The employment market is more competitive than it has ever been. Job seekers want to make sure that they know exactly what they are letting themselves in for when they accept a new role, and employers are putting more effort than ever into comprehensive background screening to minimise their risk of making a bad recruitment decision. Selecting the right candidate for a job goes beyond just looking at their skills; it involves weighting up factors such as their integrity, reliability, and trustworthiness. Background screening won’t provide you with all of the answers but can reduce the risk for any employer.
Key Reasons for Background Screening
Thorough background checks can help an organisation to identify potential security threats, reducing workplace misconduct and fostering a safer environment. This is as much about protecting other members of staff as it is about protecting the company’s profits. Background screening of social media, for example, can help determine whether someone’s values and beliefs align with the company’s values and can reduce the risk of the company being brought into disrepute by association with someone with very extreme views.
Types of Background Screening
Each company differs in the type of background screening they carry out. Some checks, such as DBS checks for people working in education or healthcare, are legally required and the employer has no discretion over whether to carry them out or not. Other checks can be a matter of policy, with some companies doing social media screening and checking references, and others asking for credit checks or verifying educational qualifications. Any good employer will be open and transparent about the employment checks they are carrying out, and why.
Background screening, including DBS checks, usually kick in at the stage of the recruitment process after the interviews are done and when a job offer is made. Employers will usually make an offer pending background screening, which means that if anything very unfavourable is uncovered, they have the right to withdraw the offer. This means that the employer is not wasting time or money checking up on people who would not make it through the interview, or whose experience is not enough for the position.
Adverse Background Screening
Background screening is just part of the information which an employer will use when they are deciding whether to employ you or not. A single not very complimentary reference when all the other information is very positive is unlikely to go against you, but if there are other pieces of information which might call your history into question the decision might be different.
As offers are made pending successful background screening, employers will usually let you know if they are withdrawing your job offer at this stage. You should be given the opportunity to see the information which has gone against you, and challenge that if you feel it is unfair or inaccurate. At the end of the day, employers have the right to employ who they wish, as long as they are not discriminating in the process.
