February

What are considered the best practice guidelines when conducting background checks and what is the Fair Credit Reporting Act?  HR Dive Associate Editor Katie Clarey discusses best practices and how to avoid violating FCRA and local laws.
 
What steps should an organisation take to ensure compliance? From candidate consent to analysing the background report this article helps outline what steps organisations and HR professionals need to take. Ensuring your candidate is informed of your intention to conduct a background check (with this information alone in the document to avoid confusion) and that they give their written consent, is of utmost importance, as several law suits have involved companies that failed to do this first. Then if a conviction comes up in the check, this must be shown to the candidate and they must be given their rights, before being told of any decision.
 
Ensuring managers communicate to candidates via HR is also advised, rather than directly about any decision, and getting HR to check the forms to ensure they are in line with ever-changing new or local laws, is also highly recommended.

A recruitment boss has admitted that he squandered a million pounds in poor hiring decisions, paying people who "essentially delivered no value to the business".

A poor hire can cost a company a lot, in money and resources, especially if the new employee causes damage to the organisation. Research by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) found that UK businesses are making bad choices for two out of five new roles.

Case involving woman lying on job application to primary school shows need for thorough background checking.  Oxford Mail reports that Iria Suarez-Gonzales is facing court over one count of fraud by false representation. It is alleged that she stated in a job application to West Oxford Primary School that she had no previous convictions – but this was a lie.

This case highlights how important background checks are when placing candidates. 2017 stats from CareerBuilder revealed that 56% of employers have found a lie on a CV .  While rules for working in schools obviously need to be strictly observed, some organisations are arguing that forcing people to disclose crimes that they committed a long time ago will prevent them from getting a job, that could help them move away from a future in crime.