It's becoming harder and harder to get a job without undergoing some sort of pre-employment check. These could be anything from employment physicals to employee criminal background checks, which are required as part of the interview process for a new job. Today's hiring process is a lot different than what our parents were used to - the professionally dressed interview subject selling their attributes to a potential employer in a quiet office, and leaving with a job. Today's hiring process can literally take weeks, and involve numerous steps. Many companies do not put a lot of clout in physical resumes any more, because accepting a resume at face value has resulted in many frequent hire-and-fire situations.

A great number of large companies require a pre-employment check for information from databases all over the world. Some jobs, such as those that involve child and elder care, require employee criminal background checks. Service jobs such as police and fire department positions require employment physicals as well as criminal background checks, for obvious reasons. Many companies require employee criminal background checks just to ensure the quality of their applicants, especially when the job market for their field is competitive.

A pre-employment check can be conducted in-house, but in most cases they are outsourced to third parties such as private investigators, and other firms. Employment physicals, of course, are conducted by doctors, but some physicians are more specialized in these physicals than others. The work of screening applicants for jobs is big business these days, since so many employers are getting choosier about their new hires.