It is obvious that companies must check candidates’ employment history more often than
ever before. For instance, you would not like to employ a person who steal money for his/ her
own use. Hence, you need to screen him/ her prior to their employment. As every business,
your long term goal is to reduce costs and prevent any potential threats of candidates “nicking
stuff”. On the other hand, it may not always be easy to discover candidates’ past criminal
activity. The good news is that there are steps which can be taken to examine an employee
during his/ her screening.
In brief summary, this pre-employment screening model (developed by Maier) includes the
following four stages:
• Plan: identify the extent of background check and make clear what warning signals
are.
• Search: look for adequate data, examine its quality and reliability.
• Loop: arrange a face-to-face interview with the employee and discuss further any
negative notes or evidence obtained.
• Decide: after a careful examination of all the information available, you should make
decision whether you employ this candidate or not.
Finally, as stated by Maier, if you decide not to employ this person in the end, there should be
a procedure in place how senior management may overrule your advice, if not, screening
process will not be plausible. Maier also recommends to get in touch with other three
different company representatives who may make a decision why you should employ this
individual regardless of its negative findings. But they must provide you with a reason for
this conclusion and they must be fully accountable for any incidents which may occur in the
future.