If your business has one or more open positions that are highly coveted or are seeing a lot of applications, you will likely have a lot of cover letters, resumes, and references to sort through. If you want to make this process easier for yourself and protect your firm's reputation going forward, you may want to consider hiring some outside help. Here's how a firm that offers reference checking or background checks can benefit your own business.
Reclaim Valuable Time
If you are sorting through dozens or even hundreds of applications and you see a good deal of candidates that are worthy of moving on to the next step, you may be wincing at the amount of time you'll have to spend contacting each reference the candidates have provided. But when you have outside help with this process, it will allow you to stay off the phone and focus on other aspects of the hiring process or allow you to return to your day-to-day business. Every second counts when you are trying to grow your business and an outside reference-checking firm can give you back some of that valuable time.
Check References With Discretion
Perhaps you need to reach out to confirm someone's background but you don't want anyone to know that your company is looking to hire someone. A background-checking firm will operate with the utmost discretion when necessary and it also allows someone else to make the phone call instead of the call coming from one of your company's numbers. If this new hire is hush-hush but you still need to make sure you have all the information you need confirmed, a third-party background checking firm can help you.
Make the Right Hire
Every hiring manager knows there are unfortunately sometimes when potential candidates will slightly or even greatly embellish their credentials in an attempt to get the job. But if you just take someone at their word and it ends up being the wrong hire, you might end up having to hire another person in the end anyway, and that will lead to more training and development costs. Check all references and backgrounds in detail before the hire is made so you can move forward with confidence.
Protect From Embarrassment
If your company or the open position is especially high profile, you might have reporters, journalists, or bloggers looking into the background of your new employee after the announcement is made. Doing your own background research before the hire will ensure that you've made the right choice and that there are no skeletons in the closet that might come out to embarrass your company in the weeks ahead.