How to do Background checks in times of COVID 19
If you have an organization that has over 50 employees, you must be knowing how hard is it to do Background checks in these times and you must be thinking How to do background checks in times of COVID 19. As much as it is important to do background checks while keeping in mind about the protocols that are to be followed by World Health Organizations or governments in the respective countries, we certainly can not deny the importance that Background checks have.
Importance of Background checks
The background check is the process by which a person’s brief history is looked at. From where he or she did his or her schooling to which company that person last worked at and most importantly if that person ever had any criminal records against him or her.
All of these are done in the background check and here is the importance it has :
1. Creates a safe working environment
To have the working space which is safe is very important for any organization because employees spend most of their times at their workplace and the least an organization can do is to provide safe working space where all its employees know that they won’t be robbed, killed or raped. So, to ensure the safety of everyone background check of each and every employee is very important.
2. For encouraging honesty in applicants
It is usually observed that applicants often lie or exaggerate in their CVs or interviews which can turn out to be a bad thing for the firm in the long run and hence to reduce this possibility of lying or exaggerating, background checks are done to ensure there is no cheating in the starting of forming an employee-employer relationship.
3. To see if the person is suitable for the job
There are a lot of time that individual applies for the job in need of money or something else that he or she doesn’t really see if he or she can perform the given task or is suitable for the job. Therefore, background checks are important to see if the person is suitable for the job or not. To see that person does not turn out to be a liability for the company, eventually.
4. The person can be a liability
If the right person is not hired for the right job, there is a huge possibility that person can be a liability for the company as initially a lot of time and resources would be wasted on training and providing company’s material to that person so to ensure that the person does not become liability background checks are done. The person can be a liability only if he is hired at the wrong place and can actually turn out to be a good employee when placed at the right spot in the company.
5. To not rely on the instincts
A person who is running the show can not afford to let the person who is hiring rely on the instincts. An applicant may look good while presenting his or her CV or in the group discussion and Personal Interviews but the reality may differ so to encourage to not rely on the instincts and to see if the person who was hired was actually good, background checks are needed.
A person who is running the show can not afford to let the person who is hiring rely on the instincts. An applicant may look good while presenting his or her CV or in the group discussion and Personal Interviews but the reality may differ so to encourage to not rely on the instincts and to see if the person who was hired was actually good, background checks are needed.
COVID 19 has taken over our lives like no disease or virus. From not leaving the house for months to companies and institutes being shut for the longest time has impacted many businesses and humans. While some grew, some vanished but important things remain important like Background Checks.
So, How to do Background checks in times of COVID 19?
In these ever-changing times, the hiring procedures have also changed and people who are applying for the job for the first time or the people who have applied for the job in the longest time might not be aware of the background checks which are to be done by the organisations. So what they and can and how to do it is mentioned in this blog. Here is the list of How to do Background checks in times of COVID 19?
1. Have your documents
The important documents like for Identification, you need to have your driver’s licence, ID or passport. The government issue IDs comes handy during these times, like, Passport, state-issued photo ID, birth certificate, etc. To have your documents also means to keep the employment history and address history which includes, previous company names, address, phone numbers of the people you have previously worked with, the date of your employment and position you held. And in the address history, you need to gather all the addresses where you lived. The last but not the least, that is educational qualifications. You need to have the institution name, location, the city or state it was situated in, the degree you received and the date on a degree which was received. Have your documents ready for the smooth procedure to be followed for background checks.
2. Employment gap
The employment gaps in the resume would be asked by hiring company either directly or indirectly so the one should be prepared to have the answer for these questions as it will not be assumed that the applicant did something on his own. The questions about the employment gap are often asked by the interviewer so as to know what exactly did the applicant did the whole time he was not doing any job. This also gives an opportunity to the interviewer to the attitude the applicant has towards his or her work and what can be expected out of him or her in this organization. Does she or he has a laid back attitude or is goal-oriented? A lot can be known by the answer to the question of employment gap by the interviewer so answer carefully.
3. Social media profile
In this era of digitalization, to get a brief look of how a person might be, there is nothing better than having a look at a person’s social media profile. It gives an insight as to what the applicant thinks, how he might behave in a certain situation, is he or she fit for the role and various other things. So in this case it becomes very important to share the stuff on social media which is important to you, the things you are sure about and the things you truly believe in. Social media profile can be game-changer in some cases and in some cases it can turn into a negative result for the candidate.
As the times have changed so is the way of doing things. In these times of corona when courts are closed or are open for important hearings only, here people have come up with more ways of How to do Background checks in times of COVID 19 and they are:-
4. Drug screening
The availability of drug screening labs is not restricted even in these unprecedented times. The most drug screening labs are still open and very few are closed because of COVID 19. The drug screening test also comes handy during background checks and can be done easily even in these times so a lot of organisations are encouraging there to be employees to get the drug test done and submit the reports to the organizations. Before you go to the drug screening lab, just follow some guidelines or otherwise they will not let you enter the premises. The guidelines are pretty simple and that is, to wear the mask or any face covering like a scarf or hand made mask, etc. At the entry, non-contact forehead temperature is done by these labs to check the temperature of the people who will enter to get their tests done and if the temperature would be above 100.3 or if anyone is found without masks, the entry will not provide until the requirements are met.
5. Country criminal checks
Country criminal checks can be done as the database of the many countries are digitalised so these times might not affect the background checks completed as some courts are opened partially. The delay is of course there but the required data can be accessed through phone, mail, fax or any other online sources. However, we still can not ignore the fact that to access these data some country requires human interaction and of course which is not always possible. The country criminal checks can result in failure in these cases.
Here, we end our list of How to do Background checks in times of COVID 19? The times are difficult for everything but the business that sees the opportunity here, grows. After all, businesses are all about running their operations in a diverse environment.
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