Human Resources: Employment Records
June 19, 2008 – 12:02 pmMost applicants readily supply employment records, but there remains a shadow of a doubt in administrators who have seen such documents forged too many times. The best way to be sure the credentials and experience you are hiring actually represent reality is to work with a screening firm that can quickly give you a thumbs up or down on the information you receive. A good screening company can get you substantive answers in a couple days or less.
Why check your applicants former employers? Anyone who has run a business for any appreciable amount of time can tell you that working with individuals is by far the best way to assess their strengths and weaknesses. There is simply no good reason to rely on resumes and credentials alone when you can speak to that applicants superiors and find out whether she did a good job at her last place of employment.
Familiarity Counts
The problem with most employment verification efforts is how time-consuming and frustrating it can be for your HR department. Most big companies simply dont allocate much manpower to providing past evaluation for people who no longer work at the company, and the phone tag alone can be exasperating. Thats why many businesses now outsource this mind-numbing task to a dedicated screening firm that can do the same work consistently for a fee.
Sometimes some checking can help reveal where the best values lie in high-quality employment verification. Many of the top firms now maintain an online presence, which is why experts recommend comparing similar products before you buy. When you get it right, you can finally free your own HR staff to conduct its recruitment efforts in peace.