Why Does an Employer Conduct a Background Check? Well, the reasons for this are a few. But probably the most compelling reason for employers to add background checks as part of the job hiring process is because a lot of people lie on their resume.
According to some recent studies, as many as 30 to 40 per cent of applicants for a job position lie or embellish some details of their resume. It is to weed out all the inconsistencies in the resume and red flag any problems that most employers are insisting on employee background screening and employment verification.
Fear of lawsuits by workers is also forcing employers to conduct more stringent background checks. These days employee background checks include drug testing as well as personal background checks. Some employers also carry out extensive criminal background checks. Of course, not all the information that appears on criminal background checks can be used by an employer for job screening.
In addition to this, Federal and state laws require that background checks be conducted for certain jobs. For example, most states require criminal background checks conducted on applicants who work with children, the elderly, or disabled. The federal National Child Protection Act authorizes state officials to access the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database for background checks on applicant's working in these positions.
Some other occupations such as transport require the employer to conduct a drug screening of applicants. In some extreme cases, where applicants will be handling a lot of sensitive information, pre employment screening can involve the applicant taking a polygraph test.
Pre employment screening has also become part of the due diligence process followed by most employers as part of the job screening process. In fact, as a result of not conducting pre employment screenings, some employers have been faced with a lawsuit from employees.
Pre employment screening has become very important in the wake of lawsuits against employers. Recent research indicates that employers paid at least $ 3 million last year in wage compensation claims and more than $ 60,000 in worker violence compensation claims. Employers have also been the subject of large jury verdicts for negligent hiring in cases where they hire a person with a criminal record harms others
The availability of large amounts of data online has made it easier for employers to conduct pre employment screenings. These days there are a lot of vendors that help employers in conducting the pre employment screening.
