Hiring individuals with problematic backgrounds could damage a company’s reputation if their actions reflect poorly on the organisation. Therefore, by doing sufficient background checks, employers can mitigate this risk by ensuring that they only hire candidates with suitable histories and reduce turnover rates.
Background screening companies play a crucial role in the employment process, offering several benefits to both employers and employees. Screening employees is a critical step in the hiring process for several reasons:
Reduce staff turnover rates
Hiring individuals with a history of job stability and positive work experiences ensure a good fit between employee and the organisation, reducing turnover rates, and saving the company time and resources associated with recruiting and training new hires.
Make well-informed hiring decisions
By verifying the professional certifications, educational qualifications, and work experience of candidates, employers can make more informed hiring decisions. This helps in selecting individuals who are likely to perform well in the role and contribute positively to the organisation.
Protect company interests
Background screenings can uncover instances of resume fraud or misrepresentation of qualifications, enhancing workplace safety and protects the company reputation from such risks.
Mitigate future risks
In roles where employees have access to sensitive information or valuable assets, background checks are mandatory legal requirements for safeguarding against theft, fraud, or misuse of company resources.
Here are some common types of background screening services that are available in Singapore:
1. Identity check
Employers may verify the identity of candidates by cross-referencing personal information provided on resumes or job applications with official documents such as passports or identity cards.
2. Education verification
Employers verify the educational credentials of the candidate by checking on the authenticity of degrees, diplomas, certifications and attendance at academic institutions.
3. Employment history verification
This process involves confirming an applicant’s work history, including previous employers, positions held, dates of employment, and reasons for leaving, to ensure accuracy and honesty in the candidate’s resume. Employers may also contact references provided by the candidate to obtain insights into the candidate’s work performance, skills, and suitability for the role. This helps the employer to gain insights into their work ethic, strengths, and areas for improvement.
4. Criminal records checks
These screenings involve searching for any criminal history, including misdemeanours and if a candidate has any criminal convictions or pending charges.
5. Financial or credit records verification
Some employers may conduct credit history checks or bankruptcy checks to assess a candidate’s financial stability. Some positions, particularly those involving financial responsibilities, may require a review of the candidate’s credit report to assess their financial stability and responsibility. A credit report shows a comprehensive overview of a person’s past borrowing and credit repayment behaviours and discloses any outstanding debts or signs of financial distress that the person might encountered.
6. Social media and online presence
Employers may review publicly available information on candidates’ social media profiles to assess their professionalism, behaviour and suitability for the role.
7. Licence and qualification checks
For positions requiring specific professional qualifications or licenses, employers may verify the validity of the candidate’s certifications or licenses through relevant regulatory bodies or professional associations.
8. Reference checks
By contacting the previous employers or professional references, this helps to gather better insights into the candidate’s work performance, behaviour, and character which might be challenging to discern during interviews.
Overall, background screening services help employers in Singapore to make informed hiring decisions, ensuring that the candidates meet the necessary qualifications and maintain integrity and safety of the workplace. Nevertheless, the relevance of these checks can vary based on the industry and the level of the position being filled, some employers may not consider certain checks necessary. Ultimately, the hiring decision remains at the discretion of the employer.
This article is contributed by Credit Bureau Singapore.
