Entrepreneurs have little room for error.
Fighting an uphill battle against the giants of your industry means you have to do everything not only to the best of your abilities, but also better than your competitors.
Ultimately, you need outstanding products, services and people if you want to stand even a chance of making it through your first year successfully.
As countless entrepreneurs who have survived the battle will tell you, having the highest-quality products and services won’t mean much unless you have the right people to help you deliver them to your customers.
Yet there’s more to the hiring process than combing through applications and interviewing jobseekers.
You have to be certain that the people you’re considering for the position are who they say they are. You need to know that what they’re telling you is true.
Though you also need to be aware of what they’re not telling you. This is why background checks are imperative for any business, especially for those that have no margin for error.
Selecting the people ideally suited for any job involves doing your due diligence behind the scenes as well as in the interview room.
As an entrepreneur, you probably have to do a lot of tasks yourself that your larger competitors can delegate to others. You may not have a dedicated HR professional yet.
Or, you may be counting on someone else who already has multiple responsibilities.
In any event, it’s important to understand how a background check works, what it searches for and how job candidates often prepare themselves for them.
For example, depending on the state you’re in and what you want to know, you might need to ask the applicant’s permission before accessing certain records including military service, medical histories or education.
If you uncover something that the applicant disputes, you may need to be aware of the process through which the applicant can seek to correct the results of the background check.
The following guide covers some of the most important details you should know about background checks. Remember, entrepreneurs simply don’t have the option of gambling when it comes to hiring people to serve their customers, which is why background checks are so critical.
About the Author
Christian Moore is COO at Global Verification Network. He has more than 20 years of investigative and business experience with competencies including surveillance, competitive intelligence, pre-employment and course-of-employment background screening.
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