HR Glossary

Background Screening / Pre-employment Screening

Background screening refers to the process of investigating the backgrounds of potential employees and is one of the most informative ways to collect the data quickly and efficiently in order to help companies make informed decisions regarding prospective job applicants.

what is background or pre-employment screening

Background/Pre-employment screening definition

Background screening refers to the process of investigating the backgrounds of potential employees and is one of the most informative ways to collect the data quickly and efficiently in order to help companies make informed decisions regarding prospective job applicants.

It’s becoming an important step throughout recruiting and hiring processes as it verifies the accuracy of a potenital employee’s claims and reduces the number of applicants who might not be a good fit.

Why should you use background screening

Companies should use background screening since it’s much more complicated to terminate an employee than it is to stop the hiring process. It’s the quickest and safest way to make sure they are hiring reliable, qualified employees.

Background screening can involve criminal record checks, credit checks, reference checks, driving records, education and certification checks, corporate affiliations, drug screening and testing, skills assessment and behavioral assessments.

With background screening you can drastically diminish the number of workplace concerns such as employee theft, sexual harassment, workplace violence, financial frauds or on-the-job substance abuse.

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