Pre-Employment Screening   by Josh Riverside

A pre employment screening usually involves some basic investigation. The most important and common screening is for the authentication of the data in the resume. Many applicants have fake job experiences in their resumes. This might make the resume look attractive but might prove to be harmful to the applicant if the results turn up that the resume has been falsified. Many people expect the employers to take the resume at face value. Of course, a good resume does provide a good impression but if it is falsified, there could be no chance that the employer would consider the candidate.

Basic verification of the resume includes checking the education records such as if the schools and colleges mentioned do exist and if the candidate has indeed enrolled. This can be available in the school or college records, but the investigator will have access to these only if the investigation is indeed legal and authentic.

Past employment details are also verified and must comply with the details provided at the time of the interview. Referrals will be called and checked for authenticity. The exact reasons for quitting previous jobs also carry a lot of weight. It is very important to check for the applicant's worker's compensation history. If the candidate seems to have too many of these cases against the past employers, it is better to make sure the candidate is not in a position to sue the new company also.

Other screenings include the verification of the social security number, driving history, and motor vehicle history. This is most important if the post is for that of a driver or someone in charge of the vehicles in the company.

Another screening that is almost a must is the criminal history. This ensures a safe environment to the employees if the newest employee does not have a registered criminal background. This will also rule out the possibility of theft or other problems with the company.

The applicant is also checked out for drug history. This might affect the work of the candidate, as well as make the other employees uncomfortable to work with someone on drugs. The applicant is also checked for sexual abuse in the state or nation sexual offenders registry. This might prove to be very unsafe especially when the candidate will be working in an environment consisting of women and children.

Last, but not least is the verification of the medical and credit history. This is especially important when the company provides the medical insurance and a corporate credit card. There are a number of chances of misusing these if the candidate's history regarding such as these are not properly verified.

Employment Screening Services

Hiring an applicant can prove to be very expensive if a proper pre-employment screening is not done before hand. The employee might have falsified their education background, previous employment details, or criminal history. The best way to check for these things is through a pre-employment screening.

A candidate's resume might not provide all the answers required by an employer. Also, even when the resume looks impressive, there might be some hidden falsifications that might crop up during the screening.

No candidate would volunteer information regarding drug problems or having a criminal or sexual abuse record. Such things can be found only during a pre-employment screening. It is the duty of every employer to provide a safe and comfortable working environment to all the employees, which is not possible if the present applicant has some skeletons in the closet that would require some investigations to discover.

Some employers opt for nationwide search if the candidate is not local. This might take a little longer for verification but is often worth the wait. This also might be necessary if the employee holds a national driving license that needs to be verified. Nationwide criminal search is also very common while hiring someone from outside and has finished the education elsewhere.

Many investigating companies provide the employer with a number of cost-effective actions. They usually do not take more than a few days and are usually accurate. Employers will certainly get the feeling that hiring an investigative agency is a lot cheaper than what they would have to incur if there is something seriously wrong with the candidate. An applicant's honesty can result in making or breaking a company in the long run.

Employment Screening Resources

Employee screenings use legal, medical, human resource, and other government offices related records to get a good insight into a job applicant's background. They must have access to these records in various government offices such as the DMV, criminal records bureau, medical institutions, and schools.

These offices do not provide confidential reports to each and everyone who enquires. The investigators must have authentic identification before trying to check these records. Educational institutes tend to provide only basic information.

Since the pre-employment screening companies make a business out of these reports, they need to be precise, accurate, and timely. They must have resources required to provide reports requiring exhaustive search in some cases. Also, some companies need to provide reports involving a nationwide screening of the candidate.

All pre-employment screening companies are able to check into the criminal background of the applicant. In the event the applicant had filed for bankruptcy or has a bad credit history, it will be mentioned in the report as it might reflect badly when the company provides the employee with a corporate credit card that can be misused. Criminal records or recorded instances of violence in the work place might also be considered against the candidate. Drugs and sexual abuse are other offenses that can be easily unearthed during the screening.

With the resources available to the investigative agencies these days, there is practically nothing about the applicant that they cannot unearth. Companies encourage candidates to not provide falsified resumes or hide something vital that might affect the job or the company in the future.

Employment Screening Companies

Employers these days prefer to play it safe rather than be sorry after a hiring decision. Many resumes contain falsified information and hiring such a person might put the company in jeopardy later on. Employers are hiring pre-employment screening agencies to do look into applicant's backgrounds. Though some companies have an internal department specialized in doing background checks, more and more employers prefer to provide the jobs to companies specialized in such work.

These companies follow legal regulations while doing the background checks and are very through and professional in finishing the job on time. It also does not cost the companies a lot if they tend to go into a contract with a company for some specific period of time.

These pre-employment screening companies can do some background checks to verify if the candidate's application and resume are falsified or not. The screening might also reveal some interesting facts about the candidate such as the driving record, criminal record, and credit history based on how extensive the employer requires the report to be.

Pre-employment screening agencies are actually investigative agencies employing people specialized in sleuthing. They also have access to records in most of the government offices and can provide the requisite details in as little as 3 to 5 days. However, if the employer requires the agency to do an extensive search, it might take as much as 15 days to one month to produce the report.

In spite of the good service provided by most pre-employment screening agencies, they must be certain to follow certain rules and regulations while conducting the background searches. These agencies also provide nationwide searches if the employee is not local or if the job requires the candidate to be relocated.

More and more companies provide these services these days. It is suggested to do some market research before employing the services of one of these companies. Inaccurate reports might sometimes adversely affect the company. Also, the report must cover all the requisite details with precision and detailed accuracy.

About the Author

Employment Screening provides detailed information on Employment Screening, Pre-Employment Screening, Employment Screening Services, Employment Background Screening and more. Employment Screening is affliated with Criminal Background Check Firms.