Accurate Employee Background Checks

Are you a Hiring Manager flipping through resumes preparing to make a new hire for a current job opening?  Properly vetting a job candidate is a daunting task.  Not only do you need to look at the specific details on the job candidates resume (ie. where they’ve previously worked, term of employment, previous job titles and duties, references listed, etc),  but you will also need to conduct an accurate and thorough employee background check on the job candidate to ensure there is no resume fraud, embellishments or previous criminal history (depending on the job description).

Employment screening may seem like an easy task;  – Just give the background screening company the job  applicant’s name, date of birth, and social security number and let them do the rest!
Although MBI Worldwide KEEPS THE EMPLOYEE BACKGROUND CHECK PROCESS SIMPLE, to get the most accurate results possible on a final employee background screening report, Hiring Managers must properly prepare the request to be sent to their employment background check company with accurate details and information.

1.  ACQUIRE A COPY OF THE JOB APPLICANTS IDENTIFICATION.  A proper ID is a drivers license, social security card or any other form of legal documentation.  It is very important to acquire a piece of documentation that provides the job applicants full, legal name.    Do not assume that because the job applicant wrote “BILL” on his job application, that is his legal name.  Requesting an employment screening company to conduct a background check using the name “BILL” instead of the job applicants legal name, “WILLIAM” will often result in inaccurate results.This is a common mistake made by Hiring Managers on employment background screening requests.

   *Most criminal court searches are based on name and DOB and do not always provide alias names and/or nicknames such as “BILL”.  Court records are public information and they do not list SSN’s for security reasons.   This is why the correct spelling of an applicants’ name is vital to an accurate final employee background check report.

2. DO NOT GUESS!   If you are unable to obtain legal forms of identification from the job applicant per company policy, or cannot read the application clearly, contact the job applicant directly to get the correct information needed prior to sending the background check request to your employee background check vendor.    Be sure to ask them what their full, LEGAL name is.  You may still only be taking their word for it, but at least you have gone that extra step in assuring your employment screening results will be as accurate as possible.Another mistake often made in the background screening process is when hiring managers misread the numbers on the applicants DOB.   For example, a hand-written “04/18/1979” could possibly be an ineligible “04/13/1979”.   This is also true for the spelling of the applicants name.    Just because the way the name is submitted on a employee background check request does not mean it will get caught in the screening process. If this job applicant has a record, it will be under the correct date of birth AND the correct spelling of their name, not what you may have guessed it to be.

As a Hiring Manager making important hiring decisions, please keep these details in mind.  If not avoided, these simple mistakes could result in hiring a job candidate that is not a right fit for your organization and quite possibly has a criminal history not suited for the job in question.

K. Chapman, President & Founder
MBI Worldwide – Employee Background Checks

“Good Screening is SMART Business”