Data Facts Background Screening Blog

Trained chefs know what makes a successful meal, and HR Pros know what makes a successful background screening process. With both, you need the right tools, the best ingredients, attention to detail, and great presentation.

If you miss an ingredient in cooking, your finished product may be flat, dull, and tasteless. Miss an important part of your background screening process, and you could be on the hook for costly and embarrassing litigation, increased turnover, and even fines for not complying with employment laws.

We’ve laid out HR’s recipe for a successful background screening process. Follow it to create a masterpiece!

In business, change is constant. Staying abreast of trends, laws, and overall best practices is key in running a company, especially for HR pros.

If it’s been a while since you’ve revisited your background screening process, you might have dangerous holes in it, and portions of it may have fallen out of favor in recent years. These are both scenarios that can get you sued!

HR is tasked with making sure the company runs smoothly, positions are filled, and employees are productive and engaged. Hiring the wrong person can create havoc in the workplace and even make it unsafe. Conducting thorough background checks can minimize this risk.

We live in the age of instant. From texts, pictures, videos, to finding the name of the oldest Full House kid, information and communication are at our fingertips, available in seconds. 

Why do employers get so excited about the idea of an instant criminal searches? 

We hear about them everyday from clients, and competitors constantly tout instant criminal records searches returned in seconds. As great as these instant background screening searches sound, they come with limitations you need to know about. Employers who trust these searches implicitly are setting themselves and their companies up for potential issues. 

In the past few years, mobile capabilities have moved from the “want” to the “must have” list for companies. In fact, businesses are thriving and operating with a higher level of productivity by evolving their processes from traditionally-focused to mobile-centric.

Efficient vendor management benefits companies in several ways. It can increase productivity, decrease downtime and supply chain issues, and reduce overall operating costs. Plus, it can eliminate a bunch of HR headaches!

A pivotal part of a successful vendor management process starts at the beginning with vendor screening. Just like your job applicants, vendors should be put through a series of screening checks so you can be confident about their ability to deliver the quality products you need.

Many articles and books tout the importance of company culture. These are on-point in that a positive culture fosters productivity and efficiency, and decreases low morale and employee turnover. A toxic or negative culture can dramatically increase employee exits and disengagement, both of which contribute to low productivity and lack of employee creativity.

Hiring the best applicant is important, but there should be more weight focused on executive-level hires. For one thing, they will be at the company’s helm, driving vision and planning goals.your another, executive employees are watched more closely by the media than their lower-level counterparts. The news is full of Presidents and CFO’s who have faked degrees, lied about their experience, or been involved in unsavory behavior. A single act of bad judgment on their parts could negatively affect your company for months, or years, down the road.

When it comes to hiring the best employees possible, background checks are essential. However, employers must realize that many applicants have spent time in other countries. Failing to conduct background screening for those time periods could cause you to miss important information like criminal convictions. That’s why international background screening is more important than ever before.

April is designated as National Poetry Month. Usually when people think of poetry, their thoughts go toward love, nature, life, and sorrow. However, poems can be used to describe and celebrate just about anything you're passionate about!

Data Facts has been in the background screening industry since 1989. We are passionate about providing consistent, reliable information our clients can trust and use to reach the best hiring decisions for their companies. That's why we decided to write an ode to background screening. We hope you enjoy it! 

An Ode to Background Screening

What helps businesses hire the people they need,

While avoiding violence, lies, mistruths, and greed,

With information they wouldn’t have otherwise seen?