How background screening helps a company to hire the right candidate

No one can deny that the success of any company relies on its employees. Therefore, selecting and hiring the right ones becomes a critical step in recruitment. The things that the candidate stated in two sheets of their CV do not guarantee the employer from hiring the right ones. There have been many incidents where companies should face financially lost and ripped reputations due to fraud and misbehavior by employees. Therefore, taking adequate steps by conducting background screening is a requirement for preventing bad hires.

Background screening helps employers get to know the candidates better by providing validation of their credentials, education, and other things stated on CVs or resumes. Here are the five background checks to ensure that you hired the right ones.

1. Education verification

The gap in the supply-demand workforce has created tight competition among candidates. This situation leads to potential fraud, including falsifying education certificates. It is a phenomenon in Indonesia where some of the candidates use fake education certificates in order to get hired. Once they get hired, it is not surprising that the employers are disappointed in their under-expectation performance. Considering the risk, verifying the education certificate becomes a crucial stage in the recruitment process.

2. Drug testing

Based on the survey conducted by BNN in 2017, the proportion of the biggest drug abusers in Indonesia is employees. One rotten apple in a basket can make other apples rot. The old saying perfectly goes for a drug abuser in a company. The abuser becomes a bad influence on the rest of the employees and hampers the company’s productivity. Therefore, conducting drug testing is not an option, it is a need instead.

3. Litigation and criminal check

A healthy environment is key to generating optimum productivity. Therefore, it is important that an employer ensure the candidate is not a criminal or has a tendency to be one. There are times when an interview and a series of pre-employment checks do not reveal the candidates’ criminal tendencies. The litigation and criminal check can reveal any false information contained in candidates’ CVs or resumes and tell if the candidates have a tendency to do a criminal act.

4. Credit check

The credit check is another important part in hiring, primarily for a few critical positions which have key access to the company’s assets and finances. By conducting a credit check the company can evaluate the credit history of its candidates and even its employees on a regular basis, especially in the framework of evaluating promotions. Ensuring the candidate has a healthy credit record means minimizing the risk.

5. Reference check

It can be very hard to know what someone is like to work with on a day-to-day basis solely from a formal interview. Therefore, the recruiters should conduct reference checks. A reference check is an objective evaluation of a candidate’s past job performance based on information collected from key individuals who have known and worked with the candidate.