FYI Employee Background Screening
Faster, Smarter, Easier Employee Screening
By Chris Miller
I just watched a video “The Stupidest Employee Ever?” on the Ohio Employer’s Law Blog. In the video a Burger King employee took a bath in the restaurant’s utility sink and then posted it on YouTube. In my previous post Employee Screening Through Social Networks I wrote about social networks blurring the line between “business” and “pleasure”. This employee definitely blurred the line and gets my vote.
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By Chris Miller
Millions of small and medium-sized companies lack the time and resources to properly screen potential new hires. It’s understandable. Unlike large corporations with thousands of employees, smaller companies are often stretched. Human resources executives are responsible for a wide range of duties. Unfortunately, that can lead to small cracks in their employee screening program. Here are 3 ways you can kickstart your company’s employee screening to boost workplace productivity and help ensure the safety of your staff.
Tip #1: Evaluate Your Requirements
You can often disqualify many job candidates simply by having a concrete understanding of a position’s requirements and communicating them to applicants. Not only will doing so help guarantee you’ll find the right employee; it will weed out many candidates who may become potential problems in the workplace.
Tip #2: Invest Resources Into Preliminary Screening
A quick in-person interview is not enough to know whether a prospective employee has a problematic past. Plan to invest company resources to conduct a few basic screening practices. Your time may be limited, but hiring mistakes can be extremely costly. Especially for smaller businesses.
Tip #3: Execute An Exhaustive Background Check
One of the most important things you can do to improve your company’s employee screening program is to conduct an exhaustive background check. That includes validating past employment, conducting a drug test, checking credit history and driving record as well as searching for a criminal history (fraud, abuse, sexual misconduct, etc.).
An Investment In Employee Screening
Though your company’s resources may be limited, a small investment in improving your employee screening system can produce long-lasting benefits. It will help boost the overall productivity of your workforce and help you avoid making hiring mistakes that can lead to costly disasters. To insulate your business from problematic employees, it’s more important than ever to screen the people you hire.
Subscribe to the fyiscreening blog for tips on employee screening to make your job easier, prevent theft and loss, and create a safer workplace.
By Chris Miller
Each year, employers are exposed to an increasing number of employee-related problems. Sometimes, this means theft in the workplace as office supplies begin to disappear. Other times, inappropriate behavior in the office can lead to litigation or costly settlement. Many of these headaches can be prevented by using smart hiring techniques. In today’s post, I’ll give you 5 quick hiring tips that you can use to avoid potential hazards.
#1 – Take Your Time
Even if you’re desperate to fill a position, take your time to find the right employee. While hiring someone quickly can fulfill the need for an employee, it can also open the door to problems if precautions aren’t taken.
#2 – Understand The Job Requirements
Try to have a firm grasp of the experience a candidate needs to fulfill a job. Often, this can effectively weed out a significant number of applicants.
#3 – Look For Successes
This will likely come out during a phone or in-person interview. Beyond a candidate’s experience, try to identify successes the applicant has had in similar fields. Of course, you should validate the information provided.
#4 – See Past The Charm
Most people gravitate toward those who are like themselves. This tendency is usually unintentional. As a recruiter or hiring manager, avoid bringing a job candidate onboard simply because that person has a similar personality to your own.
#5 – Use An Employee Screening Service
Once you’ve reduced your list of potential employees to a few strong candidates, you should conduct an exhaustive background check on them. While it is possible to do this yourself, you should consider having an experienced employee screening business handle this for you.
Successfully Hiring Employees
Hiring people for your company is a difficult job. It requires diligence, understanding and the ability to dig a little deeper than would otherwise be intuitive. By using the 5 smart hiring tips above, you can help ensure that the employees you hire become valuable assets for your business.
Subscribe to the fyiscreening blog for tips on employee screening to make your job easier, prevent theft and loss, and create a safer workplace.
By Chris Miller
As recently as 10 years ago, screening your job candidates meant picking up the phone and calling their past employers and references. Sometimes, making these phone calls yielded valuable information. Other times, candidates’ relationships with the people you called would influence their opinions.
Over the past few years, social networking websites such as MySpace, LinkedIn and Facebook have provided employers with an opportunity to look at potential employees in a different light.
The beauty of social networks is they invite people to share their lives, thoughts and opinions…all in public. I’ve noticed social networks are blurring the line between “business” and “pleasure”. This can get tricky for employers. Federal and state laws prohibit employment discrimination based on age, race, color, religion, sex or disability. Employers need to be careful when using information from a social network in making a hiring decision. There are no lawsuits yet but I think it is just a matter of time until an employer is sued for using a social network to screen candidates.
Here are some suggestions for employers:
1. Consult with your attorney and develop written policies and non-discriminatory procedures for using social networks to screen candidates.
2. Obtain written consent from applicants so they are aware you will be looking at their online profiles and personal information.
3. If a website is searched by a background screening firm on behalf of an employer, then consent and disclosure are required under the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
4. Employers should never use fake identities or engage in “pretexting” to gain access to information on social networks.
5. The safest approach is to perform a social network search after there is consent and a job offer is made contingent upon completion of a satisfactory background check.
By Chris Miller
Job applicants often lie or hide information when they fill out an application or submit a resume. Unfortunately, many companies neglect to properly screen these applicants. Once they’re hired, that opens the door for potential theft, workplace violence, or any number of incidents that may lead to legal action. Screening your potential employees is a critical component of ensuring the safety and productivity of your workforce. Here are 3 reasons you need to thoroughly screen your employees…
Reason #1: Most People Lie
I’m not being cynical. I’m being realistic. Many studies have proven that job candidates routinely fabricate or suppress information on their applications and resumes. You need to validate the information by having an effective screening process in place.
Reason #2: Workplace Productivity Increases
Studies show a direct link between employee screening and workplace productivity. This is largely due to higher attendance, reduced turnover and overall stability of the workplace environment. Checking with past employers can help forewarn of potential employee issues.
Reason #3: Employee Quality Increases
Validating past employment and education are necessary, but both are merely scraping the surface. Screening an employee also means conducting a background check to uncover a possible criminal history. In many cases, hiring new employees with a hidden criminal past has led to theft and workplace violence. Effective employee screening helps to protect your workforce and increases the quality of your staff.
Using Routine Screening Procedures
Every company that hires new employees should be screening those employees prior to offering them a position. Not only will a background check expose a potential criminal past, but it can help ensure your staff’s safety and lead to an overall increase in workplace productivity. Remember, if you trust the information provided on an application or resume without validating it, you could be asking for a major employment headache in the future.
