No matter what size your business is, if you're hiring someone, you need employment screening. But the question is, should you do the employment screening task yourself (e.g., through your HR Department) or outsource it to a specialist? If you do it yourself you'll save some out-of-pocket money but you'll need to gain online access to a variety of public records databases, such as criminal records databases, sexual registries, civil lawsuits, and others, plus you'll need a working familiarity with the Fair Credit Reporting Act and state laws governing this area (and, by the way, this is a closely-regulated area).

On top of all that you'll need to find the time to check your job candidate's previous employers and verify his/her college degree (if applicable). All the above is of course plausible, but do you really have the time or inclination? Probably not, so for most companies today - including even most large ones - outsourcing employment screening is the preferred solution. You simply submit your applicant's application/resume information plus a signed release from him/her to your employment screening outsourcer, who then completes the background-check work and provides a finished Web-based report (secured by a password) within two or three days.

Types of Employment Screening Searches

An employment screening report can consist of nothing more than a criminal background check. However, for most positions, you'll need a lot more information than this. Here's a list of various factors you should check out and include in your employment screening finished report (and as you'll see, gathering all this inhouse can be pretty difficult, which is a strong argument for outsourcing) --

-- Identity Verification - Making certain your candidate is who he/she claims to be

-- Address History - Determining where your candidate has lived for past seven years

-- Social Security Verification - Is your candidate submitting a valid SSN? If not, this is a red flag requiring further investigation.

-- Verification of past employment - Has he/she actually held the positions claimed during the time periods claimed? Did candidate leave in the good graces of the former employer or was he/she terminated?

-- Verification of Education - This one is frequently fudged or exaggerated. Most employment screening companies now utilize the services of specialized firms who specialize in the verification of college and tech school degrees. This is much easier and more reliable than trying to contact college registrar offices.

-- Civil Suits - Civil suits are public records and can be accessed. They can provide a revealing look into the lifestyle of the job candidate.

-- Bankruptcies and Liens - Another good lifestyle-indicator

-- Sexual Registry Search and Terrorist Watch List Search - Your candidate is unlikely to show up on these lists but it's prudent to run the searches.

-- Criminal Records - This one can be extremely tricky since criminal records in the U.S. are widely scattered by jurisdiction. So your candidate may have no criminal convictions in California yet be a convicted felon in Utah. If you only check California, you'll never know. Thus you need an employment screening company that runs nationwide, not just local or statewide, criminal records searches. But that's not all. To be FCRA-compliant, you also need to conduct an in-person search of local criminal records (i.e., a researcher should visit the local courthouse and conduct an in-person search of records). The nationwide criminal database search, by itself, does not meet FCRA requirements and leaves you open legally, thus largely defeating your whole purpose of running the employment screening report in the first place.

More detailed information on employment screening issues and legal requirements is provided in the article cited below.