Dear James,
If you perform background verification after hiring an employee and later find out that he/she is not the right fit for your job, you would have to begin the recruitment process from the scratch. This would require you to spend extra time and money. Thus, it is better to perform background verification prior to hiring an individual. Once you have made the decision of appointing a candidate, it is the time you should verify his/her work history to ensure that the individual has all the skills required for the job, and ascertain that the employment details provided are genuine.
As far as performing past employment verification is concerned, you can count on one of the many online verification tools available now-a-days. These tools have accelerated the process, and help save your time, money, and resources. One reliable platform is Verified Resources. It asks for factual information related to past employment of a candidate and delivers quick as well as accurate results that can help make right hiring decisions.
I personally use Verified Resources to bring the right candidate on board. You can try using it too. Here is the link :
www (dot) verified resources (dot) com.
Thanks
Meesha