Myths and Misconceptions about Employee Background Verification

In the current day scenario, with increasing crime rate, forgery and increase in employment related frauds, employers are more and more concerned about workplace safety and are focused on ensuring thorough pre-employment checks. You would definitely relate to it if you submitted a series of documents and educational certificates for the employer to conduct background verification if you recently interviewed for a job or took up a new job.

Despite the fact that background verification process is crucial to any organisation, there are a lot of myths and misconceptions surrounding them. Here are some of the most common myths and misconceptions employees have with respect to background verification:

1. I have great references, so I don’t have to undergo any background checks

You might have a great list of references with people praising your professional skills, your team spirit, sincerity etc. But that doesn’t mean the employer will skip conducting background verification for you. Reference check is simply a part of the process and having great references can only add credibility to the profile but doesn’t skip other checks like criminal background check, credit check, educational verification etc.

2. I can claim anything on my resume and the employer has no-way to find out

A lot of times, candidates tend to embellish their resume with inflated salaries, false certifications, false job titles etc. thinking this will help them to compete in the overly competitive job market. But what they fail to understand is that one of the most common type of background checks that is performed for prospective employees is the employment verification. During this, the previous organisation’s HR executives, managers etc. are contacted to ensure the candidate’s previous work experience, period of his services, his salary etc. which is why lying on the resume is a not so good idea.

3. My criminal history is clean, so I have nothing to worry

This is one of the most common misconceptions that candidates have. Criminal background checks are only a part of the employment verification and not the ultimate. Basically, a lot of times, though a candidate has a clean history on criminal records will fail to clear the other background checks like educational verification, reference check etc. There are also chances of faulty results during criminal checks because of the inaccurate details provided, change in name, candidate’s identity theft etc.

4. The screening results as published by the agency is the final verdict

Not too often, but at times, there are chances of discrepancies that might be falsely flagged against a candidate. This can possibly happen due to the inaccurate details provided, misspelt names, candidate’s identity theft etc. The candidate holds the right to contest these results and request for a re-verification.

5. Sharing sensitive information during background checks can be risky

Cloud based platforms like Attest360 adhere to best in the class information security and encryption techniques making sure that candidate’s sensitive data is protected. Be assured of AES based data encryption techniques and mitigation against DDoS attacks to put your sensitive data in safe hands

6. Only large organisations conduct background checks

Every organisation, small or big, conducts employee background verification to make sure they are hiring the right candidates. As a matter of fact, smaller organisations are at a greater risk as the money lost on a wrong hire can be huge – be it on training, months of efforts or time – they have a greater deal to lose.

ATTEST 360 is a one-of-it’s kind background verification aggregator platform that brings together hundreds of verification agencies, companies, regulatory bodies as well as the candidates on to a single platform. The platform extensively focuses on automating time consuming background verification processes, reducing dependencies between companies and verification agencies on information exchange and bring in a ton of cost savings are each stage of background verification process.

Get in touch with us to know more.