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5 reasons why you need to do a pre-employment background search

May 15, 2018 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

According to a survey carried out by the Society for Human Resources Management, about 69% of organizations conduct a criminal pre-employment background search on their potential employees. Though this may help in finding criminal records, it goes a long way in assisting the employer in knowing whether the applicants are proficient and competent for the positions they are applying for. Some organizations carry out their own background checks for any of the following reasons:

  • To fulfill state legislation that requires them to do so and therefore avoid legal liabilities
  • Lack of knowledge or enough resources to hire an independent firm to do it for them
  • They have the resources and knowledgeable manpower to perform their own pre-employment background search.

pre-employment background search

Outsourcing the pre-employment background search is however imperative as most of these screening firms have a criminal database search and court researchers to access any county in the USA to pull county criminal checks to ensure information accuracy.

Here are the top 5 reasons you should perform a pre-employment background search:

It lowers employee turnover

The hiring of employees is a tedious and time-consuming process not to mention that it is risky. Accurate evaluation of potential employees based on the resumes they submit and consequent interviews is a gamble. Some screening firms offer tests to candidates that are tailored to the company’s specific needs. These evaluate aptitude and skills for the specific job. By providing additional information on the employee, a pre-employment background search helps ensure a good hire.

It highlights past violations that might hamper the employee’s performance

Credit history and driving records are not indicated on resumes and candidates might be unwilling to willingly divulge such information. Though these may not affect every employee, this information is absolutely relevant if the candidate will be handling money or driving.

It gives a clear perspective of the applicant

Any job hunter goes out of their way to charm the interviewer by being professional and friendly. In most cases, this extends to the resume with candidates excluding certain jobs or adding others so that they are deemed fit for the position they are applying for. Screening cuts through this façade and aids in deciding in whether this person is fit to hire.

Helps uphold workplace balance

New employees can destabilize the existing workforce if they are unable to blend in and work as a team or have poor work ethics. A comprehensive pre-employment screening can help determine the right candidate.

It saves resources

Hiring is a long, expensive and stressful process. Pre-employment screening saves time and money.  Employers with a huge number of applicants can speed up the interviewing process. For all these reasons, employers should hire pre-employment screening firms to conduct their background checks.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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Filed Under: employers

5 Essential Tips For Streamlining the Employment Screening Process

April 26, 2018 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

As the economy continues to heat up, companies are finding themselves with a steadily increasing requirement for talented staff. This growing need is causing some human resource managers to expedite the hiring and onboarding process – and in some cases, cut corners to the detriment of the employment screening process. However, it’s extremely important to assess all applicants thoroughly to help ensure the very best hiring decisions are made.

Employment Screening Process

As with most facets of business, it’s important to find a balance between being both thorough and efficient. The following are five essential tips for expediting the employment screening process in a way that ensures it will be highly effective:

1. Define What You Need

What’s required in terms of employment screening for each department and position? Mapping out the type of screening required for each job that must be filled in the company is essential in ensuring the checklist is thoroughly addressed. For example, persons applying for jobs that require handling financial data and funds should undergo a credit check. A professional employment screening company can assist in determining the right screening types for each job role.

2. Standardize the Employment Screening Process

Every company should create an employment screening process that can be used consistently for each candidate. The employment screening process should be tested and fine-tuned over time for efficiency, thoroughness and effectiveness. When an employment screening process is set and standardized, each candidate can be moved through it more quickly and efficiently. This results in less frustration and fewer incidents of loss of ideal workers due to impatience during a slow or inefficient hiring process.

3. Know the Law

The employment screening process should also be created in compliance with state and federal laws related to background checks and employment screening. Conducting background checks in a way that is not in compliance with regulations can lead to litigation from applicants and possible negligent hiring suits from staff or clients down the road. Consulting with a professional employment screening company can assist with ensuring that all screening is conducted in full compliance with the law.

4. Communication with Candidates

Keeping applicants engaged and informed in the screening and background check process is also extremely helpful in expediting their experience. This allows each candidate to know their role and responsibility in the process ahead of time. This can assist with minimizing delays on their end and ensuring that everyone is on the same page throughout every phase of the employment screening process.

5. Partner with an Experienced Background Screening Professional

Outsourcing as many elements of your employment background screening as possible is another key way to expedite the employment screening process. A proven, experienced background check provider can help fulfill your screening requirements in an efficient, effective manner. Employers can rest assured that all screening will be conducted in a manner that is in compliance with state as well as federal laws related to background checks.

In an economy that keeps getting stronger, more talented workers are required to fill key roles. However, the need for thorough, effective employment screening is just as relevant as ever before. Employers and hiring managers can use these five tips to streamline the employment screening process so the very best workers can be efficiently hired.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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Filed Under: human resources

5 Industries Where Employment Screening For New Employees Is Highly Imperative!

March 29, 2018 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

Employment screening in certain industries with positions that carry a high degree of risk is always important when hiring new employees. This high level of risk may be posed to individuals, businesses, or organizations that the new employees come to serve.

new employees

Employers and human resource managers can actively prevent criminals, predators, and unskilled candidates from having access to certain areas, information, and even sensitive people such as children and the elderly by carrying out employment screening or background checks on all new employees. They can also save their businesses from risk liability problems and negligence lawsuits.

Here are the top 5 high-risk industries where employers and HR experts must take employment screening seriously when hiring new employees:

  1. Education

It is definitely one of the most sensitive industries because thousands of children across America are entrusted to strangers to nurture and care for them. Unfortunately, schools provide the best grounds for sex offenders and predators to carry out their vices. HR experts in this industry must always undertake employment screening on new employees (teachers and staff) before entrusting any kids to them. A school can face serious legal action if found to have hired a new employee who had previously convicted sex offender or child abuser negligently.

  1. Healthcare

This is another very sensitive industry because all healthcare workers serve in positions of full trust. Healthcare workers have access to all the vulnerable individuals in the society including the elderly, kids, disabled, and mentally ill. Without proper screening of new employees, doctors, nurses, therapists or attendants, a hospital may hire an unskilled person resulting in a mistake that may not only harm a patient, but also endanger their life.

  1. Finance

Employees in this industry often have unlimited access to sensitive financial information about financial organizations and their clients. They handle millions of cash every now and then, handle client’s credit cards, bank account information, tax reports, and more. Without proper employment screening, all this information could fall into the hands of a criminal resulting in theft, blackmail, scams, fraud, and identity theft .

  1. Law and Justice

Law enforcers and implementers hold a very special place in society. They are charged with ensuring that the law is followed and justice obtained when need be. All persons in the law and justice departments have access to crucial information about arrests, convictions, and client-confidential information among more. Without proper screening, justice may elude the face of many innocent victims while the wrong-doers go free.

  1. Transport

Drivers, particularly trucking drivers, need thorough employment screening if safety on the roads is to be guaranteed. Background checks in this industry can help to show if a driver is negligent, using drugs, convicted criminal, or has been involved in a fatal accident before. This will help a business avoid fatal injury, damage, or liability issues on the roads.

HR experts and employers in these 5 high-risk industries must conduct secure background screening on their new employees for the safety of all!

Source: https://www.psp.fmcsa.dot.gov/psp/default.aspx

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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Filed Under: human resources

An Employer’s Guide to Compliant Social Media Screening

February 22, 2018 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

The Internet and social media have changed how people communicate and express themselves. Looking at someone’s social media account offers a window into their world. Social media screening is also changing the hiring process for companies and HR departments worldwide.

Social Media Screening

Up to 70 percent of companies are now using applicant social media accounts to assist with social media screening of job applicants. That number is up from just 11 percent back in 2006, according to CareerBuilder.com.

Some of the top benefits employers receive from social media screening and looking into applicant social media accounts include:

  • Getting to know the person better through their posts.
  • Finding supporting evidence that a candidate is qualified and ideal for a position.
  • Social media screening for reasons not to hire them (objectionable behavior, incompatible personality for a team, etc.)

LinkedIn is one of the most widely used social media hiring sites and is the largest used in job recruitment. It is an ideal platform for assessing skills, qualifications and past job experience. Employers can also get a sense of a person’s contacts and reputation.

However, the other social media sites used for personal interaction can also allow employers to get a sense of who they might be hiring. It is important to follow certain guidelines while doing this type of social media screening in order to do it legally and get the most out of it.

The following are some of the most important points of social media screening:

Glean Character Insights

Social media posts allow for a look at the applicant’s personality and character. Social media screen for general positive traits as well as characteristics that will make them suited for the job. Anything that indicates they are discriminatory or involved in illegal activities would be red flags.

Social Media Screen Consistently

All applicants should be screened with the same requirements and parameters. Individuals should not be singled out for more stringent social media screening. Every applicant should undergo the same amount of scrutiny. Employers should consider creating a policy that maps out when the social media screening will occur, what will be considered and how much it will be weighed into the final decision.

Abide By The Law

Your state or municipality may have specific social media screening or general employment screening laws for your area. Make sure to be aware of these laws and parameters so that you can stay in compliance. Hiring a professional background screening company can allow you to outsource certain aspects of employment screening to help ensure compliance and legality.

Get the Applicant’s Permission

Make sure you let the applicant know this is part of the screening process and have them sign off on it.

The FCRA, Privacy and Equal Opportunity

Always abide by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA Compliance) in every aspect of employment screening. It is not legal to make hiring decisions based upon race, age, religion and cultural differences.

In addition to seeing social media screening as a screening opportunity, employers should also look at social media as a recruiting tool. Clients and fans of the company just might make ideal employees.

Social media screening can be a potent weapon in your employment screening arsenal. Consider using professional employment screening as well for criminal background checks and credit checks/financial screening when applicable.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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Filed Under: background checks

When a New Hire Fails the Background Check: Best Practices

December 12, 2017 by screeningintel Leave a Comment

Running a background check on a new hire? Makes sense. An employer has a duty to avoid negligent hiring, to prevent security data breaches, and to ensure workplace safety.

New Hire

But things can get a little tricky when you’ve found that one-of-a-kind candidate, can’t wait to make that job offer—and then, a negative history on the potential new hire surfaces.

If the negative history for the new hire is confirmed, your company will decide whether the issue pertains to its criteria for new hires.

If so…

Ensure Reasonable Time, With a Pre-Adverse Action Notification to the New Hire.

Provide a Pre-Adverse Action notice to the new hire. This means explaining that the job offer to the new hire may be rescinded on account of details in the background check. Give the individual a copy of the report with the name and contact details for the firm that performed the check, and a copy of their rights under the FCRA, plus a reasonable time (generally 5 business days) to examine the report and respond.

If your new hire explains or disputes the findings, and the record is corrected, then you are set, and your employee has had an important issue fixed.

If not…

The Adverse Action Notice: Retract the Job Offer, In Writing.

The letter must state that the retraction is based wholly or partly on information in the background report, and that the company performing the background check was in no way involved in the adverse decision, and is not able to provide reasons for it.

The individual is entitled to a second (free) report within 2 months, and should be informed of this.

If you are a client of Screening Intelligence, we will reinvestigate for you, should your applicant dispute any detail of their background check.

We Always Apply Due Diligence.

As a member in good standing of the National Association of Professional Background Screeners, we adhere to strict standards of legal and professional responsibility.

When we find negative details, we first rule out false positives. Mistaken identity can occur. This is a key reason to choose a background check company with an outstanding reputation.

On behalf of your business, Screening Intelligence always uses sound procedures, so you draw the right conclusions—as the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act requires. We scour data from all states, and can send court researchers to every county court in the USA to check court records.

Support your company’s best interests. Contact us.

Disclaimer Statement: All information presented is never intended as legal advice and is for information purposes only.

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Filed Under: human resources

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