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5 Must-Haves for a Background Check

Tina Samuels

November 13, 2013

If your small business has decided to implement background checks into your hiring plan, which is a sound and solid decision, you are going to want to look for these five top things.

These are the items that are vital to making a good decision in hiring a potential candidate for your business:

Criminal Records

A criminal records check can tell you about the misdoings of a potential new hire. You may not want an individual working alone over night that has been convicted of theft or other unsavory item. This is also good for checking potential problems with hiring sex abusers or other felons. If you think you'll be able to "tell" if someone has a felony in their past, guess again. At least with a criminal records check you'll know.

Past Employment

Check up on those listing for past employers. Don't take the resume's word that they really worked for those companies. Plus, with a little digging you'll be able to see if they worked for the length of time they stated, how well they worked, and if there were any problems.

Medical History

A person's medical history may seem to be none of your business, but it can answer many questions that you may have. There are some illnesses that you may want to know about before you do a hiring. Diabetics shouldn't be driving for you and you may not want to have those with pre-existing back injuries doing your stocking or other heavy lifting. People in need of jobs may not be forth-coming with this information.

Professional Licenses

You also want to look up and check to see if the new hire has the right credentials that they state they have. Make sure licenses are correct and haven't expired, and that they are the right ones. Many times a new hire will put on everything they've done and every certification they've ever held, whether they are still in effect or not.

Other Helpful Items

Driving records, credit history, references, worker's comp, and education are all other items you may want to check on a background search. Driving records are particularly good for those jobs where driving is going to be a major job function, and if they have a bad habit of DUI, you may want to reconsider. Credit history and references are good for those working in financial fields, while worker's compensation claims should be known in case there are still some pending. Education is of course something that should be checked to make sure they did get the degrees they stated.

Small businesses need a thorough background check in today's society. Some trades, such as the financial industry, are going to need even deeper background checks than others.

Make sure you are as careful as you can be; don't hire in haste.

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