As a hiring manager, you’ve been given the daunting task of searching through hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes in order to find the candidate best suited for the job. You’ve narrowed down the pool, gone through several rounds of phone and face-to-face interviews, and think you’ve finally found your top candidates. Before deciding on one and making an offer, you must complete one more essential step – the background check. In this economy, you may think that your company cannot afford to screen several candidates, but the truth is, you can’t afford NOT to. Background check will prevent you from hiring a person that has a history of violence, drug abuse, and other offenses that will hurt your company and fellow employees. Here are a few reasons why background checks in today’s work environment have become so critical:

• Negligent hiring. That’s right, employers such as yourself can face legal and civil action if it is proven that you should have been aware of the negative facts pertaining to a candidate and failed to disqualify them. If you hire a person who has been arrested for check fraud, and he ends up getting hired and stealing sensitive company financial information because you didn’t run a background check and see his criminal history, then you could be in huge trouble with the law. The quickest and safest way to release yourself and your company from liability is to run a background check on the candidates you are serious about hiring.
• It will save you money in the long run. Sure, background checks aren’t free, and the cost could really add up if you plan on screen a large amount of individuals. But consider the cost of disruptions, liability issues, and financial costs you could face if you hire a candidate who negatively affects the company’s environment.
• Candidates will do anything, including lie, to get a job. The most common aspects of a resume that come back as untrue are job responsibilities and skills, length of employment, education level, college attended, and previous salary. People that have lied about their experience and education will hinder a company’s development, and it will only be a matter of time before you are so far behind on your projects that the lack of promised expertise is evident to you and your other employees.

Background checks allow you to evaluate a person’s honesty and integrity – both of which are essentials qualities hiring managers are looking for regardless of their industry. Investigation into a candidate’s past will go a long way in protecting your company’s values, equipment, and sensitive information, as well as the physical and emotional well being of your employees. While background checks to come with a price tag, the future problems they will save you are priceless.

Written by Katie Fidler

Investing in a Lifetime of Success,

Angela Roberts
www.craresources.com
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