Risky Business: Why your organization shouldn’t overlook international background screening

All organizations have a responsibility to their shareholders, customers, and associates to conduct compliant and risk-averse background checks on their potential contractors and employees without discrimination. Most US businesses that require criminal background screening prior to hire only run a criminal history search on an applicant within the US court systems. This tactic leads to the hire of employees with non-disclosed criminal history and makes the company liable for the employee’s actions while placing associates, clients and the organization at risk for a multitude of tragic events. Any applicant who has lived, worked or been educated outside of the US at any time in their adult life must be screened for criminal history in each country in which they have lived. If a candidate is properly and officially screened in every country where they have resided prior to being hired, and they do not have any criminal history or records, the hiring business has invested in the security of the organization’s future.

There are not any specific laws that mandate a business must perform pre-employment background checks on their potential hires, although there are many industries that require a particular level of background screening be conducted on any associate their organization engages in business. As the global marketplace continues to expand, these screening requirements will become more prevalent and ensure your company has a compliant process in place to adhere to these policies will provide opportunities that may not have been possible otherwise.

A business who performs global background checks on all potential hires has not only taken active steps to protect themselves from criminal havoc and liability, they have also ensured the talent operating their business has the education and job experience to provide success. This saves time and money by avoiding constant turn-over due to applicants who document their credentials dishonestly and do not possess the skills in which they claimed they had. Many organizations will only verify job history, references and education for U.S. entities because they do not have the ability to perform these verifications outside of the U.S. and this is a critical error that can have a serious impact on any company.