Hiring the right candidate is critical for the growth and development of a company. Bad hires cost companies millions of dollars as a result of precious time being lost in rectifying errors, re-engaging the customers and looking for replacements. Businesses have to ensure the right candidate with the right qualifications and integrity is hired and that there is no criminal history attached to the candidate.
Fast-paced frauds
Resume frauds are very common and as per a recent survey, three in ten resumes were found to contain a discrepancy. These lies are related to not only professional or educational qualifications but to criminal history as well. When an employee is hired without conducting a criminal record verification, there are huge risks of damage to reputation as well as legal risks. Misusing confidential information and assets can impact the business’s financial health, not to mention the dent in the image. A study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) showed that 69% of organisations are conducting criminal record verification of their candidates. Half of those surveyed said they resorted to criminal record verification to avoid negligent hiring.
What is criminal record verification?
Criminal record verification deals with a criminal background check to analyse the criminal charges, convictions, arrests or warrants issued for the potential candidate by checking the database maintained by courts including:
• District Civil Courts & Tribunals
• Supreme Court
• High Court
• District and Magistrate Court
• State Courts • Criminal Suit – District Court
• Criminal Suit Magistrate Court
• Criminal Suit State Court
Some countries put up in the public domain the details of international convictions or arrests and these databases can also be included in the criminal record verification. Other than the above databases, criminal record verification can also be done in India by accessing the National Crime Research Bureau and CBI’s Most Wanted Lists. The list of corrupt officials maintained by SEBI, Registrar of companies and RBI are other databases that are useful for a criminal background check.
Also Read: 7 Questions Related to ‘Criminal Records Check’
Essential aspects to consider while conducting criminal record verification
For an employer, it can be a challenge to go through each and every public database in detail to do the criminal record verification. Consulting a professional criminal record verification services provider, such as AuthBridge, can help streamline the process. There are some essential factors to be considered while conducting a criminal background check.
These include The courts covered in the criminal record verification process and whether all levels are covered including District, State, High court, Supreme Court and so on It is also critical to ensure that the right information related to a candidate’s date of birth, identity, father’s name, address were used to conduct the criminal record verification It is important to check if your search results are robust and corrections are made for wrong spellings, acronyms etc. It is important to check whether the candidate was the petitioner or the defendant in the criminal case.
Many false positives can turn up even when the candidate was only the petitioner which can lead to wrong decisions The exact nature of the crime and whether the case files contain a description of the charges or crime committed by the candidate It is necessary to check if the charges against the candidate were proven and whether the case is now closed or ongoing.
If the candidate was found guilty, the employer should also consider if he or she should be given a chance to justify or explain the circumstances According to a recent survey, discrepancies in resumes were the highest in the 50’s age bracket candidates across industries including Pharma and Healthcare, IT and BPO and Travel & Hospitality. It is important to not make any assumptions regarding age or seniority while conducting criminal verification. Consulting a professional criminal record verification services provider is the best way to ensure that the right candidate is hired.
