Almost every employer has said to themselves, 'If I had only known about this person's background, ______(you fill in the words) would have NEVER have happened. That blank could be filled in with words like TRAGEDY, ACCIDENT,LAW SUIT, or even Death. The best predictor of the future is past performance. You MUST protect your business and your employees from legal action or physical harm by detecting problems BEFORE the person is hired.

Pre-Employment (P-E) screening is an effective risk management tool that has been proven to reduce the risk of a "bad hire". Employers typically pre screen for various reasons:

To DISCOURAGE APPLICANTS with something to hide. It is estimated that over 33% of the people applying for a job leave information out...any thing from the education that they never got or not including their criminal or bad driving record.

To ELIMINATE UNCERTAINTY in the hiring process..."Is this person right for the job?" or "I hope I have not made a mistake hiring this person".

To demonstrate DUE DILIGENCE. Employers must take reasonable steps of determine whether an employee is fit for that particular job, does he have an anger management problem? Things you need to know.

It is COST EFFECTIVE. Companies spend a great deal of money to train a new hire only to learn he/she is not the type of person you want working for your company. The cost of a background investigation is small when considering the cost to litigate a neglect hiring or retention suit.

It is important to understand that P-E screening is aimed at how a person performed in the PUBLIC aspect of their lives...it is not an invasion of privacy.

Your employees are your most valuable resources BUT a bad hire can result in

LAWSUITS BY THIRD PARTIES OR OTHER EMPLOYEES
LOSS OF BUSINESS OR CUSTOMERS
THEFT, EMBEZZLEMENT, OR PROPERTY DAMAGE
NEGLIGENT HIRING EXPOSURE
TIME WASTED IN RECRUITING,EMPLOYING AND TRAINING.

There are many other reasons, but you get the idea

Now that you know how important P-E screening is, NOW WHAT?

There is a growing trend among profitable and efficient business to out source this important task. It is an inefficient use of their time and energy ($$) to attempt to do something that a third party provider can do efficiently and cost effectively. To do in house pre screening, a company would have to devote much time and energy ($$) to learning and keeping updated with state and Federal laws that regulate what can and cannot be accessed. An honest mistake by one on your valued employees could leave your company open to a civil rights violation suit by the applicant. Laws such as the FCRA, HIPPA, DPPA,the Grann-Leach-Bliley Act, and so on are at best difficult to understand. If these reasons are not enough, Valuable time ($$) would be spent tracking former employers, references, educational institutions, etc. We have all have to leave a message then wait for the return call...you have better things to do then sit by your phone playing phone tag...like raise your profits.

O.K. Who should I hire to do the pre screening.

Contacting a LICENSED private investigation agency to do your P-E screening is one way to be sure that all of the state and Federal laws that I mentioned will be followed. The vast majority of the private investigators today are retired law enforcement or Federal agents so they are not only professional but know the importance of quality P-E screening. These professionals have access to database companies that are only available to licensed professionals. There are hundreds on companies on line that will do a background check for anyone who is willing to pay....most of this information you can get yourself, information that may or may not be accurate or up to date. Conducting a thorough investigation may well require the investigator to go to the court house to do a records search, something the online background checkers will not do. Many Private Investigators are members of professional organizations such as the National Association of Legal Investigators (NALI) or their state organizaation, that means they have a wide rance of resources available to them. You think that just because you checked the applicant's state criminal record you have done enough...that is fine unless the person you are about to hire has as criminal record in another state. Contracting a licensed private investigator to conduct your pre-employment screening relieves your HR department or employee of this time consuming and specialized task so they can devote their time and resources to your company needs.

How do I find a Private Investigator?

The National Association of Legal Investigators has a web site that you can visit to locate a private investigator near you, www.nali.com You may go to your state business web site or type in the first letter of your state then ALI. For example in Florida you would go to www.FALI.com California, www.CALI.com

I hope I have answered some of your questions about pre employment screening.