It is obvious that every time a company decides to hire an employee, there are a series of actions that needs to be performed. It starts with defining and publishing the Job Description, so that potential applicants can apply. Next comes screening of all these applications, select the qualified ones, and setup an interview. Sometime employers add a telephonic interview prior to a face to face interview to judge the potential candidates. All these screening is done to gather all relevant information about the candidate so that a informed recruitment decision can be made. However the process mentioned above, lacks a very important step of information gathering through Background Verification. This nowadays is providing more and more crucial inputs that becomes vital while making an informed decision of recruitment. So before you are sure about your recruitment process without “Background Verification” find out these 10 reasons why you need pre-employment Background Verification to be safe while confirming ay employee recruitment.

1. Get Vital Information on Criminal History.

The main reason for most employers to conduct pre-employment background checks is to discover any criminal conviction in the applicant’s past. Often, these criminal charges make a person dangerous, unreliable, untrustworthy, or unsuitable for recruitment. At other times, the allegations can be minor, outdated, or unrelated to the job in question. Either way, this becomes a very crucial bit of information for an employer to make informed recruitment decisions.

2. Know the record of violations in the past that may affect an individual’s ability to perform.

Background checks does not just highlight criminal records, but also other records such as, credit history and driving records. Agreed that in some cases, license suspensions, or credit records full of missed payments and debt, can have little impact on the applicant’s ability to perform the task at hand. However, such information becomes indispensable for jobs that actually involve driving or processing money.

3. You get to avoid liability by performing due diligence.

Suppose while hiring a truck driver, you don’t get a background check done. And then one night while on duty he under influence of alcohol, he gets into an accident, causing harm to many vehicles and properties. After arresting the driver, the police find out that he not only drove under the influence, but also had two drunk driving in the past. Because you have not conducted due diligence and conducted a background check to make sure that this person is suitable for truck drivers, you may be responsible for the incident.

4. It gives you a complete picture of the applicant.

Most job seekers masters the art of charming the interviewer during the interview. The usual practice they follow if to come across a friendly, professional person to attract the attention and approval of the interviewer. It’s a process of selling themselves, the effort also extends to his resume. There can be omission of certain job experiences or other information. Background checks can help you see through all these cover-up and reveal the real person in front of you. And it gives you the advantage of knowing if they are the right people you want to hire.

5. It guarantees the safety of employees and customers.

It is highly probable that some of the potential employees you meet can have be violent criminals to sex offenders. These are dangerous people, hiring whom you put all of your other employees as well as customers into peril, and the risk in not worth taking. Is it worth hiring such a dangerous person with a history of being a sex predator without a background check and just let that person attack or rape one of your customers or your other employees? Similar to the example of the drunk driver mentioned earlier, you can be held legally responsible for such events. Hence it becomes an absolute necessity to run a background check to protect your employees and customers from harm.

6. Keep your workplace free from Drugs.

Lots of organizations spend a fortune to keep their workplace completely free from drugs. However, all those efforts can come to nought if a habitual drug addict slips through your screenings. Running a background check can help mark applicants who have recently been drugged, whether distributed or owned. You can also supplement the pre-employment background check with a drug test to eliminate current users in the applicant pool. This is the best way to establish a zero-tolerance anti-drug policy from the very beginning.

7. Red flagging Dishonesty.

As highlighted before, there are several candidates, who puts forward a façade in front of interviewer, to hide his past records and personality. They show what the recruiter want to see. And there are others who spice up their resume, decorates job responsibilities or titles, or even change employment dates. A verification call to former employers should be an integral part of pre-recruitment background checks to ensure that the resume / application data matches the fact. If they do not, it becomes what you have in front of you is basically an dishonest person, who has little to show that they can be trusted after recruitment.

8. Cross verify education and certification.

While verifying the background of an prospective employee its not just the employment history that matters. Sometime conformation on their educational qualifications as declared is also comforting. You become sure about their honesty and knowledge. At the same time, in certain cases it also protects you from litigation when such qualifications are mandated by your client.

9. It gives peace to the mind

It is an absolute requirement that you can put your entire faith on each member of your team. If you have any niggling doubt about any employee’s integrity or capability, it becomes very difficult to put any responsibility or get proper output from. A comprehensive background verification and put to rest all those niggling doubts and you get the peace of mind so essential to run your business efficiently.

Getting the right employee helps in the long run.

It is a fact that a recruitment process is long, starting from screening applications, inspecting resumes to reviewing the candidates. At times it might also slow down your companies performance. But once you compare the benefit of getting the right employee, you can put your complete faith, get the best performance and protect yourself from all sorts of litigation, its usually forth manifold the effort you put in. And to ensure that you get the right employee to start with, you need to ensure that your Background Verification process is as thorough and reliable as possible. And that’s your insurance to a safe business.