The Purpose & Process of Employment Background Checks

Background checks are almost always performed during serious consideration of a prospective employee, prior to an official offer of employment. There are numerous purposes for a background check. They are done to protect the company and minimize risk. In order to be legally compliant on both sides, background checks ensure a company's protection from lawsuits due to negligent hiring.

The human resource management is concerned with evaluating the potential of increasing or decreasing the company's productivity and profitability. The results of the specific background check chosen to perform (personal, business, academic, criminal, drug, etc.) can give them the general idea of a potential employee's history, although background checks only reveal information when an individual has been caught.

Provided personal or business references may be contacted through telephone or mail to inquire about a potential employee's character and/or reliability. The questions might be along the lines of, 'how long have you known this person, from where, and in what capacity'? They might ask references to tell them about a candidate's specific skills for job competency.

Drug screens are essential because of liability and job performance. They are paid for by the company and usually done through urine. An academic background check is performed specifically to reveal any falsified educational credentials.

A social security number is one of the biggest keys for unlocking information in a background check. Sometimes they may even go as far as to look into the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) compliance checks, sexual offenders registry, global watch alert, or motor vehicle records. As the saying goes, "It is better to be safe than sorry."