Finding and keeping great retail employees is more complex than ever. With economic ups and downs, persistent competition, and fluctuating customer demand, retailers remain under significant pressure to fill open positions quickly. And that’s not to mention seasonal hiring, which puts recruitment in overdrive amid industry-wide talent scarcity and high turnover.
In addition to tackling today’s most urgent hiring challenges, background screening plays a crucial role in mitigating one of retail’s biggest risks: employee theft, which represents an estimated one-third (29%) of total retail inventory loss. Powered by cutting-edge automation technology and AI-driven solutions, retail background screening empowers you to quickly identify and hire trustworthy employees during even your busiest hiring seasons.
You rely on your employees to protect store merchandise, maintain financial integrity at the register, and provide excellent customer service. In this blog post, discover five background screening trends that can help you achieve these goals:
Background Screening Trends to Transform Retail Hiring
1. Continuous Record Check Monitoring
Retail background checks can provide a comprehensive snapshot of an applicant’s identity and criminal record, but they only capture a single moment in time. However, you can continue to stay informed of employees’ suitability for employment with ongoing insights and alerts of any criminal behavior post-hire.
By integrating pre-employment background checks with continuous monitoring, you can stay informed about criminal record activity that might make it unsafe or risky to continue employing someone. This approach ensures that each employee continues to meet your expectations for legal behavior, whether it’s been weeks or months since they were hired. It also provides peace of mind that you’re taking extra steps to protect your workplace and brand reputation.
2. Expansion of Social Media Screening
Social media screening has seen remarkable growth as employers increasingly recognize the profound impact employees’ online content can have on their brand reputation. In fact, the First Advantage 2024 trend report found that 33% of customers decided not to offer a position or terminated an employee based on information obtained from social media, up from 14% in 2023.
Automated social media screening can significantly enhance your ability to identify additional risk areas. It quickly scans online and social media sources, alerting you to candidate content that may conflict with your organization’s core values and could harm your workplace, such as harassment and discrimination. Our social media screening partner harnesses the power of AI to conduct compliant social media searches as part of a comprehensive pre-employment background check.
3. Next-Gen Identity Fraud Mitigation
Ensuring the person you’re hiring is who they claim to be is crucial, particularly with the rise of AI-assisted deepfakes and sophisticated identity fraud schemes. Recently, the FBI warned about the increased theft of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) for application and interview fraud.
Implementing digital identity before a background check is a powerful solution for helping to prevent identity theft and flag potentially fraudulent job applicants. With our identity fraud mitigation solution on your side, you can:
- Target potential counterfeit applications and deepfake attempts
- Evaluate candidate ID documents for authenticity
- Verify applicants’ on-screen presence using liveness detection technology
4. Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Opportunities
The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program allows you to offset hiring costs while also operating an efficient hiring and screening process. When you hire individuals from certain targeted groups, such as disabled or unemployed military veterans, individuals receiving state or federal income assistance, and young people residing in designated high-poverty areas, you can earn tax credits ranging from $2,400 to $9,600 per eligible hire.
First Advantage makes it easy to identify who is eligible for work opportunity tax credits, file the required paperwork and provide administrative support in calculating the credit for you as you hire. Our compliance expertise, government advocacy team, and proprietary WOTC screening technology can help you maintain hiring efficiency while unlocking maximum tax credit opportunities.
5. Simplified I-9 Compliance
Like all U.S. employers, retailers must ensure that prospective hires complete their Form I-9 properly to verify their U.S. employment authorization. But when hiring retail employees, especially during high-volume peak holiday seasons, you can’t afford to be slowed down by a lengthy, paper-intensive I-9 process. Fortunately, with an automated, paperless solution like First Advantage Form I-9, you can collect, verify, and store each new hire’s work authorization paperwork while staying compliant with the law. The cloud-based, mobile-friendly solution makes I-9 verification simpler and faster, supporting an efficient hiring process and a better candidate experience.
Build a Secure and Efficient Retail Hiring Process
The retail employment screening landscape in 2025 isn’t just about keeping up—it’s about leading the way with efficiency, speed, and an exceptional candidate experience. By embracing modern technology and working with the right screening provider, you can transform your hiring process and make smarter decisions that set your organization apart from the rest.
At First Advantage, we’re excited to partner with you on this journey. Together, we can revolutionize your screening process, helping you attract and retain top retail talent faster and more effectively than ever before. Contact us to discover how our innovative background screening solutions can fuel your success.
