UNITED STATES—In this modern-day world, technology continues to grow and advance with each passing day. Technology plays a huge role in the business world, especially in the field of background screening for candidates. More employers are becoming aware of the growing pressure to hire a good fit for the company and ensure that they are not a risk. Background search websites are rising to meet the increased quantity and quality demands expected by businesses worldwide.

Technology Improves the Process                                                                             

Technology has improved the background screening process from the get-go. To start the search, the employer (or landlord, partner, etc.) has to get permission from the candidate to proceed. The candidate will receive an email informing them of which areas will get searched and where the information will be going. They can then digitally sign the authorization form and fill out their personal details for the background check service. This way, there is less chance of error or misinformation, which would cost time and money to resolve.

Saving Time

One of the biggest reasons that background check sites are growing in the tech space is because they save so much time for organizations. If an employer were to use a service such as Check People to quickly verify someone’s identity, for example, this task could be complete in less than an hour. This would allow the employer to be able to offer the candidate the job right away and not risk losing them to a better offer at a place that got back to them sooner.

Of course, more thorough checks can take longer, but technology has reduced the overall process by 2-3 days on average as compared to performing a background screening manually. If a large organization uses technology for every search and hire dozens of new employees every year, they are saving weeks of time.

Another benefit is that employers will get a current status update on how the screening process is coming along. They would simply need to log into their account with the background check service and take a look at the estimated time of completion. This can help with keeping candidates in the loop and preparing training schedules for new hires.

Improved Accuracy

Many background check services integrate with online court databases. This enables them to directly request access to a person’s criminal records. The records are then electronically sent to them, which increases the speed and accuracy of the process. It is a good way to ensure that all the data on a specific person gets gathered together, and nothing goes missing out of error.

This is also the case when verifying employment records. The background search service representative would easily be able to send an email out to a previous employer with a list of questions to verify. The employer would confirm and digitally sign the form and return it at their convenience, ensuring the accuracy of the information. In the past, representatives had to call employers to verify the information over the telephone. This led to more errors and inaccuracies, as the employer might not bother to double-check the facts if they are on the phone and trying to rush to answer the questions.

Employee Monitoring

Once you hire the employee, they may think that they are home free and can do whatever they want without their employers finding out. This is not the case anymore ever since the recent advancement of background search technology. Some background check services offer an additional option to continually monitor an employee’s activity online. If you use this service, you will need to get written permission from the employee beforehand to do so.

The background service will perform an occasional search of the employee to see if anything new has come up since the last check. This includes things such as criminal records and social media activity. This is especially useful if the background service pulls up a post the employee made, in which they are bad-mouthing the company or sharing confidential information. This could be grounds to fire the employee immediately, so it is a good thing for the employer to be aware of. This type of technology makes it possible to remain aware of the employee’s activity and ensuring that they are not doing anything to jeopardize the company’s reputation.