The modern workplace is filled with individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences. This diversity creates an exciting and productive environment where innovative ideas can grow and flourish. But hiring employees who have lived or worked internationally presents challenges, especially when it comes to background checks. Global pre-employment background checks are more expensive and take longer to complete than strictly domestic checks. Is the extra cost and hassle worth it?
Here are three reasons why the answer is yes.
- Safety
The number one reason for conducting employment screenings is the workplace. Background checks are a critical tool for creating and maintaining a safe workplace for employees and customers. Protecting your organization from fraud and violence requires thorough and reliable background checks that use proven methods to uncover past criminal behavior that might disqualify an individual for employment. International checks verify an applicant’s resume, experience, and credentials and reveal anything in their history that might pose a threat to your organization’s safety or reputation.
- Quality Talent
Recruiters across the country regularly lament the difficulties of finding great talent for their organizations. Having a third party conduct standardized international hiring checks during the process helps recruiters spend their energy learning about candidates and their skills while someone else handles the background screening. A workforce comprised of individuals that all meet the same standard for professional and legal behavior gives your organization a huge advantage right from the start.
- Protection
Fraud and violence are expensive, but so are negligent hiring lawsuits. Companies that unwittingly onboard dangerous individuals can find themselves in costly legal suits holding them accountable for not taking reasonable precautions. That reasonable precaution is a criminal background check. A background check is straightforward to run, relatively inexpensive, and demonstrates a good faith effort to avoid a bad hire.
Get the Most Value
In addition to criminal history checks, international screenings can also be done for the following:
- ID verification. This ensures the individual is who they claim to be and that their ID is valid.
- Address checks. A thorough criminal history check requires a complete address history. Screeners will verify prior addresses anywhere in the world.
- Employment history. Screeners will verify employment histories going back as far as ten years.
- Professional licenses and certifications. Agents can verify that applicants have the requisite licenses and certificates.
- Education. Agents will verify that the individual has completed the highest level of education they claim.
- Credit Checks. Screeners will uncover applicants with poor credit or a history of bad financial decisions, as these individuals often pose an undue risk on positions that involve financial responsibility.
- International Sanctions. Applicants can be screened using international databases for terrorists, most-watched lists, or other international sanctions.
The Bottom Line
Don’t risk your safety by skipping a background check, even if a more complicated global background screening is required. It’s simply not worth it.