what is an employment background check?

Not all employers conduct regular background checks for their new hires, but when employing talent in specific roles, it’s essential for avoiding risk, ensuring legal compliance and protecting your brand. 

Evidence suggests background checks for employment are becoming more common as workers become more mobile and even start working remotely for employers far away. In this environment, it’s no longer possible to be sure of a candidate’s background simply by consulting your professional network and carefully examining their resume. An international background check may be the only way of verifying a candidate’s claims.

For the companies that conduct them, background checks provide a reliable, unbiased solution that clarifies a candidate’s experience and qualifications. In this article, we’ll cover the basics of the types of checks that can be included in a pre-employment background check and explore some of the benefits for employers who choose to conduct them.

what is an employment background check?

An employer runs an employment background check to verify the information in a candidate’s resume — such as their previous employers, education, professional qualifications, certifications and skills. In some cases, criminal record checks and credit checks can also be part of the employment background check.

why do employers run employment background checks?

The answer is simple: some candidates are untruthful in their job applications. Some embellish small facts about their contributions to particular projects, while others invent entirely fictional employers and qualifications. It may not be common, but it happens. Without running a background check, you have no choice but to take the candidate at their word. 

Conducting a background check doesn’t just verify the information they’ve given you — it also determines how trustworthy they are and whether they have the key skills your organization requires. 

types of employment background check

The specifics of a background check depend on the employer’s requirements. For example, professional certifications will probably be checked closely during employee background checks for medical roles. A criminal record check may be the most important step for jobs in certain government authorities. The most important thing is to check the aspects of a candidate’s background that are relevant to your company and the role — but be careful to stay in line with privacy regulations by ensuring you have a legal basis for running a background check, and avoid gathering more information than you need.

A typical hiring background check may include several of these individual checks:

• Employment verification — Checking the candidate has actually worked in the roles and at the companies listed on their resume, typically by contacting the companies directly.
• Education verification — Checking they hold the educational credentials they claim to hold by contacting the universities or institutions listed.
• Identity verification — Validating a candidate’s identity and ensuring they are the person they claim to be. It’s not unheard of for fraudsters to apply for jobs under a stolen identity.
• Criminal record check — checking if a candidate has a criminal record, typically with the local police authority.
• Credit check — Checking for large debts or past financial difficulties that could make a candidate unsuitable for a particular role.
• Professional license verification — Ensuring a candidate has the valid professional credentials they claim to have, outside of their educational qualifications or professional experience — for example, medical licenses for healthcare workers, bar association membership for lawyers, or trade qualifications for electricians.
• Driving record check — Important in roles where the candidate will operate cars, trucks or construction machines.

what’s the difference between a background check and a reference check?

During a reference check, you get insights into the candidate’s work performance and level of engagement from former colleagues and managers referred to you by the candidate themselves. Background checks focus less on their professional qualities and more on the details of their career history and personal achievements. Additionally, background checks typically don’t require any input from the candidate — unless permission is legally required to run specific checks.

why do employers conduct background checks?

• Avoiding negligent hiring — Negligent hiring occurs when an employer fails to adequately check an employee’s background before hiring them, leading to the employee causing harm. Imagine your company hires a new delivery driver without running a background check. If that driver turns out to have a suspended license and causes an accident, you may be guilty of negligent hiring — and could end up in legal trouble. Even if cases like these are uncommon, many employers see background checks as an essential risk reduction method.
• Maintaining workplace safety — To keep staff out of harm’s way, each employee needs to have the right experience, qualifications, and training to follow the rules and work safely. In hazardous environments such as construction sites or factories, employees without the correct training can inadvertently put themselves or others at risk of serious injury. 
• Ensuring legal compliance — Depending on the specific rules in your country, some professionals are legally required to hold certain qualifications to practice their trade. These qualifications are typically awarded by the state or reputable industry bodies. They can cover roles that range from trade jobs like plumbing and electrical installation to ‘white collar’ jobs in medicine and finance. Individuals lacking these qualifications who fraudulently gain employment in a regulated profession face legal consequences, including jail time — but companies that employ them without double-checking their licenses can also be liable. For these roles, background checks are important for ensuring compliance and preventing serious brand damage.

know the difference between different types of pre-employment checks

Download our explainer infographic on reference, employment, and social media background checks to create a standard definition of these checks within your organization and keep communication with candidates clear. It’s available in slide format, so you can either print it out or repurpose it in your own presentations.

This is an updated version of an article originally published in 21 November 2022.