How do you know when an employee is a great fit? According to Entrepreneur, some 75% of employers have admitted to hiring the wrong employees. This type of mistake can cost thousands of dollars per hire.
As an HR professional or hiring manager, you may be wondering: how can I prevent it?
One of the biggest mistakes employers make when hiring is not collecting enough data in the first place. One CareerBuilder survey found at least 25% of employers skip background checks when hiring, one factor which could be behind poor hiring decisions.
How does pre-employment screening help you improve your hiring? Let’s look at 3 key ways.
1. Skill checks
Checking academic and employment qualifications in detail gives you a good idea about an employee’s productivity and expectations.
For entry-level positions or new graduates, you can dig into a candidate’s education and training, including the type and dates of degree and diplomas, grades and GPAs, other types of credits, non-academic accomplishments, as well as feedback and commentary from teachers and administrators.
You want to hire people who are not only qualified, but that are willing to do what it takes to ensure that the business thrives. A credentials check can tell you about a person’s overall approach, their capacity to take initiative, as well as how they work in a team.
2. Background checks
Everyone needs to put their best face on as they go through the initial application process.
So even if a person seems genuine and motivated through the application and interviews, it doesn’t say everything about a person.
What you want to look at are indicators that could predict their potential future behaviour after they settle into the job and start to become comfortable.
With a background check, you can find out if everything lines up: where they’re from (identity check), how their credentials fare (credit check) and how the references match up with the credentials (qualifications check).
3. Credit checks
Credit checks can tell you a lot about a person’s accountability and overall behaviour.
If a person understands money management from a personal perspective, the more they may be able to generate profit for your business. This might mean investing or simply building customer relationships. Either way, a solid grasp on money can say a lot.
The takeaways
When dealing with a large number of resumes, it’s important to consistently and properly screen candidates.
Together with the right recruiting software you can improve quality of hire and ensure every candidate is evaluated fairly.
The details revealed in a background check can be extremely telling about a person’s overall character: How motivated are they? How trustworthy are they? How might they fit into the workplace culture?
The best candidates these days are not only technically skilled, they’re also socially skilled and the right mix of screening software and screening questionnaires can help identify them for you.
Laura Greene is one of the content managers for TrustedEmployees – creative people who provide businesses, non-profits and volunteer organizations with a tailored and compliant approach to background screening through personalization, innovation and dedication.