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What Does a Background Check Consist of for Employment?

One area in which private investigators are regularly asked to carry out background checks is in employment. Specifically, companies looking to recruit new employees are now getting into the habit of hiring private investigators to carry out pre-employment screenings before they hire anyone. This has been occasioned by high numbers of people who lie or embellish the truth on their resumes and liability issues in case the employee's actions harm someone else.


Why Might Employers Require A Background Check?

Employers have different reasons to ask private investigators to perform a background check. These include:

  • Legal requirements: All employers have to confirm that candidates have a right to work in the UK. Additionally, employers in sensitive areas may also be legally required to perform certain background checks.
  • Liability: In case of an incident that harms someone else in the company, an employer may be said to have been negligent if they didn't carry out a background check that could have prevented the accident.
  • Conflict of interest: Your employment or criminal record may create a conflict of interest. For example, if you have committed financial crimes in the past and looking for work as an accountant.
  • Competence: Some employers will want to confirm that you're actually able to perform the things that you state in your resume. Etc.

Some people assume that hiring a private investigator to perform a pre-employment screening means you don't trust the prospective employees. However, for employers, the stakes can be high if they hire the wrong person.


What Can An Employee Background Check Reveal?

The information revealed by an investigator's background check will depend on the kind of check conducted.

Information a private investigator may find include:

  • The employee has a health issue that will affect their ability to perform certain tasks
  • The employee has an unspent criminal record
  • There is a conflict of interest e.g. the employee was your main competitor's protege
  • The employee's resume details are completely false or embellished
  • The employee has many suspicious incidents at their previous place of work etc.

Just because certain kinds of information are revealed in a background check by a private investigator doesn't mean the employer has to act on it. However, if they choose to proceed to employ an individual, it's with full knowledge and a better understanding of who they're dealing with thanks to the information provided by the private investigator.


How Is An Employee Background Check Conducted?

Employers rarely have the tools and expertise to carry out background checks. Therefore, they'll usually give the job to a private investigator or an investigation agency.

When private investigators carry out these checks, they'll need:

  • Basic details of the employee e.g. name and address
  • The aim of the investigation i.e. the type of information the employer is looking for
  • The written consent of the employee
  • Any other useful information that the employer can provide e.g. previous schools and employers etc.

When the private investigator has all this information, they can carry out the investigation in a number of ways.

Some of the things private investigators can do include:

  • Reaching out to or meeting previous employers
  • Conducting an internet search e.g. to check social media activity or confirm academic records
  • Interviewing family members (this might be necessary if a high-level clearance is to be given)
  • Contacting the disclosure and barring service to check for criminal records
  • Going through public records
  • Contacting any other relevant source of information e.g. the employee's doctor etc.


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