Of all the reasons to perform a background check, one stands out.
It’s not the fact that it’s a universal hiring best practise since, worldwide, more than 90 percent of employers perform background checks.
It’s something more real. And today’s Australian employers understand what’s at stake
Here we unpack the biggest motivator for performing background checks and share the top background check components you can use to proactively address it.
“People risk” is real.
Back in 2023, a nurse who had worked in a Geelong, Victoria hospital was disqualified from nursing for three years after being convicted of 13 criminal offences, including theft of medications.
It’s uncertain if the employer performed a background check or if the check would have revealed a prior criminal history. However, as this person eventually moves forward and seeks employment, it is crucial that future employers—especially those in the healthcare industry—understand this individual’s prior offences.
In short, the biggest reason many organisations perform background checks is the people risk related to candidates and employees themselves.
That’s why, from the employer’s perspective, it’s imperative to know about potential candidate issues and infractions on the front end, before onboarding them as an employee and giving them access to the business.
Survey backs “hiring risk” related to employees.
Each year, First Advantage conducts a customer survey, asking employers to pick the most important factor in their background checks: speed, cost, or hiring risk.
This year’s survey results back up the fact that people risk is a big screening motivator, with “hiring risk” winning the top spot in 2024 both globally and throughout the Asia Pacific (APAC), including Australia. Specifically, 48 percent of APAC respondents chose “hiring risk” over speed and cost as the most important factor in their background screens.
This means that considering the relative speed—i.e., turnaround times for different background searches—and costs required to perform background checks, being able to better manage hiring risks was most important to employers.
In short, employers place a high priority on the quality of insights they get from their background checks. These insights help them make more informed hiring decisions. Equally important, the right insights can help them place the right people in the right positions to mitigate risks to their business.
Know your hiring risk.
Hiring risk is not a one-size-fits-all category. Different jobs come with different levels of employee risk. It’s up to the employer to define their risk tolerance.
Here’s a helpful strategy for identifying job-specific risk. Group jobs into categories (ex. high-risk, medium-risk, low-risk) based on three key factors:
- Access to vulnerable populations and sensitive financial, company, or customer information.
- Responsibility for the safety and welfare of others.
- Control over public perception, brand reputation, or investor satisfaction.
This approach can help you more clearly define and document your hiring risk, while also creating a more streamlined and consistent risk mitigation strategy across your business.
How background checks can help.
Background checks help employers perform due diligence related to hiring risk in many ways throughout the hiring process.
For example, they can help organisations:
- Confirm candidate identity as a first step in the hiring process to protect against identity fraud or inadvertent data entry errors.
- Compare information provided by the candidate on their background screening application with their resume, or CV.
- Conduct criminal records history screening including comparing prior infractions and criminal offences self-disclosed by a candidate.
- Uncover hidden risks that candidates may (intentionally or unintentionally) exclude from their applications or resumes.
- Check for prior industry-specific sanctions or infractions.
- Assemble a bigger picture of risk by validating critical components like a candidate’s employment/education, professional credentials, and more.
5 background checks to lower your risk.
Implementing thorough and consistent background checks and verifications is a top strategy as an overall plan for mitigating risk.
Here are five basic background checks for risk mitigation, along with a brief explanation of how they help.
1. Identity Check.
This check can help flag potential identity fraud. For example, First Advantage Instant Identity Solutions can immediately review and scan an identity document and compare it with the candidate’s selfie, extract details, and allow for prefilled information for subsequent screening and hiring processes.
2. Criminal Check.
These checks report on criminal records associated with a candidate or employee. First Advantage criminal searches in Australia include checks performed directly through the Australian Criminal Intelligence Service (ACIC) and through the Australian Federal Police. NOTE: For employers located outside Australia, only the Australian Federal Police service is available.
3. Employment Check.
This check verifies prior employment provided by a candidate on their application. It involves contacting prior employers to verify information relating to the candidate’s employment, including their start date and end date, and position held.
4. Financial & Regulatory Checks.
These checks are often required in specific industries, such as the Financial and Healthcare industries, to fulfil compliance with various government and regulatory agencies.
5. Social and Adverse Media Checks.
These checks provide a view of a person’s public social media profile and posts or if the person is identified in a negative light in other public media. Some employers find this helpful as to whether a candidate or employee will support or detract from their organisational mission, values, and culture. First Advantage provides several options including legally compliant social media checks, online reputational media searches.
Using a mix of these and other background checks based on different levels of job-specific risk as a part of an overall program by employers can help mitigate risk. For more background check tips, ideas, and strategies that can help you hire smarter and onboard faster, contact First Advantage today: First Advantage APAC (fadv.com).
Check out the 2024 First Advantage Trends Report: DOWNLOAD NOW
