Most organizations across the globe are in consensus when it comes to taking the decision of conducting background checks on potential candidates. However, the timing of the check is something that has received mixed response. While there are certain section of experts who have the opinion that organizations need to wait till the final job offer is given to the candidate others think that background screening process should start immediately after the screening process. If you wait till the final job offer is given, it can mean letting go of talented candidates due to shortage of time. But, acting too early can also have its own negative consequences.
Let us now figure out the reasons that prompt organizations to conduct background screening after giving a job offer to the candidate:
Policy
Most of the organizations today have designed their hiring policy in such a way that they need to wait after offering a job offer to conduct background screening process. If they go against this policy it can spark legal issues. Let us explain this with the help of an example. Suppose, your organization has a policy to conduct background checks only after giving the job offer. But, for some definite reason you perform the pre-offer background screening and reject the candidate. He/she might question the policy as to why him/her and not the others? He/she will attribute his/her non-selection due to unfair organizational practices and might even sue your organization by citing unfair hiring practices for singling him/her out. While if you conduct post-offer background checks there is no way candidates can question your logic for conducting the screening process, thereby saving your valuable time and money that you could have spent otherwise on legal cases filed by the candidates.
The cost factor
Generally speaking background checks do not cost much to an organization as they help businesses from hiring a candidate who is a misfit for the position. But, if you perform background checks before giving an offer it will involve an unnecessary expenditure of carrying out screening of each and every candidate who has applied for the position resulting in a financial setback. It also will become impossible for an organization to plan for the expenditure as it would not know the number of candidates who would be applying for the vacant position. Businesses can conduct background checks on the final two or three candidates shortlisted for the position but, it is still more costly than conducting the process on a single person who has been offered the job.
Discrimination
With the help of a background check report, it is possible for you to get so much information pertaining to a candidate than a mere job application. While there is no way the job application can reflect about the candidate’s age, sex, race, religion, color, national origin, disability or family medical history this information is sometimes extracted from background screenings.
If you conduct pre-offer background check and reject the candidate on the basis of the background screening report generated, there can be a case of subconscious bias that can hamper your hiring process. On the other hand, if you conduct post-offer background screening process without having knowledge about that individual’s protected characteristics and find out something negative in the screening report, it will become very hard for the candidate to argue that the reason for their rejection was discrimination and not negative background screening report.
In the end, we would like to conclude by recommending that you take the help of any of the leading background verification companies in india for conducting the screening process after giving a job offer to stay away from legal hassles. This way you will be able to select the best talent available for the vacant position in the shortest turnaround time.
Vivek Asrani is a content specialist at cFIRST Background Checks, one of leading employee background verification companies in india. Vivek writes about the various aspects of recruitment technology.