Pre-employment Screening
Once you have decided a prospect would be a good fit for the position, an asset to your company and you want to extend an offer of employment its time for pre-employment screening.
Pre-employment screening is a critical step that employers tend to take rush through or skip altogether. Some reasons given for bypassing this step include that the potential employee was a shoe-in, not enough time, the expense…along with many other reasons.
Employer and Human Resource managers should focus on the responsibility and potential liabilities they take on when hiring employees. Some to consider are the integrity of your business and how the employee represents you to the public and customer information, as well as the safety of the public.
This responsibly is even greater if you have employees that drive for company business, visit customer premises, or customers visit your place of business. You have an obligation to ensure the general safety of the public. Even if the employee is only going to work in an office environment, you have other employees’ safety to consider. Remember, people in your orbit would not have been exposed to this person had it not been for you hiring them.
Here are some areas you should NOT skimp on or take short cuts. These are in no particular order:
Reference Checks – This has probably become one of the least effective screening tools for employers. Most people will take care not to give you the name and number of someone who might say something bad about them. Prospective employees may also create false narratives for friends and family to use if contacted by a potential employer. It is still good to go through the steps because you never know what someone might say.
Education Verification – Education verification is usually reserved for entry level positions. These may be prospects who have recently graduated or maybe even a few years out. In the not-too-distant past, there have some very high profile company executives who embellished or falsified their educational achievements.
Employment Verification – Employment verification has been severely limited by liability issues in the past. Now, past employers are generally limited to hire and separation dates, job title, and reasons for leaving. It is good to compare this information to that found on their social media accounts.
Criminal History Check – Criminal history checks will make sure you know who you are hiring. Not only if the candidate is trustworthy and honest, but if they may pose a threat to others. Both federal and state sexual offender registries should be consulted during this process. If you are in the healthcare space there are also registries for those who have been terminated for abusing or exploiting children or adults.
Drug Test – Certain positions will require initial and random drug testing. These might include anyone driving a vehicle for company business, healthcare where the safety of others is at stake. Take care to set up the random employee selection in some kind of electronic lottery fashion. Random doesn’t mean at the employer’s discretion unless there is cause. Check your state for specific rules and regulations.
Driving Records – Driving records should be mandatory if the employ will be or is driving a company car or their own personal vehicle for company business. This is one you can wait on if the employee will not be driving for work-related tasks initially.
Credit History – Credit history is another check that should be mandatory for some positions, but is not necessary for all positions. You want to run a credit check on those that will be handling cash or has the ability to reroute or misappropriate funds. These include bank employees, chief financial officers, accountants, anyone handling cash, and others as necessary.
While these types of checks are usually run preemployment, it is a good idea to periodically run some of them during employment as well. These like criminal records, sex offender registries, random drug testing, driving records, and credit histories. Some of these like driving records and credit history will mainly depend upon the position in which the employee works.
Social Media – This has grown to be a controversial option for preemployment screening. Some will say that what people do on their personal time is none of the workplace’s business. Again, this will depend upon the company, position, and other factors. My personal concern is that this person represents my brand 24/7 and could do damage to my reputation in some instances. I have actually had potential employees with disturbing images on their social media. Luckily, I found them prior to extending an offer.
These are some of the screening techniques available to employers when hiring employees. Some of these should also become part of a continuous process for certain positions. These are not the end all be all, but part of a larger process of putting together all the pieces of the puzzle to determine if a candidate will be a good fit and a true asset to your company.
Employment screening generally take place after you have decided a prospect would be a fit for the position, an asset to your company and you want to extend an offer of employment.
Employment screening is a critical step that employers tend to take rush through or skip altogether. Some reasons given for bypassing this step include that the potential employee was a shoe-in, not enough time, the expense…along with many other reasons.
Employer and Human Resource managers should focus on responsibility and potential liabilities they take on when hiring employees. Some to consider are: the integrity of your business and how the employee represents you to the public and customer information, as well as the safety of the public.
This responsibly is even greater if you have employees that drive for company business, visit customer premises, or customers visit your place of business. You have an obligation to ensure the general safety of the public. Even if the employee is only going to work in an office environment, you have other employees safety to consider. Remember, people in your orbit would not have been exposed to this person had it not been for you hiring them.
Here are some areas you should NOT skimp on or take short cuts. These are in no particular order:
Reference Checks – This has probably become one of the least effective screening tools for employers. Most people will take care not to give you the name and number of someone who might say something bad about them. Prospective employees may also create false narratives for friends and family to use if contacted by a potential employer. It is still good to go through the steps because you never know what someone might say.
Education Verification – Education verification is usually reserved for entry level positions. These may be prospects who have recently graduated or maybe even a few years out. In the not-too-distant past, there have some very high profile company executives who embellished or falsified their educational achievements.
Employment Verification – Employment verification has been severely limited by liability issues in the past. Now, past employers are generally limited to hire and separation dates, job title, and reasons for leaving. It is good to compare this information to that found on their social media accounts.
Criminal History Check – Criminal history checks will make sure you know who you are hiring. Not only if the candidate is trustworthy and honest, but if they may pose a threat to others. Both federal and state sexual offender registries should be consulted during this process. If you are in the healthcare space there are also registries for those who have been terminated for abusing or exploiting children or adults.
Drug Test – Certain positions will require initial and random drug testing. These might include anyone driving a vehicle for company business, healthcare where the safety of others is at stake. Take care to set up the random employee selection in some kind of electronic lottery fashion. Random doesn’t mean at the employer’s discretion unless there is cause. Check your state for specific rules and regulations.
Driving Records – Driving records should be mandatory if the employ will be or is driving a company car or their own personal vehicle for company business. This is one you can wait on if the employee will not be driving for work-related tasks initially.
Credit History – Credit history is another check that should be mandatory for some positions, but is not necessary for all positions. You want to run a credit check on those that will be handling cash or has the ability to reroute or misappropriate funds. These include bank employees, chief financial officers, accountants, anyone handling cash, and others as necessary.
While these types of checks are usually run preemployment, it is a good idea to periodically run some of them during employment as well. Those like criminal records, sex offender registries, random drug testing, driving records, and credit histories. Some of these like driving records and credit history, will mainly depend upon the position the employee is in.
Social Media – This has grown to be a controversial option for preemployment screening. Some will say that what people do on their personal time is none of the workplace’s business. Again, this will depend upon the company, position, and other factors. My personal concern is that this person represents my brand 24/7 and could do damage to my reputation in some instances. I have actually had potential employees with disturbing images on their social media. Luckily, I found them prior to extending an offer.
These are some of the screening techniques available to employers when hiring employees. Some of these should also become part of a continuous process for certain positions. These are not the end all be all, but part of a larger process of putting together all the pieces of the puzzle to determine if a candidate will be a good fit and a true asset to your company.