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Why should an employer perform a Background Check?

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Nearly all companies perform some sort of background checks before hiring for a position, but the type of background check a company orders varies widely based on the type of company and the position in question. In any case, performing a background check can alert employers to what could potentially be major problems at the workplace.

Increasingly, companies want to hire the right people. Discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuits, along with increases in workplace violence make hiring an especially precarious job. If a company hires the wrong person, it loses valuable time and money training and paying that employee. A background check helps a company avoid these dangers by alerting a company to potential trouble before it ever hires an applicant.

Many jobs in particular necessitate an extensive search into an applicant�s background. Teachers and child care workers, for example, are regularly screened for evidence of past child abuse. Bank employees or corporate executives might have their court records screened for evidence of past involvement with embezzlement.

In any background check, an employer is looking for red flags. Traffic tickets from twenty years ago are generally not a problem, but does a person�s background raise major questions regarding their character or their sense of responsibility? In addition, companies may search to verify the truth of what is on an applicant�s resume. Did they really hold the degrees and jobs they claimed? Are there discrepancies between an applicant�s background check and resume?

Learning the truth about an employee can put an employer�s mind at ease or alert them to issues that need to be handled. Either way, these are areas in which companies do not want to be surprised.

Next Page: What can an employee do to prepare for a Background Check?

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