What are your criteria for hiring a new employee? You look at their CV, ask a few questions and then go with your gut feeling? That’s basically what many recruiting agents in Australia do or at least used to do, for the HR world has changed dramatically in the past few decades. At present, science and technology tend to have a major role when deciding who to hire. And this includes the consistent use of background checks for all employees.
Not sure why you shouldn’t ignore background checks? Here are a few things that will make you change your mind.
Everybody can lie
And job applicants do that all the time. You know that and if you have some experience in this field you might have honed your talents enough to spot at least the most brazen liars.
If a candidate embellished his resume here and there, maybe it’s not such a big thing. Maybe he didn’t have all those responsibilities at his previous job, but he seems smart and he’ll learn.
OK, maybe this is a risk you’re willing to assume. But what if the person in front of you is someone with a criminal record and he has committed some offences that make him unsuitable for the job.
If you don’t check their character, you’ll never know.
Who’s to blame?
If something goes wrong and the new employee turns out to be a liability and not the asset you thought he’d be, that’s on you. You’re to blame and you can bet they’ll all turn against you if the new employee steals money or the company’s secrets. The HR manager said this guy should be hired.
If it’s really bad and there’s a public scandal your job will be on the line and your credibility lost. After all, you based your hiring decision on your gut feeling and you were wrong. Well, maybe you’re not very good at your job. Even if nobody tells you that in as many words that’s what they’ll think.
Why would you skip a simple background check?
When you talk to HR professionals they’ll tell you they find background checks a complete waste of time. It’s not that they don’t provide useful information, but in most cases, HR managers are under a lot of pressure when they need to fill a position. The department where there is a vacancy is constantly asking when they’ll get the new employee and so does the general manager. If you have a vacancy, this affects productivity and everybody is nervous. That’s reason enough to skip background checks and go with your guts. You cannot wait for weeks until the prospective employee manages to get his police clearance.
You don’t have to wait for weeks. Not if you order an online police check that avoids trips to the post office or the local police station. In Australia, there are several online background check agencies and they’re fully accredited. Their check is just as reliable as the one you’d get from the local police station.
All in all, getting a criminal history check online doesn’t take more than a couple of business days. Surely everyone can wait for two days!
And you can rest easy. Now you can truly vouch for that person as they were properly screened. Also, should anything bad happen, you did the best you could.
