NFIB

10 Things Small Businesses Should Know About Background Screening

Background screening has become an often used term in business these days, but it is a complex process that can have results that vary widely across businesses.  Many business owners treat background screening more like a box to be checked, “completed,” rather than as an insight tool to better run their business.  These 10 tips may help you better understand how background screening can support your business growth:

1. Imagine Your People…

Step 1 for any great background screening program is to imagine the people you want in your organization, in your open position, in your apartment complex or multi-family housing community.   Determine where you need to go to attract that type of individual and what the characteristics (skills, experience, education, academic levels) of that individual are.   High school diploma, committed to working hard, disciplined, driven are your desired character traits, look for an individual who started at the bottom, got their GED and has worked from there.  Explore their educational history and check their references.   Just because they had one termination does not mean they should not work again.  Determine what they learned and listen to their version versus what a co-worker says.   Imagine your people and use your screening firm to help you bring it to life.  #visionmatters

2. Ruling Out or Ruling In?

Background screening is less about ruling out and more about ruling in.   Organizations today want to on-board the right people – people that fit with their culture, fit with their strategic goals and fit with their general and specific business needs.   When you recognize that background screening is designed to create a good fit, you begin to really unlock the power of screening.  Screening becomes much less about whether someone committed a previous felony and more about what have they done in their lives – both good and bad – that prove they have what it takes to thrive in our community.   The PeopleFacts team can help you re-think your approach to screening.   #inclusiveculture

3. Who Are You Attracting with Your Screening Practices?

The culture of your organization is shaped by the people you let into it.  Companies that are in start-up mode must attract high risk, high energy, highly functioning do-ers.   Companies in building quality mode shift to strategic thinkers, deeply skilled, high ethics-oriented people.   As your organizations shifts gears, consider how you should change your screening practices to better target your candidate pool evaluations.  If you are using your background screening practices right, you will do much more than “rule out the bad apples”.  You will actually begin to find and attract the shiny ones.  #goodhabitsattractqualitypeople

4. Trusting Transformation with PeopleFacts

The ability to overcome and change is a huge talent that many of today’s workers completely lack.  In an “it’s all about me” world that proliferates immediate gratification, impatience, complete independence and a total lack of loyalty, finding the overcomers and strategically deploying them into the parts of your organization that need to undergo departmental or team-based transformation can be the  game-changing difference you need during the change process.  Transformation talent means you have to be willing to hire someone with a failure in their past who is willing to talk about it and prove to you what they have done to overcome.  When you realize the value of resilience, you begin to utilize your screening program and process differently.  Know the truth and then deploy it with a new view towards valuing the transformers you find.    #truth4transform #progess #constantchange

5. Your People Are Your Brand

Brands are made or destroyed by the people who represent it and the way they live out their heart as they go about performing their functions for your organization.   If they are dedicated, committed, servant-minded and always seeking to improve, you will deliver a brand that attracts a loyal client base.  If your people think they know it all and nobody else really understands what they do, they will run off your client base.   The way that you screen your candidates actually can tell you a lot about the people you are considering.  Calling former workers, investigating gaps in employment, verifying address and employment history, verifying credentials and properly skill testing your teams can really make a difference.  Your screening company should be more than just a public record reporting firm – they should be your people screening partner.  #peoplematter

6. Dig Deep, Dig Hard

Every organization must decide up front how deeply they want to dig into the backgrounds of the people they are considering hiring.  Too many organizations make the mistake of believing that they only “dig deep” when it comes to their managers and leaders.   What they do not realize is that the front-line workers are the ones that most often do damage to your company, your customers you’re your overall business reputation.  Digging deep starts with your lowest paid staff and works up from there.   If you are not verifying identity, verifying employment eligibility, conducting targeted and broad-based criminal screening, evaluating civil records from your local courts and checking references, you are likely experiencing high turnover or you are hanging on to non-productive workers.  Spending $30 more up front will save you tens of thousands of dollars in losses down the road.    #digdeep #frontlineworkersmatter #eliminatebiglosses

7. Are they who they say they are?

Identity thieves are artists.  They have learned to shape their past, shape their story, shape their identity and trick innocent people into believing they are who they say they are.  Verifying the identity of someone is a critical part of any background screening program.   While SSN verifications are one form of identity verification, other forms exist.   Employment eligibility verifications, photo identification, motor vehicle reports, address histories, employment histories and more.  Knowing that the person applying is who they say they are is a critical component of your screening program.  Clear the clutter to find the right identity and know who you are bringing on-board.   #identitytheft #betterscreening

8. Professional Fraudsters Move…And Then Lie About What They Did

Understand the quality of information available in your own jurisdictions – and then remember professional fraudsters move to run from their past.   Address histories – based on credit bureau information - are one thing you can order to “trak” down where someone has lived so you can verify that they have told you everything there is to know.   Employment histories – based on reportable W-2 wages – are another method of validating the past and identifying what previous employers may be out there even though your applicant does not want to tell you about them.   #liarsnevertell

9. Ban the What and Where?

“Ban the box” is a movement that has been happening across the country in states that tend to lean liberal.  These states have passed legislation that prohibits altogether or severely restricts use of the question “have you ever been convicted of or plead guilty to a felony crime?” (or anything similar to it) from appearing on an employment application and being used as an upfront “rule out” criteria.   (Interestingly, most of these states do not expressly prohibit employers from inquiring about this on their background screening authorization form if that form is executed and used post-conditional offer of employment.)

One thing for nationwide or even regional companies to consider is this:  If you post your applications online for all to apply, you may discover that penalties and fines could apply if you have operations in or even are receiving a swath of applicants from (think border cities) a “ban the box” state.  In any event, employers should be aware of this movement to eliminate the “upfront felony question” and move towards a post-conditional offer background check process.  #banthebox

10. Do people ever really change?

The skeptics in this world cannot conceive that transformation can happen.   Yet, we see proof of it all the time.  Consider the former bank robber who goes to work for a security company to help them design a better system to prevent robberies from happening.  Consider the former drug addict who goes to work for the social service agency teaching former drug abusers how to get their life back.

Transformation does not mean you change your underlying natural talents or abilities.  It means you have changed what you are using those talents or abilities to do.  No personality test or skill assessment can evaluate whether you are using your natural talents to do positive things or to do harm.  Determining what people are doing to put their talents to use and whether they are contributors who build on positive things or users that destroy positive things requires really digging into a person’s past and present.  #transformation #usingtalentforgood

Who we let into our business, and who we don’t, has a major impact on our culture and growth.  Identifying what is important to your small business and screening for those attributes is crucial, as each hire has a major impact on your bottom line.

Nancy Lynn Roberts is an attorney, small business owner, and nationally recognized expert in background screening compliance.