When companies employ a system of background screening for the candidates they wish to hire, they have a few key ways to maximize their value. In most contexts, their goal is something like this:
- Hire the best candidates
- Spend the least amount of money
- Be as thorough as possible
- Avoid losing candidates due to wasted time.
Most companies have their metrics by which they measure their best candidates. After all, as the experts in your field, you probably should also be the experts in talent acquisition! However, many pick only two of the three other metrics, not realizing that the entire process suffers if you don’t examine them all. There’s an age-old concept that highlights this balancing act called “The Project Management Triangle.”
For example, a team that wants to economize and spend as little as possible on background screening but want rapid returns tends to sacrifice thorough checks. A team that expects a comprehensive, speedy background check will end up spending a bit more in the process—and take more time, depending on the scope.
Therefore, there are some fundamental questions to ask your company as a whole when you look at your hiring process. Answering all of the items will allow you to move the needle when deciding on ideal options. When common-sense solutions are discovered, you can often add efficiency and effectiveness at the same time.
1. How Long Does Your Screening Phase Take?
Whether you have in-house staff conducting some background checks or work with a third-party provider, it is essential to know the time between the beginning of the check and the time that your company makes a candidate an offer. This metric is closely tied to the number of people who decline your job offer, citing that they’ve already accepted another. Connect these data sets: does an extended background check correlate with individuals declining the offer? If you have enough data, you’ll probably see at least a weak correlation.
One thing that people don’t always think about is the efficiency of the bookends of the background check process. When you approve a candidate and say a background check is needed, how quickly is that request relayed to your background screening provider? At the same time, do the completed results of the background check sit around? Perhaps you wait for them to be reviewed by a committee. Are they considered rapidly, and an offer promptly sent if everything checks out? While the length of the background check matters, so does the behavior surrounding the check.
2. How Many Red Flags per Final-Round Candidates?
When justifying costs, note how many red flags you apprehended because of the background screenings. This metric is crucial if it caused you to switch to a different candidate. This number should be framed in terms of the number of candidates in total. Showing that a particular percentage of hires can be made more carefully because of these screenings gives you a great justification when budget time comes around.
3. How Consistently Are Your Background Screening Standards Applied?
If there are different branches, locations, or franchises of your company, you don’t want to learn that the standards for background screenings are inconsistently applied. Your employee candidates deserve to have the same rigorous standards as anyone actively hired within your company. A significant statistic to compile is compliance with company background check policy in hiring. Once you’ve done a little investigating, make improvement a priority based on your collected data.
4. How Costly Is Your Current System?
Quality is measured by the other statistics mentioned here, as well as the number of relevant databases and checking mechanisms used. Given that, you should investigate how much you are spending on your current system. Make sure that you don’t aim for either the bargain-basement service provider or a rip-off service that charges a high price without delivering quality. CNet Technologies, for instance, aims to wow you with our thorough work while always charging a fair price for the value we generate.
5. Who Follows up with—and Implements—Change?
Once you’ve evaluated your metrics, most people will remind you that nothing substantial will change if you just put the reports into a filing cabinet. Whether you’ve discovered needs in quality, speed, or costs, make it clear that the responsible parties need to make a change in these areas. Finding a new vendor, reducing wasted time in the “bookends” around the screening, or creating a more stringent policy that applies to every job candidate could all be needed interventions.
Are you ready to consistently apply your excellent background screening policy throughout your company for a reasonable cost and a quick turnaround? Look no further than CNet Technologies; we are a third-party screening company that can consistently and accurately apply your standards. Our thorough process helps you reveal issues that could prevent responsible hiring. We work with HR Managers like you to improve and refine your screening process with efficient and legal third-party screening.
