Hiring the Right People

In our last blog, we covered what employers needed to know to get prepared to hire the best possible candidates for their team. Now, we are transitioning into what the process actually looks like for onboarding a new employee legally.

If you work in human resources or have to hire employees to work in your business, then you probably already know just how difficult it can be to find qualified individuals to fill your job openings.

In a job, it’s not enough to just have a live body in the position—it has to be someone qualified and capable of doing the job. With that in mind, here are some things to know so you can find the right people for your job openings to help take your business to the next level.

Background Checks

One of the most important things that you can do is to find out exactly who you are hiring. This is why a full background check is essential. Such a background check can be used to determine:

• The true identity of your applicant. With the issue of identity theft, you have to ensure that the person you are hiring is who they claim to be.
• The education of your applicant. This can be to ensure that their education and work experience are authentic.
• The criminal history of your applicant. This can determine any convictions in a person’s past as these may be of importance in your field. In many states, employers cannot ask about arrest records or make an employment decision based on arrest records alone. That is why our reports will only show convictions. Not every company does that, but it’s hard to unsee something once you’ve seen it.

Doing It Right

Be aware that running background checks is regulated by local and state laws and the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Since there are multiple types of background checks, and reasons for using them, it’s vital to understand the legal process and also ramifications of not following the laws.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) also plays a role in screening and legally hiring employees. Pulled from the EEOC website:

However, any time you use an applicant’s or employee’s background information to make an employment decision, regardless of how you got the information, you must comply with federal laws that protect applicants and employees from discrimination. That includes discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, or religion; disability; genetic information (including family medical history); and age (40 or older). These laws are enforced by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

Employment law can be overwhelming if that’s not your area of expertise or if you don’t have someone on staff who understands, and stays on top of, employment legislation.

It is difficult today to know just who to trust and that goes double for when you are hiring someone to be a part of your business. Hiring the wrong person can not only damage the immediate business you are in and cost you customers or clients, it can also cost you legal damages if you are negligent about who you hire. In order to fix this problem, the best and most effective thing to do is to run a background check to ensure you know who you are hiring. If you find this process daunting, team up with an experienced company (like AccuCheck Screening) to make certain you stay in compliance with the law and hire the best possible people for your team.