What Does A Background Check Show For Employment And Why Is It Needed
If you’re considering hiring a new candidate for an opening in your company, you probably want to learn about them. Beyond their résumé, you probably want to learn about their personality and what they think about your company. Most of all, you probably want to learn about their background.
Yet, you can’t learn everything there is to know about a person through a background check alone. Knowing what does a background check show for employment can help you make better hiring decisions. It helps you stay within the bounds of the law since background checks can’t tell you everything about a person.
They can’t reveal if a person has a disability or anything about their personal identity. Yet, getting a background check on an applicant can help you decide whether they’re right for the role. And to learn more about how background checks can help make bettering hiring decisions, keep reading below!
Crime Should be Your Primary Concern
The most immediate thing background checks reveal is if someone has been arrested. It’s one thing to have a record that includes a parking ticket or a misdemeanor charge. Yet, if someone was charged with murder in the past — you probably want to know about it!
Background checks examine federal, county, and municipal records to see if the applicant’s name comes up. If it does, the background check will report why the applicant was convicted, what their sentence was, and when the incident happened. Sometimes, dismissed cases may show up on a background check.
Background checks give you a chance to learn about whether someone may be a threat to your company. They give you a chance to glean information about their decision-making processes.
Criminality Doesn’t Mean Someone Will be a Bad Employee
Just because some may have been convicted of a crime doesn’t mean they will be a bad employee. People make mistakes, and some people make larger mistakes than others. Just because someone may have made a bigger mistake than most people doesn’t mean they should suffer the consequences forever.
Yet, not all people with criminal histories are innocent of being poor employees. Some are legitimately bad at handling responsibility. The kind of crimes they’re convicted of will help you tell whether someone just made a mistake, or if they’re untrustworthy.
They Verify Eligibility, Not Experience
It’s important to realize the running a background check on someone won’t reveal if they lied on a résumé. You can’t verify someone’s skills and experience level with a background check online. To do that, you need to give them a different kind of test entirely.
There are several kinds of tests you can give your employees to make sure they know how to do what they say they can, instead. Don’t rely on background checks to tell if you should hire somebody. They determine whether it’s legal to hire someone, not whether you actually should.
Stop Wondering, “What Does a Background Check Show for Employment?”
Wondering, “What does a background check show for employment?” is a great way to start the hiring process. It shows that you’re committed to finding the right candidate by following the right hiring process. They’re also a fundamental part of hiring people, for any company and any position.
And to run one on a candidate, just contact us here! We will make sure you learn everything you can legally know about your candidate’s past, so you can make a better hiring decision!
