Should Reference Checks and Background Investigation Checks Be Offered Together?
Have you ever hired someone thinking they were a perfect fit for the job and for the company, but then quickly realize that they weren't exactly the employee you had hoped for? If you are like most of us, you give them the benefit of the doubt, offer suggestions, put them with a respected mentor, and hope that some coaching-up will fill in the gaps. Maybe they weren't a team player, or even worse, spent all of their time promoting themselves rather than the accomplishments of the whole team or other key players.
They looked good on paper, had impressive credentials, a great resume filled with accomplishments, and conducted themselves flawlessly during a series of interviews. Their hiring generated nothing but enthusiasm from your team, and it appeared that you could soon expect an upswing in productivity. Unfortunately, as time passed you soon discovered that the promise you thought you'd seen was, in reality, nothing more than a facade that had been carefully crafted in order to obtain employment.
Realizing that once the varnish wore off, the new hire was everything you'd hope to avoid. Team morale began to suffer, productivity slowed, and resentments began to build among employees who were becoming tired of seeing their best efforts sabotaged, criticized, or even attributed to an undeserving, competitive co-worker. As you begin to delve into the escalating mayhem, you discover that everything began to lose momentum soon after the new hire came on board.
Could one bad hiring decision really erode your workplace harmony to such a destructive extent? Unfortunately, it could. Faced with reality, you now wish you had taken some extra steps to ensure that your new hire not only had a suitable work history, but also had a character that would fit in with the overall mission of your workplace. You have to face that if you had conducted a proper character reference check along with the comprehensive background check, this situation and outcome could have all been avoided.
Having the ability to thoroughly assess any new team member prior to their start with your company is essential to not just the job at hand, but also to the culture of your company. Utilizing both character reference checks and background investigation services, such as RefLynk and Safe Hiring Solutions, allows you the opportunity to properly assess each candidate you are considering. It also provides you the proper tools to hire the best candidate.
Conducting reference checks and utilizing background investigation reports involves two separate components.
A typical background investigation report generally determines if a potential new hire has a problematic history in any of the following areas:
a criminal record/conviction
motor vehicle violations
a negative credit report
A reference check report generally identifies the character attributes of the candidate. These reports can assess character traits, knowledge, skills, and abilities. The right questions - and this is key - can determine if the individual is someone who will fit in with the culture and will also contribute to the growth of your company.
A recent blog posted addresses the misconceptions that reference checks are pointless or outdated. It demonstrates how a reference checking solution that asks the right questions can be paired with a typical comprehensive background investigative solution to offer a more comprehensive picture of your candidate. Safe Hiring Solutions offers this capability as a user-friendly approach that solves this issue.
If you are interested in acquiring more information about RefLynk and our comprehensive automated reference checking solution, please feel free to contact us.
RefLynk (866) 867-2910
You can email us at info@reflynk.com.