As you plan out the screening process for your organization, avoid common mistakes to make sure you successfully find the best candidate while minimizing risks. That last thing you want to do is expose yourself or your business to litigation arising from the mishandling of sensitive information or from allegations of discrimination and FCRA non-compliance.
In a previous post we discussed the first four mistakes to avoid. Now we’ll explore a few more.
What NOT to Do When Doing a Background Check
- Fail to screen EVERYONE. You may be hiring from a pool of candidates from all over the country, which means the costs of screening may be varied. Never elect to screen one candidate and not another for any reason. Best practice is to outline in your policy when a background check will be conducted and then conduct one for everyone who gets to that point.
- Overwhelm yourself with data. If it’s not totally necessary to run a certain type of check (credit, driving history, medical history, etc.) don’t run it. Your locality may even prohibit certain checks for certain positions. Consult with your vendor or legal counsel for more information on your limitations.
- Give arrest records as much weight as convictions. Ban-the-box type discourages the move to generally disqualify those with criminal records for employment. It is important to consider that arrest records both do not indicate guilt as well generally disqualify candidates from certain types of positions. You must consider the nature of the offense with the requirements of the job.
- Fail to provide candidate opportunity to dispute negative information. Employers are required to inform candidates when negative information surfaces in a background check that may impact the hiring decision. This is to give the candidate time to dispute or correct the information.
Consult with a qualified background check vendor with additional questions regarding what you may or may not do during a check.
