What is Background Checking? Definition and How to Do It

You might heard several times about someone stealing some money or laptops in the office, or even corruption. Every company doesn’t want this to happen.

So, before a company hires a candidate, the company needs to do a background check to make sure the candidate they hire has a good attitude and background.

What is exactly a background check? How to do it? What things that a company and the candidate need to pay attention to?

In this article, we will share with you the details.

Background checking is an activity where someone analyses your record and behavior in your past companies.

The objective is to learn further about the candidates to ensure that they are able to fit in the working culture of the company.

Furthermore, background checking is able to find out about candidates’ professionalism and uncover any potential conflicts in the future.

Mostly, the background check happens in finance, healthcare, education, and government positions.

Indeed shares several types of background checks below.

• Criminal: To ensure the candidate has no criminal record. It is more frequently used for roles involving work with children or dependents.
• Employment: This is the standard procedure executed by many companies to ensure the candidate can contribute value to the company. Areas that be checked are financial, social media, drug screening results, criminal activity, and education.
• Fingerprint: This activity uses the candidate’s fingerprint to assess and identify the information such as criminal background and nationality. It is not commonly used for hiring and employment processes unless it is for law enforcement or other professions.
• International: International background checks can vary depending on the country and may cover several nations and locations. It is useful when a company hires a candidate who has lived in many places.

Imagine that you hire a person who is in charge of the company's finances. You will give access to the company's financial profile and the key access to get the money.

In another case, you hire someone to fill the Data Security position. Turns out, this person has past criminal reports regarding stealing company data and selling it on the internet.

If you don’t run pre-employment background checks, there will be a big potential where this person can steal the company’s money, commit corruption, or sell the company data. then flee.

We all don’t want this to happen. So, pre-employment background checks can help the company to make sure that the job role is given to the right person.

In detail, background checking important are:

• Hire the highest-quality candidates and boost productivity.
• Avoid workplace harassment and ensure safety.
• Prevent theft and other criminal activities.
• Protect the company's reputation and image.

There are several common information elements that a company can retrieve in a background screening process:

Work history

A company can verify the candidate’s work history, including the position and how long the candidate stays in each position. This also includes the performance result of the candidate in the company, which can describe how the actual work of the candidate later.

Educational credentials

This is to make sure that the candidate already finished the study process at a university or any other formal education. It also ensures that you hire qualified candidates and reduce the risk of recruiting individuals with false academic credentials.

For example, a company calls the university mentioned in the candidate’s resume to verify the bachelor's degree of the candidate.

Credit history

Financial history can impact the company’s decision to hire a candidate. This includes any outstanding debt or missed payments.

If the company doesn’t do this and turns out the candidate has unpaid credit, it can have a bad impact on the company.

From another perspective, a credit report in background checking can reveal the candidate's management skills, if they are in any kind of financial trouble or if they pay off their loans and debts on time.

Criminal record

A criminal record shows that someone is trustable or not to handle a position. This review examines any criminal convictions, arrest records, pending charges, and court cases.

Social media use

Social media checking can give a more descriptive explanation about someone’s:

• Character
• Communication style
• Interactions with others
• Professionalism
• Concerning behaviors or attitudes
• Potential issues that might not be obvious from the resumes and interviews.

Drug screenings

If you have undergone drug screening in the past, the check might report those results. This includes any positive or negative outcomes from previous tests, which can be relevant for assessing your suitability for roles that require drug-free compliance.

It’s important to be aware that past drug screening results can influence the hiring decision.

There are situations where a background check is needed to be done, which are:

Sensitive information

Some roles deal with sensitive information, such as finance roles, data roles, or governmental jobs.

So, if you are applying for these roles, be ready for a background check, just to make sure the data that you will access later is handed in to the right person.

Dependent interactions

Positions involving interaction with dependents are also likely to require a background check. This ensures that you can treat patients or clients respectfully.

A dependent is any person who relies on your care, such as children, people with disabilities, older adults, and patients in hospitals, clinics, or care homes.

Law enforcement

If you work in law enforcement, you will likely get a background check to assess your past and make sure you are the best candidate.

This is because these roles will interact with criminal activity daily and officials in the industry. Moreover, you will be trusted with sensitive information and relied upon to act with morality and integrity in difficult situations.

So, they want to ensure you have great behavior.

A background check involves several steps and is not simple. It is done at the end of the hiring process because it costs money. That is why companies wait to do a background check until after they offer someone the job.

Below are the how-to from Forbes.

Make an offer

Do a series of job recruitments (interviews, case studies, etc) and find the best one. After that, you can make an offer to the chosen candidate in writing as conditional employment. But before that, you need to tell the candidate that you have to do a background check.

By postponing the background check until after you make a job offer, you establish a clear standard for who gets screened and who doesn't. This process is not arbitrary.

Explain the screening

Inform the candidate that a background check is a must and that the result will be reviewed as part of the employment screening.

Explain what information will be collected and how it will be reviewed. You can also ask them if there is anything in their background that they want to disclose, allowing them to explain their side and avoid any surprises.

Obtain consent in writing

After explaining, ask the candidate to consent in writing by signing an authorization for the background check. The authorization must inform them that a third-party screening will be conducted and explain what the process involves.

Be consistent on who is screened

It is crucial to follow the human resource laws in your respective country. For example, in Singapore, the Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) law guides the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data.

This law guides to looking at someone’s criminal history in employment decisions. Employment decisions should be relevant to job duties. For example, you might withdraw a job offer for a driver with too many traffic tickets on their driving record.

Work with a legal team or services if necessary

If the information gathered shows an unpleasant or not as expected result, you might want to not offer the job by providing a notice of adverse action. Take notes that this needs to be done properly and based on facts.

Consult with a lawyer to ensure you follow the correct steps, including a letter explaining the reason clearly and objectively.

If you use a background screening service, ensure the company is reputable and follows all relevant laws. Check their data privacy policies to protect your company and your information. Make sure that the service can meet industry-specific regulations and procedures.

To help you screen the background screening provider, you can look at these things below:

• Support with federal, state, and local compliance.
• Transparent pricing with no hidden fees.
• Strong data privacy and security measures.
• Integration with applicant tracking and recruitment systems.
• Customizations for industry-specific needs and hiring policies.

What causes a red flag on a background check?

Every company has its own standards for hiring. So it can vary. Generally, background checks can reveal issues such as criminal convictions, failed drug tests, traffic violations, poor credit scores, and inconsistencies in employment history.

Any decision based on the background check result must be related to the job and necessary for the business. Companies should follow the respective country's laws and guidelines to ensure their decisions do not unfairly exclude protected groups.

How far back do background screenings look?

GoodHire shares that pre-employment screenings usually cover the past seven years, but this can vary. In some areas of the country or even the country itself, the lookback period for certain types of records may be longer.

How long does a background check take?

Generally, the whole process takes about one to two weeks, depending on factors like court and agency delays, holidays, international information requests, and time for the hiring manager to review the results and prepare offer letters.

Each company has its own process, so the time between submitting your information and getting results can vary.

Moreover, specialized positions may require more detailed checks, and additional steps like drug screenings can extend the timeline.