Whether you’re a small, medium, or large employer, chances are you’re running background checks on your applicants before you offer them a job.  That’s what approximately 69% of employers are currently doing, according to an industry survey. While most employers rely on the services of professional background check companies, not all do.  And that makes us wonder about the minority that chooses to run their own employment screening.  We suspect they’re performing their own background checks for the following reasons:

• They have the budget, the resources, and the know-how to confidently run their own background checks.
• They don’t have the budget, resources or know-how, so they struggle to do the best they can, believing they’ll save money by utilizing free online resources.
• They are required by state law to run specific types of background checks. These are typically state level repository checks or FBI fingerprint-based checks, and this is all they are willing to do.

We know from the clients that we work with and those interested in our services that there are a whole host of benefits to relying on a professional screening firm to run background checks, especially an NAPBS-accredited firm.  For those employers still on the fence or weighing the pros and cons, we hope this list helps.  Here are the top five reasons you should partner with an established firm and not go it alone when it comes to screening new hires.

Top 5 Reasons Why Employers Should Outsource Background Checks

5. Letting you focus on HR – Outsourcing background checks lets you make better use of your time and resources, especially if you’re a one-man or one-woman HR department. We know HR handles demanding functions, many of them time-sensitive.  It makes so much sense to devote your valuable time to doing what you do best (benefits, compensation, recruitment, onboarding, training, putting out fires, the list goes on…) and letting the professionals take care of running the background checks that you need to review.

4.  Education and support – If your screening provider is worth anything, it has the tools and resources dedicated to providing you with education and to quickly answering your questions. Without these tools, you’ll be devoting lots of your own time to research. And that’s IF you uncover the information. A good screening provider will help keep you abreast of emerging laws and changing regulations. They are not your legal advisors, but because of their focus, they are much more likely than you to know about changing requirements.

3. Well developed products – Selecting the right partner means that you get to look for the background report and system features most important to you. These companies have the benefit of time, experience, investment, and client feedback on their side as they’ve developed and improved their products and services through the years. Take advantage of it.

2. Compliance knowledge - The rules surrounding consumer reports and criminal history reporting are varied and complex. Most employers, even those with general counsel, don’t deal with the Fair Credit Reporting Act on a daily basis. The FCRA is the federal law that regulates the business of background checks, or more broadly, consumer reports, and employers have very specific legal duties under the law. On top of that, there are state laws to contend with. Partnering with a reputable firm means that you benefit from their commitment to and knowledge of compliance.

1. Expertise - Background checks are a highly specialized resource in the risk mitigation toolbox; it only makes sense to utilize a qualified and knowledgeable firm to perform the checks. That said, the single most important advantage in outsourcing background checks is obviously expertise.

An experienced screening firm knows what sources to check when running criminal history searches. It understands the court structures in your jurisdictions and the areas you hire out of most frequently. It understands how best to obtain employment verifications from former employers. It relies on industry tools to discover alias names that an applicant fails to disclose. These are just a few examples.

A background check provider is a key partner that ensures the employer has the critical information necessary to make important hiring decisions. Given their expertise, it’s simply much more efficient for employers to rely on an experienced partner than to go it alone.

PreCheck is an employment background screening firm specializing in the healthcare industry. If you are evaluating background check providers, contact us today to get your free, no-obligation, employee background check.