It might sound a little strange, but you don’t always know if someone is who they say they are. That’s why it’s sometimes necessary to run a background check – not just to verify a person’s identity but also their employment history, credit score, and more. For small businesses, this can be important. For example, hiring is an expensive process when you’re on a tighter budget, so you want to make sure you get the right person for the job. But surprisingly, 62% of small businesses have made a wrong hire – something that could have been prevented with a thorough background check. And since about 78% of applicants lie, it’s a good idea to screen candidates. Of course, that’s not the only reason to run a background check, and there are plenty of services designed with small businesses in mind.
Types of Background Screening
There are various kinds of background checks you can run and a lot of information to find out. Of course, what you need to know depends on your business’s needs. For instance, if your business operates in the education industry, it’s especially important for a candidate not to have any kind of criminal history. To be certain, you can run a criminal background check that will find previous convictions, arrests for minor charges, and outstanding warrants. These kinds of checks frequently search through sex offender registries as well. Some background check services will also handle drug testing for your candidates. If your small business requires anyone to drive a vehicle, then you can use a background check service to verify a person’s driver’s license.
Reputation is important, and businesses don’t want to be associated with employees who bring the company into disrepute. To prevent this, there’s social media screening. Background check services comb through a person’s social media profiles for inappropriate posts – even finding hidden accounts. Similarly, some employers like to check an employee’s credit, which is another feature that background check services provide.
Recommended Background Check Services for Small Businesses
No one has time to go through every background check service to find the right solution. To help out, we’ve collected three of the best services that are ideal for small businesses.
Accurate
Accurate has plenty of experience in the industry. Having been launched in 1997, it’s a reliable background check service with small- to mid-sized businesses in mind offering various types of background checks. Accurate can look through social media profiles to highlight posts that might be considered offensive, dangerous, or explicit. The service will also handle drug testing and check driving licenses. Of course, Accurate runs criminal background checks and boasts a 99.99% accuracy rate. All reports are easy to read and are available as downloadable PDFs. Overall, the service is competitively priced, with the cost of each report depending on what kind of checks you run.
GoodHire
One of the biggest names in the business, GoodHire has more than earned its reputation. Established in 2012, the California-based company caters to large and small businesses alike. As the name suggests, GoodHire is a service that aims to check an applicant’s identity and background. Most importantly, GoodHire makes life easy by handling compliance for you, so you don’t need to worry about FCRA regulations. Checks are fast, with 85% of reports available in less than a minute. Of course, this depends on what kind of checks you want to perform, but GoodHire includes drug testing, credit checks, employment verification, criminal background checks, and much more. The price of your reports varies for each check, but costs are more than reasonable.
Verified Credentials
Since 1984, Verified Credentials has been helping businesses run a variety of background checks covering many different industries. The service is particularly accomplished at employment screenings, covering contractors and volunteers as well. There’s also the option to run drug tests and check immigration status. With Verified Credentials, you can check a person’s criminal history, identity, driving record, and credit report. The service even searches through sex offender registries and government watchlists. Reports take 2-3 days to complete and are available as a PDF. Costs depend on your needs, but you can contact Verified Credentials for a free consultation and work out an ideal solution for your business.
What Small Business Owners Need To Know About Background Checks
For something as important as a background check on someone’s past and identity, there are strict rules to follow – especially for businesses. This is chiefly because of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), which is a set of federal laws designed to protect people’s personal information when used for things like background screening, credit checks, and employment. What this means is that whenever your business needs to run a check that falls under FCRA regulations, you’ll need to get consent from the candidate or employee first. Punishment for FCRA violations depends on the severity but goes from fines to prison sentences. However, a good background check service should take care of this for you.
Naturally, a background check costs money, with prices depending on the service and the type of check. But doing nothing costs small businesses more in the long run. Indeed, on average, a bad hire can cost a business $17,000 – making a background check service peanuts in comparison.
How To Choose the Right Background Check Service for Your Business
When it comes to deciding on the right background check service for your business, there are a few things you need to consider. The most obvious one is cost. Some services are cheaper than others, which is great if you’re running your business on a small budget. But you might not be getting the most comprehensive reports available. You need to consider the number of checks you’re going to be running as well. Many background check companies provide subscription models that allow you to perform as many as you want. Speed is a factor too – some services will give you a report in minutes while others can take days. And don’t overlook the importance of great customer support either.
Often background check services are specialists in particular areas. For example, not every service has the capabilities to run checks on international workers. Meanwhile, a business working in the healthcare industry will want to know if a person was accused of patient neglect in the past. Then there are others that specialize in other industries like transportation, manufacturing, construction, and more.
As we mentioned, for small businesses, FCRA-compliance is a must. Not every option is designed with businesses in mind. So you need to ensure that your background check service is FCRA-compliant to ensure that you’ll avoid any large fines.
Best Background Check Services of 2023
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