Why You Shouldn’t Hire a Candidate Until a Background Check is Complete

It’s an HR manager’s dream: the perfect candidate walks into an interview with a superb resume, terrific qualifications, and great interview responses. Making them a job offer is a “no brainer.” This is the person for the job. They have all the skills and intangibles that you know will be a perfect fit. You are ready to move them into the corner office.

Although you may be excited to get them up and running, it’s important to take some steps prior to making the hire. If you don’t, then this dream can quickly turn into a nightmare.

While the HR team waited for the results of the background check, the new-hire started work, and things were progressing well - until HR received the individual’s background check results. What they learned was not good. 

Although this was what seemed to be the perfect candidate, there were many red-flags and prior convictions. Turns out, the new hire wasn’t exactly who the HR manager thought they were, and that left them with no other choice but to promptly fire the employee.

The next day, the new-hire was terminated and had to be escorted off of the company’s property. Obviously, this isn’t a scenario that any company wants to deal with as it’s uncomfortable and disappointing for both the individual and the company.

The honest truth here is that this situation could have easily been avoided.

Although the candidate wowed the HR team and seemed to be the perfect fit, most companies would agree that there are no excuses when it comes to criminal history. This simply provides too much of a liability to ignore. Although the person may have been able to do the job as well as anyone, the criminal history found on the background check deemed the candidate unable to work for the company. 

So what did the HR team do wrong in this scenario? They didn’t wait until receiving and reviewing the background check before extending an offer. All they had to do was wait, and this situation would have never happened. If they had waited, they would have learned of the problematic incidents, and would have realized that this seemingly perfect candidate was not such a perfect fit after all. 

Had the HR team taken their time in the hiring process, they would have saved themselves time, embarrassment, and a headache. But unfortunately, they got to eager to hire the candidate and didn’t think to wait to see if there was any criminal history to be worried about.

So what’s the takeaway?

Background checks are important in detailing an individual’s history. They play a big role in narrowing candidates. Depending on the type of background check, it can take some time for the results to return to the HR team. Although waiting for a check to clear may seem like an inconvenience, it can’t compare to the problems created by an ill-informed job offer. The screening process should not be overlooked.

Think about it, if you are hiring for a job and you require a background check, that means you care about potential criminal history. If you didn’t, then you wouldn’t require a background check in the first place. Since that’s an important piece of your hiring process, it wouldn’t make any sense to hire someone and let them work before getting the background check results. 

Although some people may overlook the importance of a background check and seeing the results, it’s clear that it can be a vital piece of the hiring process.