Do you do it before or after?

NaeNae55 · September 2007

A relative of mine recently moved to a new area and is actively seeking employment. I have been surprised by the number of HR people who tell her that in the final phases they will do a background check and then offer her the job once she passes. I thought at first she was misunderstanding them, but she paid closer attention and told me that they do the check and then the offer. She even asked one why they did it that way and was told that if the person didn't pass there was no reason to offer the job.

We always offer the job contingent on the background check. The check is completed before they start work, but we always do it after the applicant accepts our offer.

Am I alone here? What do you guys do?

Nae

NeedCoffee · September 2007

We do both, just depends on the situation.

Dutch2 · September 2007

Nae: we follow the same procdure that you do. That being said, I just hear some of our supervisors telling an applicant they must first pass the background check.

joannie · September 2007

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-13-07 AT 03:10PM (CST)[/font][br][br]I do initial interview, then do background checks. If after background checks, applicant meets our requirements, I send to manager for final interview. If Manager makes job offer, it is contingent on applicant passing pre-employment physical and drug screen. That way managers are not spinning their wheels interviewing unqualified people and I don't have to deal with, "but (Name your Manager) told me he'd hire me".

plynnl · September 2007

We narrow down field to first and second choice and do background checks. If the first choice passes, we make job offer.

HRQ · September 2007

We offer the job, contingent on negative drug test results, favorable reference checks, etc.

I would guess people are just not wording it right. Actually, your post prompted me to add this topic to the next manager training. I am not positive WHAT they are saying out there. :-S

marc · September 2007

We do it after and it generally takes 60 days to get the information. The EE works for us with continued employment contingent on the results.

That is something we have accepte because we get the checks done for a very, very low cost. As a non-profit, that is a trade-off we have made. So far, the few hits we have had have been minor in nature and not a reason to discontinue employment. Also, the EEs have disclosed their history before hand, so the info was not a surprise.

njjel · September 2007

We do previous employment checks before we make the offer lest we spin our wheels training someone who doesn't pass muster!

Susan in La · September 2007

We do background checks prior to making an offer. They sign a form agreeing to this when they apply. We are restricted from hiring people who have been convicted of certain crimes because we provide services to people with developmental disabilities. We can't hire them and then get the background check back 60 days later.

davids · September 2007

We conduct background checks after making a conditional offer of employment. The risk in conducting the background check prior to making an offer is that if you end up not hiring the applicant, he/she may claim that you based the decision on something not work-related that you discovered during the background check. By making the conditional offer first, we are committing to hire the applicant unless the background check reveals disqualifying information. It does place the burden on us to ensure that disqualifying information is truly work-related; but it provides the applicant some protections.

NaeNae55 · September 2007

Your answers have really made me think. When we do a background check we have our response within 24 hours. The cost is only around $15, but I would not like to waste the money by doing one on several people for one position. When we think we have found the right person we offer them the job contingent on the results of the background check. We have never had someone back off at that point, and never had someone fail it (knock on wood).

I can see that many jobs require more in-depth checks, and therefore more time. I don't think I would like the idea of hiring someone and not having my answer for 60 days. But it would be worse to leave a position open for that long knowing my choice of hire might get hired by someone else while I am waiting. I know the checks on my relative will involve history with children and credit checks. That probably has a lot to do with why they are doing it the way they are.

Thanks to everyone who responded. It really cleared things up for me.

Nae

Lisa In Iowa · September 2007

When I first arrived at my company, they were conducting background checks prior to extending any offers. However, after consulting with an attorney, we have moved to conducting post offer, pre-employment background checks. As part of the check, we request their birth date. I was not comfortable with obtaining that information before we made a hiring decision. We run a criminal background check on all employees, and then run credit checks on those with access to cash or anyone in the accounting and finance area. We run a driving record check on anyone that is required to drive a company vehicle for their job. We usually get the results in less than 3 days. It was a change for our managers, however I provided them with training on what to say and why the change was made.

HRinVA · September 2007

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 09-18-07 AT 05:23AM (CST)[/font][br][br]We were making offers conditional on background checks, but we had several incidents where we had to let someone go who had not disclosed their criminal record. We now initiate the state police background check on the top candidate. It takes 2-3 days to get the results. While we are waiting on the results, we make the offer (conditional)/negotiate with the candidate. Since most candidates begin work in about 2 weeks, this gives us time to get the results before they are scheduled to start work.

We also conduct fingerprint background checks on certain positions - these are initiated on the first day of work and take about 60 days to get the results.

mbeam · September 2007

We do them before making the offer to confirm the information they listed on their application ties in with what the records show. Infrequently do we have discrepancies and only pay attention to convictions as they apply to the job itself.

We reference check prior to making offers to confirm details.

We have authorization from candidates to do this both on the application itself and from the separate form for background checks.

Beverlee · October 2007

We do backgroud checks pre offer, conditional offer includes drug screen & physical. We, too, have separate authorization forms for background checks, attached to the application- you apply- you know we are running your background/driving history.

phammond · September 2007

Our job offers are always contingent on the successful completion of our pre-employment testing, which includes the background checks. I am able to get the pre-employment test results, criminal background check (state & federal) and drug screen back within 24-48 hours. Any reference checks, however, are made prior to the offer.

Do you do it before or after?

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