A pre-employment screen is a search for information about a job applicant; the search does not seek to prove or disprove, only to bring relevant information to the surface so that an objective judgment can be made about the suitability of the applicant to perform the job. The private investigator dredges up the relevant information; the client makes the objective judgment.
Private investigators routinely provide pre-employment screening services to businesses. The PI’s usual point of contact is the owner or operator of the company, the company’s manager of the human resources department and/or the security department. The areas of interest to the client will vary according to the needs of the organization and the preferences of management. For example, a company that operates in a safety-sensitive environment will be interested in a job applicant’s accident history, and a retail sales organization will be interested in a job applicant’s honesty. A company’s chief executive officer (CEO) that by nature is realistic about people generally may want a job applicant’s credentials checked to the nth degree, while a CEO in the same line of business may believe that no one working for him or her would ever think of doing anything wrong.
Whatever the dictates, the search for information follows the same course: the requested information is gathered, presented to the client, and the client makes the call. An employer can be in the private or public sector, i.e., operate a business or a government organization. When the employer operates a business, the PI and the employer usually have a direct relationship. When the employer is a government organization, the direct relationship usually is between the PI and a group under contract to the government.
Some employers screen applicants using in-house resources; some do not. In the latter category, the employer engages the services of a third party such as a private investigation agency. The employer’s rationale in going outside of the company is usually two-fold: less cost and better results. Pre-employment screening done in-house usually resides in the human resources department or security department. The screening work requires one or more dedicated employees, work space, equipment, office supplies and so forth. The cost of maintaining an in-house pre-employment screening program can be quite high, yet the effectiveness of the program can be quite low. In-house employees are generally not skilled at conducting investigations. Hence, the employer turns to investigation professionals.
Screening can also include drug testing, psychological testing, intelligence testing, and in-house interviewing. These are tasks that fall within the venue of the employer, not the investigation agency.
It is the applicant that provides the information to be verified. The provided information is typically written on a job application form and other forms, among which is a form that gives consent to the company to verify the information. Usually, the information to be verified relates to security number, present and former residences, former and present employment, personal references, education, debt load, and civil and criminal convictions.
When information provided by the applicant seems suspicious, the client may ask the private investigation agency to check it out. At this point, the screen becomes a background investigation. The investigator will conduct database searches, searches of public records kept at courthouses and similar places of records keeping, determine the nature of discharge from the military, examine the details of civil and criminal convictions, and interview persons who know the applicant personally.
In regard to a screen and a background investigation, several government rules give protections to the applicant, and those rules must be scrupulously followed, both by the private investigation agency and the prospective employer.
In essence, a pre-employment screen is a cost-avoidance measure. Applicants that are felons, violence-prone individuals, drug abusers, and safety risks can be filtered out, thus reducing costs associated with theft, injury, accidents, and medical assistance benefits.
A vast majority of employers understand the benefits of hiring the best job candidates and providing a safe and secure workplace. To attain these benefits, the employer has to know as much as possible about people before they are put on the payroll. A company with an effective pre-employment screening program is better able to identify applicants that are honest, drug-free, safety conscious and skilled in the work that the job demands.
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