The average cost to hire an employee is $4,000 and can take upwards of a month to close the deal. This includes the time and energy put into developing or updating the job description, performing compensation analysis, sourcing candidates, and holding interviews to ensure the candidate is a good cultural fit. New hires can’t join your team without marketing the open position and relying heavily on your internal or external recruiting team.
So why do companies short-change the employment verification process? Employers and recruiters alike know they are unable to rely completely on the candidates’ resume or professional social networking profile. Employee verification an important aspect of the recruiting and hiring process that is regularly overlooked or not executed fully.
For example, the three most common resume embellishments include:
- Minimizing employment gaps by “adjusting” dates or fabricating a temporary or interim position.
- Elaborating on the candidates’ skill set claiming fluency in a language after only a year of required courses in high school or technical proficiency in a software system used a few times.
- Inflated academic records by tacking on honors achievements or awards that were not earned.
In these examples, employment verification through a background check can be immensely helpful in highlighting details of the candidates’ resume, including dates of employment, salary, duties, the reason for leaving, etc.
Unfortunately, employers are limited to “just the facts” in the following areas when it comes to employment verification and reportable background check information:
- Whether the employee was a good person or not.
- One of the listed places of employment has closed.
- If the candidate withheld permission to contact their current or one of the previous employers.
Safeguarding your business by devoting time and energy, and dollars (when necessary) toward a good employee verification and background check process will not only improve efficiency in your existing screening process but will help to obtain quality information used for verification and reduce the time to hire for candidates.
The hiring process can stressful for the candidate and the hiring or recruiting team. Proper communication can help keep everyone in the loop and put a focus on the candidates’ hiring experience. Human Capital has helped businesses across the country continue to grow while protecting the company’s reputation. Contact us today to learn more.
