Whether you’re a small business owner just beginning the hiring process or you’ve been promoted and now need to staff your department, many people wonder, “What is pre employment screening?” Between high-profile employment lawsuits and the complexities of the hiring process, it can be challenging to understand what a pre employment screening can do for you and your company. If you’re just getting started, here’s what you need to know about pre employment screening services:

What are the basics of pre employment screening?

In very basic terms, a pre employment screening is a procedure conducted by a verified screening service to turn up any information in a job candidate’s background in order to help you make a more informed decision during the hiring process. When you have information about what’s happened in a candidate’s past, you’ll be better able to evaluate whether or not they’re right for the job you need to fill.

What types of things show up on a pre employment screening?

There are a wide variety of different pieces of information you may get as part of a background check. For example, many background checks include information like the following:

  • Alternate names or aliases

  • Professional history

  • Education history

  • Inclusion on sex offender lists

  • International, federal, state and county records

  • Driving records

  • Social media

  • Credit reports

Plus, you can tailor pre employment screenings to include the information you need to know – and nothing else. That way, you can help avoid the risk of a lawsuit by finding out potentially classified information. Of course, you’ll want to work with a responsive screening service to ensure that they can meet any special requests you may have.

What can I do with the information I receive from a screening service?

Conducting a pre employment screening can be valuable in many ways. Not only can it help you turn up any discrepancies that might have been added to or omitted from a resume, you may also be able to find out other information that could affect your decision. For example, if you’re hiring a driver, you’ll want to know if they have a history of traffic violations. Likewise, you wouldn’t hire somebody with a history of fraud to be your accountant. A background check is often the only way you might have of determining the history and legitimacy of your job candidates.

Essentially, your choice to conduct a pre employment screening is all about risk mitigation. Yes, the job candidates you’re considering could be perfectly honest about their background and professional history – but what about those who aren’t? 30% of employers have found faked references on resumes and 53% of resumes contain falsifications … what else might these candidates be faking? Make sure you find out, if you’re in charge of hiring. A screening service could be all that stands between you and a potentially fraudulent new employee. Contact us!