Background Checks
With most of the country in a recession, employers are now receiving piles of resumes. Since there are fewer new jobs to be had, competition for existing positions is extremely high. Many employers are struggling to find a way to minimize the stacks of resumes they receive into a more manageable number. One way to make a hiring decision easier to reach is to conduct pre-employment background checks on several of the top applicants.
Although it is not feasible to do a background check on every person who applies for a job, this can be a very successful way to make a decision between several candidates. Since many workers are currently without jobs, employers are finding that they now often have several equally qualified individuals applying for the same position.
According to a variety of sources, the percentage of the population that misrepresents themselves on their resumes is as high as 40 percent. These inaccuracies can run the gambit from “little white lies” like glorying a job title to make it sound more impressive or be as drastic as claiming to have a degree from a college or working for a company that has never heard of them.
In order to use background checks as a way to decrease the number of choices a hiring manager has, more than one applicant may have the be investigated. Although this may sound costly, many websites exist that have multiple payment options.
For companies that plan on only hiring for a few positions over the next few months, it might be best to chose a service that offers the ability to pay as you go. This way, the employer is only charged for the number of background checks they actually conduct.
Businesses that plan on hiring for a good number of positions might find it more beneficial to use a service that has a flat fee. These websites charge one price for a month (or is some cases a year) subscription, allowing the employer to conduct as many background checks as they need to, without costing any more. The second of these two options is often better for companies that have a little more to spend on background checks.