Surprisingly Common Mistakes Made Conducting Background Checks

Employee background checks are essential. They offer information beyond what's offered by employees or prospects. Some individuals intentionally omit potentially harmful details. Others simply forget or don't regard certain details as pertinent to their job or promotion.

The purpose of a background check isn't to dig for dirt, draw subjective conclusions or make superficial judgments. There are standards and ethical practices to keep in mind.

One common mistake to avoid when conducting background checks is neglecting to obtain proper consent beforehand.  Your state may have specific language that must be stated on the release.  Here are four additional mistakes often made:

1. Your Scope is Too Broad

Whether you conduct your own background checks or seek professional services, always defer to primary sources of information. For instance, don't limit your search to national criminal history databases.  This can also be non- compliant and therefore illegal. 

Beyond a nationwide search, there should be a thorough investigation of county court records by jurisdiction, and federal criminal record searches which are not found in county courts.

More extensive searches investigate not only where a person has lived and worked, but surrounding areas as well.

And what about international employees or those who've worked overseas? Global criminal reports should be obtained and assessed.  Don't forget people do commit crimes in other countries. 

2. You Haven't Verified their Education Background

As with criminal history verifications, degree attainment or school credit should be verified directly as well. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 33 percent of applicants falsify academic degree information.  Within the last week, we had a client's candidate state they had a MBA when in fact they never attended the university. 

The amount of information one can obtain from an academic institution varies. And each institution has its own process in place for releasing student information. Some use third party services. If the school provides verification, it's typically through their registrars', student records, or a similar office.

Expect a delayed response during school breaks, like holiday seasons, after semester exams, or during the summer semester when there's less staff. Processing time is longer when requesting verification from institutions located overseas.

The process can be long and laborious. But if education attainment is essential to completing the duties necessary for a job position within your company, formal verification is worth the wait. Falsifying academic information is a huge red flag.

3. You Solely Conduct In-House Screenings

Within the realm of state and federal laws, employers are permitted to conduct background checks on independent contractors (ICs), subcontractors, temporary workers, and consultants.

Screening anyone who has or will have access to sensitive company information offers a layer of protection for your business and employees. This is especially true if your company serves minors, the elderly, or others for whom privacy and protection are vital.

But there is one caveat. Although it is imperative to uniformly screen employees and prospective hires, uniformity is unessential, and largely unnecessary for certain ICs, subcontractors, and consultants. If independent workers are screened, they should all be screened fairly, using the same methods to equal extents.

Determining which category of ICs to screen, though, is the caveat. For instance, if you hire an IT or HR consultant, you will likely want to conduct a background check because this person will have access to private information. But the same might not be true for a contracted graphic designer.

In either case, background checks may need to extend beyond traditional employees.

4. You Don't Source Help When You Need It

When faced with the decision to conduct your own search or hire out help, it might seem to make more sense to simply do it yourself. You'll have more control over what information is searched. It'll cost less. You'll obtain the results faster. Right?

Not always. Firstly, many online background screening options don't comply with the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and are not intended to be used for pre-employment screening.

Secondly, this option is less expensive, but only in the short run. Information provided by these websites is largely inaccurate. You'll likely have to hire out for more thorough assessments from a full-service screening firm anyway.

Wrapping It Up

Background checks should be done legally and in accordance with your business needs.

And you should consider all information before making your final decision. If you don't know where to start, contact a professional agency.

Employee background checks may never be 100 percent accurate, but with help from screening companies, you can hire and promote employees that help solve problems within your company, not create them.