Three Reasons Why Employers Should Conduct the Background Screening Check Post-Offer.

One of the most common questions we get from hiring executives is, “When do I run the background check, before I hire the person or after?”. The paradigm has shifted to post-offer background check with the recent “ban the box” legislation and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforcement.

We will look at three reasons why background checks should be conducted post-offer:

  1. What Does the Policy State?
    Any employer who utilizes employment background checks as part of the hiring process should have a policy in place. If the policy states that employment background checks are conducted post-offer, the company should adhere to their own policy. If the employer deviates from their own policy for certain circumstances, they could open themselves up to a discrimination lawsuit.
  2. Potentially Discriminating Against Protected Classes
    Conducting the background check before offering employment could pose a discrimination risk due to not knowing the qualifications or experience of the new hire. By offering employment (based on favorable interview or review of qualifications), any claims of discrimination will be eliminated due to making the decision based on an adverse background check and not discriminating against a protected class.
  3. Screening a Pool of Applicants Could Be Costly
    The economy has improved since 2008 and the employment rate has slowly declined; however, employers are not hard press to find job applicants to fill their positions. It is not uncommon for an employer to interview up to 10 applicants for one open position. With that being said, it would not be cost effective for an organization to do a background checks on every single applicant that applies. Implementing a consistent interview process that may instead start with a phone interview and proceed to a face-to-face meeting. Once you have the right applicant in place, make the offer, and conduct the background check to save company both time and money.

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One of the most common concerns we have from hiring executives is regarding when they should run the background check? Before I hire the person or after?  The paradigm has shifted to post-offer with the recent “ban the box” legislation and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) enforcement.  We will look at three reasons why background checks should be conducted POST OFFER:

  1. What does the Policy State?

Any employer who utilizes employment background checks as part of the hiring process should have a policy in place.  If the policy states that employment background checks are conducted post-offer then the company should adhere to their own policy.  If the employer deviates from their own policy for certain circumstances then they could be opening themselves up to a discrimination law suit.

  1. Potentially Discriminating Against Protected Classes.

Conducting the background check before offering employment could pose a discrimination risk due to not knowing the qualifications/experience of the new hire.  In contrast by offering employment (based on favorable interview or review of qualifications) it will eliminate any claims of discrimination due to making the decision based on an adverse background check and not discriminating against a protected class.

  1. Screening a pool of applicants could be costly.

The economy has improved since 2008, and the employment rate has slowly declined.  However employers aren’t hard press to find job applicants to fill their positions, it’s not uncommon for an employer to interview up to 10 applicants for one open position.  With that being said it wouldn’t be cost effective to an organization to do a background checks on every single applicant that applies.  Instead implement a consistent interview process that may start with a phone interview and proceed to a face to face meeting.  Once you have the right applicant in place then make the offer, and conduct the background check (this will save the company both time and money).