Employment Background Checks

Most of us would rather not look into our own pasts, so when an employer insists on uncovering our deep dark secrets, we can be a little uncomfortable. After all, we can't really remember everything we did, but we get the funny feeling we're forgetting to tell a prospective employer something. With employment background checks, that employer is going to find out all of your financial and criminal secrets - ones you might not even know as well. Is it fair? Well, let's look at it this way, do you want the teachers for your children to be plucked off the street without an interview or a background check? Probably not. So, even though you might be the perfect employee, others may not be - and that's why an employment background check is becoming commonplace.

Why Employment Background Checks are Necessary

While it's obvious that employment background checks are necessary to find any criminals before they have a chance to do bad things when in your company, there are other reasons why companies are eager to peek into your past. Companies also like to see what things you might be lying about on your resume. Of course, your lies might not be intentional, but companies like to 'test' the reliability of their prospective employees by checking their answers. When you say on your application form that you have never been convicted of a crime, but your criminal background check proves otherwise, the company just might be hesitant to sign paychecks for you.

Companies aren't just worried they're going to hire subpar employees, they're also worried they're going to get in trouble for not checking out employees with employment background checks. Your company might get sued if you do something stupid on a shift to a customer and they could have seen the pattern of violence in your criminal record before you were hired. After all, the company put you into a position where you could cause harm, even though they had the means to stop the cycle.

Outsourcing Employment Background Checks

Most businesses avoid doing employment background checks because they feel they are too time-consuming. But companies can easily outsource background checks these days. There are a number of internet background check websites that only need a payment and some facts about the employee to find out their entire past. It's true. Or companies can hire other companies to do the dirty work for them. So, there's really no reason to avoid these checks anymore. True, there's a cost to the company, but lawsuits are much more expensive for the company to fund.

Employment background checks used to be reserved for those in the military or in other top secret positions (of course, we can't tell you which ones), but in today's competitive workplace, it seems employers don't just want qualified employees; they also want employees who are free of past convictions, debt, and drugs. Boring employees at company parties? Yes. But are they good employees for the companies to have? Probably.