While employment screening is standard operating procedure for many companies today, some organizations haven’t revisited their policies in some time. Meanwhile, regulatory requirements and best practices have changed. As a result, many organizations unknowingly make common mistakes in employment background screening that can result in undue risks and security gaps.
Insufficient Criminal Record Checks
An effective criminal records check includes searches in the counties where the applicant has lived, worked and attended school, and a check of a national criminal database to find other potential records that may be housed outside of the obvious locations. Many organizations neglect to conduct one or both of these steps. Some employers only conduct searches at the county or state level and others only conduct national database searches. At the relatively low cost of performing both types of searches today, and the additional risk this practice helps to eliminate, there are few reasons not to take this approach. Since no national database is completely comprehensive and may include out-of-date information, ensure your screening procedure includes verifying any potential records found in a database at the source – usually a courthouse.