HR Manager's Guide to Background Checks and Pre-employment Testing

Book excerpt: "There are many types of pre-employment background checks or tests available to employers. These checks can assist employers in hiring applicants that are well-qualified and skilled for the positions for which they are applying. Some of these checks will also assist employers in identifying "red flags" and thus mitigating against certain risks--such as hiring an applicant that may pose a risk of fraud or theft to the organization. Other types of checks will help employers obtain a sense of who the applicant is as a person, so that they can better assess whether the applicant will "fit" within the organization. In recent years, employers have begun to check references with greater frequency and thoroughness. This book has been designed to help employers understand what types of checks are legally permissible, and how to conduct these checks in a way that minimizes risk to employers. The authors advise that interviews and reference checks be conducted before the employer extends a conditional offer of employment to the job applicant, but all other background checks and tests discussed in this book should be performed afterwards. The following types of background checks are reviewed in this book: personal interviews, reference checks ,education and professional certification checks, credit checks, psychometric tests, medical and fitness tests, police records checks, drug and alcohol tests, and immigration, terrorism and industry-specific security checks." --Publisher description.