Expensive lawsuits in the recent past have forced corporate organizations to be more careful when it comes to hiring candidates for a job. This is why most companies, even small ones, are insisting on pre employment screening as part of the hiring process.

Pre employment screening offers employers several advantages. But most importantly it helps protect the employer from lawsuits that might be filed by other employees during cases of workplace violence.

Employers can learn a lot though employment background checks. They can find out where a particular applicant lived and went to school as well as whether all the academic information provided on the resume is accurate. Credit checks form an important part of employment background checks. Through this an employer can find out if the candidate is in debt.

Most small employers tend to conduct employment background checks themselves. However, most large companies contract this work out to employment screening companies. No matter who conducts the pre employment screening, it needs to be done in consonance with the rules and regulations laid out by the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act.

All employers need to make sure that they follow the rules of the Fair Credit Reporting Act when it comes to job screening. Under this Act, employers need to inform prospective employees before they recruit the services of an employment screening company to carry out the employee background check. The disclosure to an applicant about the employment background check cannot be buried in an application in the fine print. A signed release is required before the employer can do a criminal background check

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