Five Most Important Types of Background Checks

Background verification companies have become increasingly important over the years. Before hiring a candidate or bringing a customer on board, verifying the person’s credentials is imperative to prevent your company from any financial fraud. Through processes like KYC verification, professional reference checks, address proof, etc., background verification companies can establish if the applicant is actually who they state to be. These checks are personalised, and one can choose only those facets that are relevant to their business. 

These days background verification solutions are powered by Artificial intelligence and fully automated. Background verification companies provide cutting-edge authentication products that are easily integrable to the existing systems and are data compliant and secure. Technologies like image recognition, optical character recognition, face match, digital signatures, document classification, liveness detection, geotagging capabilities, etc., lead to time and cost efficiency, making the background screening process scalable, more secure, and seamless.

The background check is a comprehensive check that gathers and corroborates information on the applicant’s past credentials, employment history, education, drug screening, credit history, medical history, criminal records, and identity.

Here are the top five background checks that must be carried out 

1. Employment Background Check
2. Criminal Record Check
3. ID Authentication
4. Reference Check
5. Academic Record Check

1. Employment Background Checks

An employment check ensures that the person has the relevant work experience to carry out the desired roles and responsibilities of the current job. It also prevents a mis-hire or someone not qualified enough to lead a team. To carry out an employment background check the company requires a few documents from the applicant. This includes the Aadhaar card, Voter ID, PAN card, Driving license, Passport, past salary slips, past employment letters, a resume highlighting past work experience and roles and responsibilities, and numbers to carry out reference checks and work experience letter, and the consent to check.

What does this past employment check cover?

• Past employment credentials verification 
• Scrutinizing the legitimacy of the past designations and roles & responsibilities mentioned
• Professional reference and feedback from past bosses and colleagues
• Past employment tenure and reason to leave 

2. Criminal Record Check or Court Record Check

This is one of the most fundamental background checks as it discloses any criminal wrongdoings, violations, unresolved/ ongoing criminal cases, or confinement as an adult. A Court record check has become exceptionally vital as one needs to inspect the illegal activity, fraudulent past, misappropriation, vicious or sex crimes before deciding if they should be hired. 

A criminal record check entails the following:

• Person’s existence in the Indian court record for the past seven years,
• Complicity or association in a past criminal offense
• Conviction by any Indian court and sections imposed, thereof

3. ID Authentication

Identity authentication corroborates if the applicant is actually who they claim to be. This check depends entirely on the data shared by the applicant. The authenticities of the identities are examined. This prevents hiring a fraudulent person trying to commit identity theft. This is the first step in the pre-employment screening process.

An identity authentication check covers Aadhaar verification, voter card verification, PAN card verification, Driving license check, and passport verification

4. Professional reference checks

Employers get references from the people who have interacted with the candidate at their last place of work. This is also an essential part of the recruitment process as it gives a qualitative view of the candidate, which does not get reflected in official documents or the resume. Aspects like the person’s behavior at the workplace, how they react under pressure, attitude towards fellow employees, social conduct, and perceptions are discovered. Core employment and educational information can always be corroborated, but these reference checks disclose a lot about the applicant’s demeanours, weaknesses, experiences, and skills.

5. Educational qualification and academic Record Check

Many people forge diplomas and degrees and exaggerate their achievements to become more suitable for a particular role. An academic Record Check confirms if the degree, education, certification, diploma, or training is accurate and brings potential discrepancies to light. Educational verification ensures that the company hires qualified and educated candidates fit to take on the role. It mitigates the risk of employing an unscrupulous candidate and protects the company from liability claims. 

Pre-employment background checks prevent companies from making reckless hiring decisions. Not only in terms of being a misfit and a nuisance to the company but also dodging a malicious applicant that intends to fraud the company.