of other people.
The thing you do not want is someone you hired coming in and then undermining everything you have accomplished over the years by embezzling money or stealing from you in other ways.
It is a lot easier to tear something down than it is to build it up and you do not want to lose everything you have worked for just because you did not wait for the background check to come back or not do one to begin with.
An employee criminal background check is an important tool for prospective employers, like yourself, to use to keep their businesses safe and running smoothly. Do yourself the favor of getting one done on everyone you are considering hiring.
