Robin Doran

Recently, an article was published in Smart Business Magazine that makes a lot of sense. The interviewer quoted Ted Moss (the founder and CEO of a pre-employment screening agency) on his views on doing background checks. Basically, Mr. Moss stated that there are 2 types of screening – the instant checks and the comprehensive checks – as far as criminal searches. Instant checks are checks available online that come back instantly, and the comprehensive checks take 24-48 hours, which indicate that someone is taking a little more time to do a little more work.

Statistically, if your company does pre-employment background checks you will have fewer turnovers. Doing the background check will allow you to see if the employee will fit in to your work environment or if that potential employee has some serious issues that will cause serious issues within your organization.

You also have to decide if you are going to do the screening yourself, or if you are going to hire a company to do it. He provides the analogy of the plumber. If you need a pipe fixed, you can do it yourself or hire a professional. If you do it yourself, you will need to educate yourself on what to do or not do and will need some expertise to do the job right. Hiring a company is also hiring their expertise.

You have to justify for your self the cost of pre-employment screening. If you hire a company and their expertise, you may spend $100 depending on how in depth you want to go. However, if you look at your costs, it can cost you between $7,000 and $15,000 to hire and train a new employee. Your $100 investment may well be worth it to get the right employee.

And last, but certainly not least, are the reasons to do the background checks. You do pre-employment screening to be proactive in protecting your self, your company, your employees and your customers. The US Chamber of Commerce says that, according to their statistics, 33 percent of US business bankruptcies are due to employee theft and embezzlement. The Society for Human Resource Management states that 45 percent of all resumes obtained contain at least one major fabrication. The numbers speak for themselves.