Do Businesses do Criminal Background Checks Before Hiring?

The rules for vetting applicants used by employers are becoming more and more stringent. Criminal background checks have become the norm because many employers are worried about negligent hiring claims.

If you research a candidate’s past thoroughly, you will protect your company from hiring someone who’s been convicted of a serious crime. By using a screening service like Check People, you’re also reducing the risk of hiring someone with a history of less than exemplary behaviour.

1. How Valuable is a Criminal History Check?

A company improves its overall hire quality by screening candidates for criminal records. What is more, it will limit losses from employee theft.

By bringing the wrong candidate into its team, a company also risks its reputation. If this person causes damage, the effect on public relations can be costly.

Hiring quality candidates advances a brand, helps increase a company’s success and augments profits.

Companies feel confident that they’re getting comprehensive and accurate criminal history information about candidates when they choose to partner with a professional screening service provider.

2. Data Protection

Of course, security companies, armed forces, and law enforcement agencies always perform criminal background screening in the stage of recruitment. This makes perfect sense as applicants who obey the law are more likely to be successful in the area of law enforcement and security.

Moreover, people who work within these structures will typically have access to both data and weapons, which the company or agency has to protect. The effect of a data breach can be devastating.

3. Unequal Treatment

Sadly, some companies go overboard with the extra precautions for criminal record screening. They prefer to reject people with convictions or even arrests that didn’t lead to charges. These practices can result in unequal treatment, the EEOC states.

This authority enforces Title VII of the Civil Rights Act among other anti-discrimination legislation. They urge employers to avoid making hiring decisions based on criminal history alone.

According to EEOC research, Hispanics and African Americans are more likely than white people to have convictions and arrests.

4. A Standard Stage of Recruitment

Every job applicant usually has to pass a criminal record check before getting the job irrespective of the position. They might want to be a chef, a manager, or a front desk clerk.

Criminal record inquiries are a fixed component of more than two-thirds of employers’ hiring practices, data of the Society for Human Resource Management shows.

5. Exceptions to the Rule?

If the screening reveals controversial information, the employer is obligated to give the applicant a chance to explain it. The same goes for any inconsistencies between uncovered information and the resume or job application.

It’s smart to ask an applicant to review dubious information because criminal background checks can be inaccurate or yield records that should have been purged or sealed.

Moreover, this denotes a staff-friendly and open company that not only wants to make the best possible hiring decisions but is also willing to hear people out.

Candidates lie in their job applications and resume often. Sometimes they will try to hide criminal history.

Failure to carry out a thorough and in-depth search before hiring someone can expose an organization to the risk of liability, which is not one many company owners are willing to take.

6. So, are Criminal History Checks Mandatory?

To answer the question in brief: no, but they have become customary. For jobs in financial institutions, they have become a requirement.

Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, people who have been convicted of fraud, theft, or embezzlement are not allowed to work in banks for a decade after the crime was committed.

This applies to receive kickbacks on bank loans as well. Failing to vet candidates properly can have serious consequences.