Report: 'Employment Screening Practices & Trends: The Era of Heightened Care and Diligence'

The new report looks at how companies use background checks to make hiring decisions in a climate of rapidly evolving federal and state employment laws and the ongoing specters of workplace theft, violence and negligent hiring litigation. A total of 992 individuals representing a wide range of U.S. organizations that use employment screening firms completed the survey in late 2012/early 2013. The results are available for complimentary download here. Top findings include:

• Qualifications, references and interviewing skills are ultimately more important than an applicant’s criminal past, as employers have long asserted.
• Nonetheless, employers are continuing to ask about job candidates’ criminal pasts. Some 79 percent of employers say they are asking for self-disclosure on applications despite the EEOC guidance recommending they should not ask about past criminal convictions.
• Resume lies aren’t deal breakers. A vast majority of respondents estimate that up to 60 percent of candidates distort or exaggerate information to some degree on their resumes.
• There is no love lost for social networking sites. 64 percent of employers say they never review the sites as part of the background screening process, despite the overall enthusiastic embrace of sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter by the business community.
• 71 percent of respondents said it’s important that their screening providers be accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. However, less than 2 percent of screening providers are actually accredited by the NAPBS.

“The overarching takeaway from this survey is that employers seem to be screening and hiring candidates in a responsible, acceptable and legally compliant fashion,” says Nick Fishman. “While this heightened level of care and diligence is partially due to the amplified risk of lawsuits, there are other factors at work including the negative impact on morale and performance, the loss of reputation and the damage done to the employment brand when ineffective screening practices let poor candidates through the door.” If you’re interested in learning more about how a pre-employment screening company can help protect your business, get in touch with us and we can discuss a strategy to suit you.  ]]>