Need background checks IT technology employeeBackground checks have become an important part of jobs across the world. Employers have recognized the importance of checking on their employees before they make them part of their organization by hiring them. While many businesses run background checks before hiring, the methodology of the checks is different in almost all cases.

A regular background check would entail the following points within it:

  • Criminal Check: Organizations would check the criminal background of the employee and check if they have or have not been involved in any acts of a criminal nature, which they wouldn’t want in their culture
  • Educational Check: Most candidates have an inspiring and excellent educational experience on their resumes, but whether these qualifications are true needs to be checked. Employers often get in touch with institutes or vendors to check the authenticity of educational documents or institutional experience

The checks mentioned above usually constitute a thorough background check within any organization. However, like we mentioned above, the background check might differ from organization to organization as managers look to hire workers that sit best within their culture. On the contrary, startups might barely have these checks in place, as they are more inclined towards hiring talent quickly.

What we can all, however, agree upon is that more and more organizations are now realizing the importance of background checks and are running them for gauging the background history of their future employees. According to a survey conducted by Forbes, more than 70 percent of all organizations have made background checks part of their hiring process. Organizations now have a stringent eye on an employee’s background, which is why they give their best shot at seeing whether the background matches their expectations. On numerous occasions, the HR department in an organization has rejected an employee based on flaws found through the background check.

Background Checks in IT

Now that we have a fair idea of background checks across the globe and how they influence the hiring process, we will get to the role these background checks play in the IT department.

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Consistent Checks

While many IT individuals might require different procedures for an IT background check, the standardized procedure in an organization is often consistent. This means that a person applying in the finance department would have to go through the same background check as one applying for the IT department. The consistent and standardized procedure for background checks rules out the option for departments to customize the check based on their own preferences. The gold standard for implementing a background check within an organization is to have the same standards for everyone. It needs to be ensured that everyone goes through the same procedure, and that no employee is subjected to a lenient or stricter approach.

Not all Background Checks are the same

As we have mentioned above, not all kinds of background checks can be the same. Background checks differ across organizations, which is why they cannot all be called the same. Most organizations have different procedures in place to see if an employee matches their description. While some background checks include validation of education qualifications and past employment, others may include a check of the terror watch list, a check of the credit report and a criminal offense check. It is hence, up to you to decide which check would be best for you. Ask yourself these questions before running the check and deciding what is best for you.

  • What is the culture within your organization?
  • See, which of the fields are irrelevant to your area of work. If checking an employee’s credit report sounds irrelevant, then it probably is.
  • Learn from examples present in your organization’s past. Look at the top performers and see the kind of background checks you ran for them, and how they met your expectations. Set a standardized pattern and recognize it.

With these questions answered, you can move towards finalizing and implementing the procedure and ensuring that every candidate goes through it.

May Take Time

Before you embark on the journey of background checks, it is best to note that the procedure might take some time. Getting to know about the background history may take over a couple of weeks, as gathering all background information related to a candidate is a tiring task. This task becomes even difficult, if the candidate being hired is from outside the U.S. This increases the time taken to validate past employment details and their educational qualifications. The best way to go about this procedure is to take the help of external professionals who would aid you during the process. Don’t think you can manage everything yourself, because there is obviously a limit to it.

Check Social Media

One mistake that most organizations make while running background checks is that they fail to realize the importance of checking on an employee’s social media. The kind of opinions a person displays on social media, and the kind of profile they maintain online, gives a lot of information about the person. There have been numerous instances where organizations have found troubling content on a person’s social media and have decided not to hire them. Hate mongers can create trouble for you in your office and should best be left out during the hiring procedure.

Conduct a thorough background check, and don’t let the downtime in the process hinder your hopes. Hiring the crème de la crème takes a lot of efforts and if you’re ready to invest these efforts, you will benefit in the form of better coherence at work.

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