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It’s impossible to find a common standard for thorough background checks into today’s expanding employment screening world. Below you will find what I consider to be the minimum amount of information needed to do a thorough and effective background check. Keep in mind this recommendation comes from someone who has run an Employment Screening business for 29 years and is also an Expert Witness for Negligent Hiring lawsuits.

Here’s how you need to set your standards:

1. An embedded policy in the company’s procedures manual to ensure consistency in screening each class of employee.

2. An updated Background Information Form that allows candidates to disclose any and all identification data. This provides a better background check and allows you to discover discrepancy which permits dismissal/elimination of candidacy base don omission of data.

3. Positive Candidate Identification – a background check is worthless if the subject is not really who they say they are. 30% of the population possesses undisclosed aliases!

Discover exactly what you or your employment screening services must know about background checks

The most prominent trend in the employment screening industry has been a proliferation of online databases offering cheap background checks. Any one can access the internet and with a quick search be able to purchase, for example, criminal records for a low fee. While that is very appealing to companies looking to trim the budget on background checks, it may in fact be a dangerous trend.

What do the companies say that have been running background checks, back when employment screening “industry” was just a concept and not an accepted practice?

Tom Lawson, the founder of APSCREEN, the oldest screening firm in the country, says “The necessity of a background check has been established now, and that’s why we are seeing such a proliferation of people getting into the business – particularly because the internet makes it an easy field to enter because of the low start-up costs.”

Find out more about criminal background checks here