Pre-employment screening helps companies avoid hiring the wrong employees by conducting background checks and drug screening. Here's what you should know.
We’ve all heard the old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” While perhaps true in some areas of life, those running their own business rarely adhere to that sort of thinking.
Starting a business takes the most valuable resources an entrepreneur has: time, money, and effort. There is not commonly room for carelessness when entrusting what you’ve built to staff you don’t know or trust.
That is where pre-employment screening could enter the equation.
What Does Pre-Employment Screening Involve?
There are numerous things that a pre-employment screening can check, which vary in significance depending on your business’s purpose for the new hire. They could include:
- Speeding Tickets and DUIs
- Criminal Records
- Drug Use
- Sex Offenses
- Address history verification
- Education verification
As always, each business owner determines the importance of knowing this information. Certain businesses need to have high levels of security covered due to the sensitive data they handle. Other businesses may be able to look past some missteps in their industry. It’s always a good idea to check with your insurance provider to assess the risk of your particular business and the screening items that you would want to take advantage of.
Best Way To Implement Screening In Your Business
As you begin determining the utility of pre-employment screening, you should figure in how it will fit into your hiring process.
Beyond the usual interview and hiring practices, try asking yourself questions that would clarify which information you need to be diligent, yet fair, in your screening.
Would certain behaviors signal an inability to perform this position’s job functions? Are there certain responsibilities or sensitive information with which I must trust my employees? If a particular item on this employee’s record were known, could it hurt my business?
Once you’ve answered questions like these (and checked in with your insurance advisor), you’ll have a better understanding of how thorough you’ll need to make your pre-employment screening process. The key, of course, is to use this as one step in the larger process of determining who is the right fit for your new position.
Finding A Company To Do Pre-Employment Screening
Just as finding the right employees is vital to the success of a business, ensuring you have the right processes to evaluate those prospects is imperative.
When searching for the right pre-employment screening services for your needs, consider all the factors at play. What were your answers to the questions above? What is the most important information you need to know about a prospect? Can you find all screening solutions under one provider?
As always, cost is also a consideration.
Whichever service you decide to employ for this part of your hiring process, you should have the confidence that they perform the screening to your satisfaction and provide value for the money you spend and worry you avoid.
Nothing Is Guaranteed
Though it can unlock some important information, pre-employment screening is no guarantee of performance.
Someone who has a clean record could wind up making errors or even committing a crime later. Similarly, past transgressions are not always a direct indicator of an employee’s inability to perform a job to your satisfaction.
At the end of the day, screening should be one factor in a larger process of finding the right employees for your business. But make no mistake, getting that part right can go a long way towards making decisions with more confidence.
