Every organization that wishes to grow has to hire new employees every year. Also, they need to hire new employees at a higher rate than the outgoing employees. Only then the organization can grow sustainably. Another critical element of hiring these new employees is to ensure that people joining the organization are genuine and would contribute positively to the growth of the organization.

The HR team is dependent on external employee verification services for conducting background checks on the employees.

In this blog, we will discuss how HR professionals should decide on the right partner for their employee verification needs.

For those who are new to the subject, let’s first discuss what are employee verification services.

Employee verification services are a way for businesses to ensure the accuracy of the information entered into employee applications. They can help to prevent intimidation or fraud, and can also help to verify the identities of employees who may be eligible for benefits or promotions.

These services offer various benefits. These include:

• Being able to ensure that employees are who they say they are
• Being able to protect company secrets
• Preventing blackmail and extortion
• Helping to reduce the number of fraudulent claims against employers

How HRs can go about scouting their potential employee verification services partner?

Let’s quickly check various factors the HR team should consider while finalizing their partner tasked with verifying the authenticity of documents & references provided by the candidate during the recruitment process and the genuineness of the candidate.

Quality of the Service

One of the most important factors to consider when choosing an employee verification provider is the quality of the service. It goes without saying that the whole purpose is defeated if the service provider fails to deliver quality results. HR may end up getting fraudulent candidates if the service provider doesn’t do the job well and the company has to eventually suffer.

Many companies prefer to use reliable and reputable sources, such as respected staffing agencies or staffing firms, to vet potential employees.

HR can ask for references to assess the quality of the service. They can offer pilot work to evaluate the reporting quality and the time taken for the verification process. They can also cross-check the work quality by giving controlled samples containing both known good and bad people from previous experiences unless the provider is going to ask the people for the information in person.

Scope of the verification

While searching for the verification services provider, it is also important to know what is the scope of their candidate verification services. Many times, the verification would be straight forward.

However, at times special checks are required to assess the employee appropriately. If your company has a need for such specific verifications then it is better to include such checks in the verification partner selection factors.

Looking up for a new partner when the need arises may not be a good idea. Also, without a prior relationship with the verification service provider, you may not know their working style, SLAs, and turnaround time.

Customer reviews

Companies can easily look up the reviews online for the partner in discussion. HR can ask for one-on-one interviews with the past clients of the verification service provider. A good service provider has no reason to connect HR with their past customers. During such interactions, the HR can enquire past customers about good and bad aspects of the service rendered and experiences undergone during the engagement period.

Longevity of the company

As a company, you don’t want to look for new partners every quarter or year. It’s better to check the longevity of the prospective partners. If they are in the business for long then you can invest in the relationship with them. A new partner can also be considered if they have something unique to offer. Every company has started at some point but to be able to safeguard the interest of your company, it simply makes sense to go with the dependable player who has been in the market for a long.

Certifications

The company that HR is going to offload the employee verification work needs to be at least ISO certified. That should be the basic criteria. If a verification service provider has an ISO certification, then it displays their seriousness about the business along with acceptance towards processes.

Report standardization

HR should also check if the reports coming in are in a standard format. Unless these reports are in the standard format, your recruitment team will find it difficult to read and comprehend these reports. This can hamper your pace of processing the candidates in a given time period. You should choose a partner offering standardized reports over the one offering an ad hoc format of reports.

Real-time access

When a resignation is in progress, it is crucial for HRs to be aware of the status of the candidate’s checks in real-time. They can expedite the offer rollout depending on the candidate’s status.

A few good background verification companies offer access to their verification services portal, where HRs can look at the status of the candidates in real-time, rather than waiting for a data dump to arrive in their inbox.

Service Automation

To streamline the recruitment process, it is crucial to avoid miscommunication and resulting delays. A good service automation platform can help address these both things. If HR can connect their ATS directly with the verification services portal of the background verification company then information flows smoothly and instantly between the two companies. This helps to prevent human errors and time gaps.

These are the basic factors to evaluate the potential employee background check provider. However, they are often overlooked. A key to getting the right employee in the organization is to have the right partner doing background checks diligently for new hires.

Closing Note

We offer a wide range of verification services that are perfect for your business. Whether you need to check employee licenses or make sure employees are who they say they are, we have the solution for you. Our team is passionate about helping businesses get the most out of their employee verification efforts, so don’t hesitate to give us a try!