Background screening is a key, necessary tool in the hiring process. You don’t want to hire someone who has stolen from prior employers, has a history of violence toward co-workers or has harmed children. Any of these situations can cost you significant losses from theft, liability to injured parties, the possible loss of your business and, more important, the guilt you would feel if others were harmed by your mistake.
There are many misconceptions about background screening, but the reality is:
- Background screening is allowed in every state in the country. While there are different rules in many states, they are about what information can be used and what screens can be run. A quality screening provider can help you ensure you are doing what is appropriate in your state based on the job being applied for.
- Background screening is, for the most part, quick and easy, with most being completed in less than two hours.
- Background screening is not expensive, with a decent retail clerk report starting as low as $14.95.
The first step in hiring trustworthy employees is either creating set processes and protocols within your company, or hiring a reputable service to run the reports for you. Regardless of your process, one question is crucial: What data are you getting, and is it up to date?
Know What to Ask
There are a number important search types to focus on when executing a background screen on an employee.
Name and address history. Before you can run a quality search, you need to know what names the applicant has used and where he or she has lived. Today, most searches are run based on name and date of birth. Unfortunately, Social Security number matching has been ruled illegal. Therefore, knowing the spelling of an applicant’s first, middle and last names, plus maiden names and any aliases, is key.
Knowing where someone has lived is very important when running a background check because it will help you get the information you need to make an informed decision. Pulling a name and address history will show an applicant’s credit-card, car-loan and mortgage history, as well as other names and addresses. You would be amazed by what information the applicants may leave off their applications.
County search. This search covers only one county, which makes it of limited use. For example, there are more than 100 counties in North Carolina. If the applicant commits a crime in one of the 99 other counties you did not search, you will never know about it.
Statewide search. This search covers the entire state in question, assuming all counties provide all data from the state’s administrative office of the courts and the department of corrections. Also, the search is limited to the state borders. I live in Connecticut, and I can be in New York within 15 minutes and in Massachusetts within 45 minutes. Therefore, any crime I commit outside of Connecticut would not appear on a search for that state. Also, studies show the criminal population of the United States moves about quite a bit.
Nationwide search. “Nationwide” is something of a misnomer for this search. That is because New York, Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Wyoming do not provide any records to background-screening companies for nationwide criminal searches. Therefore, this is a helpful search only if your applicant has not lived in or adjacent to these states. Otherwise, you may be missing out on valuable and needed information. These six states do offer searches in a statewide capacity, which you can use to supplement a nationwide criminal search, but the cost can be significant.
Local police departments. I know many retailers who talk to their local police departments. They have a good relationship with the officers and trust their feedback. While this may seem like a good starting point in the screening process, be aware that, in most cases, getting information about an applicant in this way is illegal.
Background screening is not difficult, nor is it costly. But putting in some time up front and periodically reviewing changes is time well spent, especially in an industry that has some of the highest employee turnover in the United States.
Mark Lotstein is president of ROG Consulting/ROG Screening & Selection, Shelton, Conn. Reach him at mark@retailopgroup.com.
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