4 Ways to Improve Your Future Hiring with Background Checks

How can background checks help employers adapt their hiring processes to today’s “new normal”? Background screening can help you reduce hiring bias, make better hiring decisions, enhance workplace safety, and more.

Discover four key ways background checks can help you improve hiring outcomes, both now and in the future, and how to ensure you’re using background screening to your advantage.

As we all adapt to our “new normal”, this much is clear: the world of work will be fundamentally different from here on out. Remote work is accelerating, social injustices are being highlighted, headcount is being slashed, and safety is more important than ever. We must adapt our hiring processes to overcome new challenges and embrace new opportunities.

Ninety-six percent of employers already conduct background checks, but may not be using them to their full potential to improve hiring outcomes. Here are a few key ways background checks can help you hire now, and in the future:

1. Make More Informed Remote Hiring Decisions

Many teams are working remotely or hiring candidates for remote employment positions, and may not have an opportunity to meet candidates in person. This may open your company up to more risk now, and in the future, as remote work continues to take a foothold. A pre-employment background check can provide information about a job candidate that may inform your hiring decision. 

For instance, an identity check may signal if a candidate uses a stolen identity to apply for a job and complete a background check. Last year (2019) was the worst year in history for identity theft reports, up 46.4 percent over 2018. If a candidate fails the Identity Verification process, you may want to consider requiring additional identification documents. This can help protect your company from hiring untrustworthy candidates. 

Hiring remote employees also opens up greater access to global talent. It’s a good idea to conduct an international background check to verify criminal records, employment history, and education credentials for employees who have lived, worked, or studied in other countries.

2. Reduce Hiring Bias to Build a More Diverse Workforce

Diversity and inclusion are a top priority for many company leaders, but unconscious bias during the hiring process can result in candidates from underrepresented groups being screened out. Using the right background check provider can help ensure a more fair, consistent screening process that reduces bias and the potential for disparate impact discrimination. 

Here are a few ways selecting a background check provider with advanced decision features can help:

• Record filtering: Filter records based on your background check policies so you only see—and make decisions based on—records you care about. Custom record filtering is an important step toward creating a more consistent screening process and reducing unconscious bias in hiring decisions. 
• Automated Adjudication: Your hiring criteria can be applied across candidates to identify those who meet requirements, and those who need further review. Automated adjudication can remove human bias from the hiring process, and mitigate the risk for discrimination claims.
• Individualized Assessments: EEOC guidance suggests performing an individualized assessment when a background check comes back with evidence of criminal activity. Using a provider that enables a built-in way for candidates to explain the circumstances surrounding their offense makes conducting and documenting individualized assessments easier. Adding this step to your process helps give people with criminal records a fair chance at securing employment.

3. Enable an Efficient, Scalable Screening Process in the Future

The pandemic has affected every company differently. Some are operating with leaner HR teams, some are rapidly growing, and others are doing both. Regardless of the obstacles ahead of you, background checks may help you improve your quality of hire with the resources you have. 

For instance, a comprehensive background check provider may offer employment verification and professional reference checks, taking these important processes off of your plate. This can help you properly vet your candidates’ qualifications and character. 

A great provider will also be able to automate tasks and integrate with your other systems to save you time. For instance, GoodHire background screens can kick off from within your ATS, and filter results based on legal requirements and your background check policy. These features reduce the amount of time you spend screening candidates, without sacrificing your quality of hire.

4. Improve Workplace Safety & Risk Mitigation Through a Comprehensive Background Check Package

Thefts and violent crimes are rising in major cities across the country, underscoring the importance of background checks in your recruitment process. This is particularly true if you hire employees who interact with vulnerable populations or go into customers’ homes. 

Background check services can alert employers to a person’s past behaviors that could indicate future safety concerns for customers, employees, and others. A failure to identify those behaviors could result in negligent hiring suits, damage to reputation, or even criminal activity in the workplace.

Protect your employees, your customers, and your company through screens like criminal background checks, ongoing checks, drug screening, and driving record checks. 

Start Hiring for the Future

The world of work is rapidly changing, and we must adapt our processes as we prepare for the future. Make sure you’re using background checks to your full advantage. They’re more important than ever for building a high-quality workforce.

GoodHire makes it easy to improve your future hiring with background checks. In fact, customers give GoodHire high ratings for ease of use, time savings, and breadth of features, among other things. 

Are you ready to see the GoodHire difference? GET STARTED

About the Author

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Jen Dewar is a marketing consultant in the HR technology space with a focus on developing educational content for HR professionals and recruiters. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, lifelong learning and development, and treating people like people throughout the candidate and employee experiences.