Run a Background Check

All of the Facts Start by verifying college background and professional degrees. It’s pretty common for people to claim degrees they don’t have. They figure, they’ll just try because the employer might not check up. Professional degrees are easy to check -- just call the university’s record office and ask.

Screening past job performance is the next step. You want to go back at least 7 to 10 years or the last 3 jobs. Don’t be surprised if past employers give you the silent treatment. Many companies today simply won’t provide more than employment dates. To circumvent the silence obstacle, ask the applicant for names of former supervisors as well as employers. With any luck, the supervisor hasn’t been trained to stonewall and will answer questions. Keep your questions, strictly, job related. Ask all you want about the prospect’s job performance, duties or management skills but avoid questions that could be discriminatory or too personal.

Suppose the prospective employee tells you she experienced personality clashes at a past job. Was it her fault? Or does the company truly foster an uncooperative environment? How can you know?

Delving Deeper You also want to verify Social Security numbers, especially considering today’s laws that govern the hiring of illegal aliens. The Social Security Administration isn’t always cooperative, so be patient but persistent.

If people in your occupation require special licenses, be sure to verify the applicant’s claim. Call the state agency or license-issuing authority. Also, call the licensing agency, in your state, to see if the applicant has snared abundant speeding tickets or citations for drunk driving.

Finding a felony that may lurk in an applicant’s background can be more dicey, particularly if that information is contained in out-of-state records. Sometimes you have to visit the courthouse personally to see the records for yourself.

As you can see, checking beyond the basic facts can consume an enormous amount of time. Considering the expenses involved in recruiting, interviewing, training and, even termination costs, if you hire the wrong person -- not to mention time away from your own job duties -- the relatively small cost involved in letting a professional perform the background check, is money well spent.

Whether you hire someone to screen prospective employees or do it yourself, make sure background checks get done. They could be critical to the long-term success of your business.

Protect Yourself Legally It’s a litigious world. Before you examine a prospective employee’s background, make certain you obtain the individual’s written permission or you could be sued for invasion of privacy. As part of your standard application process, every prospect should sign a permission statement drawn up by your attorney. Have the Agreement and Waiver Statement on your job application form. Have every applicant sign it. This statement gives you the right to check the applicant's background and credentials—and gives former employers protection when they tell you the truth about an applicant's work history. Word the release broadly enough to allow you to check professional licenses, university degrees and police records, if necessary, as well as basic job performance.

Do a background and credentials check on each candidate you seriously consider hiring. Hire an investigation service that specializes in doing these checks. More than two out of five applicants doctor their credentials. And 4 to 5 out of 100 applicants fail to disclose their criminal records.

(Note: No background check is perfect. Some states and localities refuse to make records public. Some institutions and former employers refuse to give frank and honest information on former students and employees. But, to defend yourself and your business in an unlawful hiring lawsuit, you need to show you made a reasonable attempt to learn about the applicant's past.)

Regarding References On your application form, request only references that are familiar with the applicant's work-related abilities and who are not related to the applicant. Go beyond checking these references given by the applicant. Ask references given by the applicant for names and positions of other persons who know the applicant. Then contact them. Seek out your own independent sources who know the applicant.

Document All Information Keep all applicants’ releases on file, because you never know who or what will come back to bite you. Document your efforts to investigate and verify information about the applicant. (You'll need this documentation to defend yourself and your business in case of a negligent-hiring lawsuit.) Most important: Don't have an applicant start work until your background check is completed. Make it clear that a formal job offer is contingent on the background check results.