Job screening based on credit history has become common practice in recent years. In fact, most employers look at credit history to analyze if the individual is good with handing money as well as to determine if the individual has any defaulted payments.

However, employers need to get consent from potential employees before they can access their credit reports. There are three main credit reporting agencies and employers could use the services of any one of them to pull up an individual's credit history.

Employment credit screening is only one part of the applicant screening process. Usually, employers recruit employment screening companies for the task. These companies conduct the credit screening along with other background checks.

Most applicant screening programs include examination into an individual's credit records, court records, driving record, education verification and previous employment verification.

Depending on the job and the industry, employer may require or be mandated by law to conduct drug screening as part of the job hiring process. This is the case of companies who are recruiting commercial drivers.

One of the reasons that almost all employers are conducting employee background checks these days is because they can be sued by their employees if they don't follow "due diligence" in the hiring process.

The penalties for this are huge. Almost two-thirds of the employers taken to court by employees on negligent hiring suites have been forced to pay more than $ 2 million. To avoid such hassles, almost all employers are requiring employment background screening check as part of the job screening process.

Employers should also check on references listed in resumes as part of the job screening process. Although all employers ask for references only a few of them go back and check with the references. This is a huge mistake. By using references for applicant screening, employers can find out a lot about the quality of an applicant's work.

Employers must provide written notice about their use of consumer information during the applicant screening process. In addition, if an employer uses any personal information from the consumer report to deny the individual a job, a copy of the report along with the name of the agency needs to be provided to the applicant.

Job screening based on credit reports and consumer reports are a great way for employers to find out more about a prospective employee.

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