If you’re a small business or medium-sized business, it’s important that you know potential hires and current employees are truthful about their past experience and credentials. Background checks ensure a thorough assessment of who a job applicant has said they are, providing clarity around what’s down on their resume. They provide the necessary information you need to make a more informed hiring decision, and to ensure the safety of your existing customers, other employees, and systems.
Hiring an employee can seem like guesswork when you’re relying solely on their word for job success. Knowing what to look at if you’re hiring someone online can give you more confidence in hiring the best person. Confirming the identities of the people you think you might employ can help you make an easier hiring decision. Background checks for candidates are important as these will help minimize risks and protect your business.
Here, we’ll run through some need-to-know information on small business screening and background checks.
There are different types of background checks. Depending on your small business requirements, there are different background checks available to help you make more informed hiring decisions. For example, simple pre-employment check for new job applicants may simply verify education history, whilst in other industries, criminal record background check services and industry body checks are required to remain compliant.
Background checks required vary from employee to employee.
We offer quick checks – employment screening for individuals with limited risk to the business and need to be onboarded quickly. These can also be used where top-up background screening is required.
Pre employment screening for low risk roles – These are ideal for individuals in entry level positions.
Medium risk background screening – These are designed for individuals who may hold key roles within the business (eg finance, compliance).
High risk role background checks – Specifically for individuals at manager level and above and are key decision makers within the business.
We have carefully tailored industry specific packages, based on our extensive experience within pre-employment screening. Once you select your industry sector, a suite of packages will be available to cover various roles across your small business.
They cost less than you may think.
With Accurate, pre-employment screening small business packages start at £74 for limited risk background check services. With pay-as-you-go services, you pay on a check-by-check basis, ensuring that your small business is only spending money on background screening when its needed.
They’re not instant.
When we’re screening candidates, we’ll always try to complete your screening in the shortest possible time but, in some instances, we may encounter delays. For example, if we are waiting for responses from third parties such as past employers or universities. If a candidate has lived or worked abroad, please bear in mind that overseas background checks can sometimes take a little bit longer.
The screening process should end in a comprehensive report.
At the end of the background screening process, you should receive a report of the findings for your review. The results will vary, for example from criminal record checks to employment history checks, but the end-goal is to provide small businesses with comprehensive information to support their workplace hiring procedures.
We now offer pay-as-you-go employee checks.
With small and medium-sized businesses in mind, we’ve launched Vero/Go, our pay-as-you-go screening solution for small businesses, medium-sized businesses and gig workers. With no contracts, this simplified employment screening service helps you find out the information you need to know, fast.
From general checks to those for high-risk positions, using a Vero/Go screening bundle for background checks can help you reduce your exposure to risk and ensure your candidates’ experience and qualifications are genuine whilst complying with any regulatory requirements.
We have defined comprehensive screening bundles based on our experience across multiple business sectors. Our background check packages include:
- Financial Services
- Legal
- Professional Services
- BS7858
- BPSS
Interested in small and medium-sized business screening solutions that can help your business? Click here to find out more about conducting background checks.
