Background Verification

During my internship with a big multinational company this summer I came face to face with this strange new thing called background verification which is one of the important tasks of the Human Resources. My manager sat me down in one of the business rooms with papers in his hands saying red cases, yellow and orange cases and then he started talking to my mentor who had been assigned this difficult task of looking after me throughout the internship- at that time all i could hear was gibberish. The mentor then asked me do you know what Background Verification is; have you ever  heard about this term assuming that my mother is also working with a multinational. I feeling stupid for my lack of knowledge said that I had no clue about what he was talking about. He smiled and then very calmly in the next 1 hour explained what the process was all about. Trust me after that day i may have irritated my parents and friends with this new gem of knowledge that i believed i had. Its actually a very interesting thing and its so much fun too. So what is background verification? I am sure most of you are aware of this process but there’re still people who aren’t aware of this and so I am going to write about it.

“A background check or background investigation is the process of looking up and compiling criminal records, commercial records and financial records of an employee or an organisation.” In organisations  they normally have a tool wherein you fill in all your details regarding your educational background, occupational history, address and all details. These are then sent for verification which is either done over the phone or in person. On the basis of this verification a report is generated with different colour codes. Red code stands for major discrepancy and yellow or orange code stands for minor discrepancy. On the basis of these colour codes after discussion with the employee the matter is either resolved or the employee is asked to leave the organisation which is usually done in the most extreme cases.

Reasons for background verification :

The background verification is usually initiated by employers for employment screening especially when the  candidate is seeking a position that requires high security or a position of trust. these checks are often used by organisations in order to judge a job candidates character, past history and mistakes and to identify the hiring risks for safety that may occur in the future.

The types of checks that are usually conducted are as follows:

• Employment References
• Educational Verification
• Character Check
• Gaps in employment history
• Identity and Address Verification – whether the applicant is who he or she claims to be. Generally includes verification of the candidate’s present and previous addresses.
• Credit History

Background verification has often been criticised for being a slow process and other legal issues, because of which the organisations have now made it compulsory that background checks be completed before the candidate is hired rather than after the candidates hiring. Regardless background check is an important tool to ensure that only competent candidates are hired for the job.

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