Hiring the wrong person is expensive.
A bad hire wastes your business’s time and money, and harms team morale. Hiring the wrong person can often be prevented through an effective workforce screening process.
And here’s the thing…
A bad hire doesn’t just cost you cash. It costs you months of wasted training, lost productivity, and a demoralised team that has to pick up all the slack. The right screening process on the front end saves you from all of that pain down the line.
Background checks are right at the core of that process. Conducted properly, employment verification can save your business from fraud, negligent hiring claims and expensive turnover. Conducted poorly (or not at all), it leaves your business wide open for some serious issues.
Here are the best practices every manager needs to know.
In this guide:
- Why Employment Verification Matters
- The Core Elements Of A Strong Screening Process
- 5x Workforce Screening Best Practices
- Common Screening Mistakes To Avoid
Why Employment Verification Matters
Employment verification is used to validate that an applicant’s employment experience, references and education are truthful.
Here’s the problem…
Job applicants lie. All. The time. In fact, StandOut CV recently surveyed and found that 64.2% of employees have lied on a resume at some point about their skills/experience/references.
That’s roughly two out of every three people you interview stretching the truth.
Correct employment verification weeds out falsehoods before they become your liability. It also shields your company from:
- Negligent hiring lawsuits
- Compliance violations
- Workplace safety issues
- Expensive turnover
And that’s why a proper screening program pays for itself many times over.
Employment verification is just one aspect of safety-sensitive positions. You also require employment drug screening to ensure that new hires are fit to safely perform their job duties. This is critical in industries such as construction, healthcare, transportation, and manufacturing.
Skipping any of these steps is a huge risk you don’t want to take.
The Core Elements Of A Strong Screening Process
All successful employment screening programs share some common components. If you leave out one, you leave your company vulnerable.
Here’s what your screening process should include:
- Identity verification: Verify the candidate is who they claim to be via government ID and Social Security number.
- Verify employment: Call former employers to verify positions, dates and reason for departure.
- Education verification: Confirm degrees, certifications, and any specialised training the role requires.
- Criminal background check: Review federal, state, and county records for relevant convictions.
- Drug and health screening: For safety-sensitive roles, this is non-negotiable.
They each serve a different purpose. Employment verification helps catch padded resumes. Criminal background checks protect you from negligent hiring lawsuits. Drug testing helps keep your workplace safe.
Now onto the best practices…
5x Workforce Screening Best Practices
These are the practices every manager should be following.
Set A Clear Written Policy
Before you screen a single candidate, write a policy.
Your employment screening policy must be well-defined, applied uniformly and used with every applicant. Otherwise you risk a discrimination lawsuit.
Here’s what your policy should cover:
- Which roles get screened
- Which checks are run for each role
- How results are reviewed
- What disqualifies a candidate
Remember: cutting corners on the obvious candidates is what lands managers in hot water.
Always Get Written Consent
The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) mandates you obtain written permission from every candidate prior to conducting a background check.
This isn’t optional. It’s the law.
Your consent form should be separate from your employment application. Also retain a copy of the consent form with the applicant’s file, whether the applicant is hired or not.
Noncompliance can lead to class action suits. Which are expensive.
Verify Employment History The Right Way
Background checks: Employment Verification is perhaps the most worthwhile check you can perform. It’s also one of the most abused by applicants.
Here’s why:
Approximately 63% of resume fraudsters landed a job offer in 2024. This means the majority of employers are overlooking falsehoods throughout interviews.
Proper employment verification catches them.
When you verify employment history, you should confirm:
- Exact dates of employment
- Job titles and responsibilities
- Reason for leaving
- Eligibility for rehire
Don’t take it from the candidate. Ask the previous employer yourself. Or have a professional screening company do it for you.
Use A Professional Screening Provider
DIY background checks are risky.
With FCRA compliance, state ban-the-box laws and international data privacy regulations, it’s all too easy for HR to get costly.
A professional screening provider takes all of that off your plate. They handle:
- Compliance across states and countries
- Accurate data sources
- Fast turnaround times
- Proper adverse action procedures
Yes, they cost money. But way less than a single lawsuit.
Rescreen Current Employees
Most companies screen a candidate once and never look again.
That’s a mistake.
Drivers don’t stay the same driver. A DUI, new conviction or expired licence can all expose your company to risk if you don’t know about it. You will never know if you only screen at hire.
Always rescreen workers in safety-sensitive or trust-worthy positions every 2-3 years. Also rescreen anyone that switches to a role with new responsibilities. It’s inexpensive protection from serious issues.
Common Screening Mistakes To Avoid
Hiring managers are human. Even if they try to make well-informed decisions, screening errors will happen. Here are the most common mistakes:
- Rushing the process — a proper screen takes days, not hours
- Skipping steps for internal referrals — friends of the team lie too
- Ignoring red flags — if something feels off, dig deeper
- Utilizing old tools — screening technology has advanced tremendously in the past few years
- Not following adverse action rules — this one gets employers sued
All of these can be eliminated with a proper process and quality screener.
Final Thoughts
Employee screening shouldn’t be a checkbox. It’s one of the most crucial elements of developing a safe, productive and legally defended workforce.
By putting the right process in place, you’ll:
- Catch resume fraud before it becomes a problem
- Protect your business from lawsuits
- Build a safer workplace
- Reduce turnover and rehiring costs
Every time you hire an employee, you’re gambling on your company’s future. Don’t leave it up to chance. Verify employment and run a comprehensive background screen on your entire workforce.
Hire correctly and your investments will return tenfold. Hire poorly and one bad employee can erase years of growth.
The choice, in the end, is really that simple.
