In this fast-paced world, it is becoming increasingly necessary for organizations to hire candidates with global exposure; as such candidates help an organization in meeting challenges and opportunities internationally. For a multinational firm, a candidate with international experience is of capital importance to persist in this competitive world.
In the recent past, we have come across people even in the Top Management of several companies misrepresenting their credentials. Hence, it becomes significant to conduct background checks at all levels, irrespective of an employee’s hierarchy in the organization or the talents/skills they possess.
The human resource department assumes charge of the background screening in most of the companies. They run background checks as they want to ensure that the candidates they hire are the ‘best’ and ‘safe’ candidates to fill the open positions available in an organization. The HR personnel tries to collect all the pertinent information about each candidate to arrive at an informed and sound decision on hiring. Another trend that is catching up is social media checks. Employers have indicated that social networks help find evidence of unprofessional behavior such as complaints about former employers or discussions of drug abuse.
It is crucial to adopt a multi-layered approach in candidate screening, starting from identity verification, academic and employment credentials, criminal records, and other details as required by the company’s standards. The greatest challenge for HR personnel is to analyze the data received during the hiring and subsequent decision-making process. Another challenge is to ensure that their background check process adheres to the laws of the land.
For ensuring the verification is more authentic and credible, identity checks with the relevant government entity, verifying an educational degree or certificate with the University / College, and so on. In short, checking for authenticity with the concerned department and following up with the issuing authority of the said document.
The greatest misconception in conducting background verification checks is not incorporating them as part of the hiring process. Due to this, the price of replacing a bad hire far outweighs the value of an excellent background check. How the HR department would handle the candidate's background information can influence the career and the company's progress. It is a critical decision made by the human resource team of an organization, and it deserves much higher importance since it can affect the candidate's life and the company's success to a significant extent.
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