How Does Employee Background Verification Impact Candidate Selection? Let's Discuss!

The Role of Employee Background Verification in Candidate Selection

How does employee background verification help companies in selecting candidates?

If yes, then how?

If no, then why?

Effective Ways of Checking References

1) Telephonic conversation
2) Written format through email

Please share employee verification questions and formats.

Regards,
Simi

Employment background verification (BGV) is very important in terms of eliminating dishonest candidates from the list of potential employees, especially if the current employer is interested in extending an offer to the selected candidate. This feature helps the employer understand the candidate's work and job details and verify information with the former employer.

Letter/Email for Employment BGV

Subject: Letter of Employment Verification

Dear XYZ (Past Employer),

We have appointed (Employee Name) at our (Company Name) as a ______ and would request your assistance in providing details as part of the Background Verification Process.

Please provide details on what you are expecting: Experience, Tenure, Date of Joining (DOJ), Date of Leaving (DOL), Address verification, etc.

The letter should be simple and convey that the information you are requesting is important, as you are employing a candidate who has previously worked with your organization.

You may also consider hiring a specialist for BGV or a company that conducts verifications. The following are a few questions you may ask during the verification process:

- Employee Job Details
- Date of Employment
- Duties
- Reason for leaving
- Rehire - This is to ascertain if the employee performed well enough for the employer to consider rehiring them (a positive remark).

Please let me know if any further information is needed.

Thank you.

Best regards,
[Your Name]

Hello Simi,

As mentioned by others, I am sure by now you are aware of the importance of background verification. It serves as a solution to understand the potential, performance, and integrity of a candidate irrespective of what they have claimed in the interview. You can term it as cross-verifying with the candidate's current employer. In some cases where they are not working, their past employer is contacted. Such a process has gained pace in the last few years after certain fraudulent cases by employees, such as mentioning fake experience or inflating their current salary.

When it comes to the process, both the ways mentioned by you can be used. Depending on your company's processes and policies, if you would like to keep a record of all the background verifications, then you must follow it in writing. But if you have little or no time before making an offer to a candidate, you can immediately call up the previous company and collect the details yourself. Remember, the purpose remains the same, but it is a matter of time.

Questions for Employee Verification

Questions should be precise (not consuming or irritating the employer of the candidate):

- Date of Joining
- Date of Resignation
- Employee Code
- Job title (designation)
- Full-time / Part-time
- Permanent / Contractual
- Remuneration
- Reason for leaving
- Any issues pertaining to employment
- Exit formalities completed
- Eligible for Rehire
- Supervisor's name
- Performance review

These questions would suffice your requirement of selecting the right candidate.

Regards,

The Importance of Employee Background Verification

Employee background verification is very helpful and necessary when it comes to hiring a potential employee for a job. Considering the fact that more than half of the job applicants lie to some extent on their resumes, the need for background verification cannot be overlooked.

As far as how it can help is concerned, validating your candidates' past employment details, such as work experience, last withdrawn salary, and other related information, can help you determine whether a candidate has the required skills and experience needed for the job or not. Simply put, background verification helps make the right hiring decisions. Besides, it saves you money that you can lose to a bad hire. A bad hiring decision can cost up to five times a bad hire's annual salary. Thus, when you choose the right candidate for your job, you prevent financial loss due to a mis-hire.

Using Online Verification Tools

Today, different online verification tools are available to validate candidates' past records, which deliver quick results. The excuse that background verification takes time can't stop you from choosing the right candidate. So, opt for such a tool and hire the right talent for your organization. I personally use Verified Resources. You can try using it too. This is the link for Verified Resources: http://verifiedresources.com/.

Thanks,

Meesha

Dear all,

No doubt, a background check is very much essential. My question is, what if an employee's last organization doesn't provide much information or provides some information that is exaggerated? There could be scenarios where an employee doesn't have a good relationship with a previous employer. In that case, what steps should we take?

Thank you.