Background Checks Hits Differ Depending on Industry

According to the AmericanDataBank.com, 45 percent of all potential employees have either a criminal record, a bad driving record, worker’s compensation claim or a bad credit history. Only a naive employer would simply trust applicants to divulge such information. This makes background checks necessary for businesses that want to make sure that they are making the right hiring decisions.

Interestingly enough, according to statistics gathered from 2002 to 20033, the occurrence of hits on background checks differences from industry to industry. Where criminal history is considered, food services and stores have the highest occurrence of individuals who have been in trouble with the law. Approximately 8 percent of jobseekers in this area of employment are found to have a criminal history, where as only 4 percent in business services and 5 percent in manufacturing and transportation had committed a criminal act. This means that background checks are especially important for employers in food services.

AmericanDataBank.com also found that certain areas of employment have a higher occurrence of applicants falsifying information on their resumes. Statistics gathered from the results of background checks show that 89 percent of individuals in the transportation industry misrepresents themselves on applications. Manufacturing had the lowest occurrence of this, with only 42 percent of applicants lying to employers about their education or work experience.

Another aspect of an applicant’s past that employers often look into is credit history. Background checks found that 51 percent of employees in food services had a history of not paying bills, while 40 percent in health services and only 28 percent of those in transportation had investigations that yielded negative reports.

In order to avoid suffering the mistake of a negative hiring decision, employers should not neglect to investigate potential new hires, especially in industries that have a higher occurrence of hits according to statistics.