Employee Background Checks

Many organizations perform a background check on prospective employees before hiring them. The purpose of a background check is to uncover any evidence of past behavior that might indicate a prospect is a security risk. In reality, all personnel are security risks because they must be trusted with sensitive information. A background check can uncover information that indicates a person might be an undue security risk.

Background checks can vary in depth. For example, a background check might simply verify a Social Security number as authentic and belonging to the applicant. Or a background check might involve conducting a police criminal check and reviewing a prospective employee’s complete history. Each organization sets the scope of background checks. The job description and the organization’s desire to use a prospect’s history to predict future actions affect the scope of the investigation. You can conduct background checks using internal resources or by engaging external specialists. External resources can reduce your ongoing expense and may provide higher-quality information due to the use of specialists. However, external resources who conduct background checks operate under additional restrictions.

Although background checks are important and might provide interesting insight into a person’s background, you must perform them with care. The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that you obtain permission from the subject of a background check before you begin the investigation. In addition, if you decide not to extend an offer due to information contained in the background check report, you must provide the reason and the contact information for the investigating organization. You must also give the prospect the opportunity to dispute any negative information in the report. This safeguard helps prevent incorrect information from harming an unsuspecting individual.

Background checks can reveal quite a lot about a prospective employee. A prospect with prior criminal history might not be a suitable candidate for a role that allows access to very sensitive information. Knowing the background of prospective employees is a crucial step in granting authorization to sensitive information. Although a background check won’t catch every potential attacker, it can help identify some of the high-risk candidates.