If you’re looking for a job or you’ve found one that matches your interest, then you probably have questions about what background checks are. Or if you are an employer looking out for potential candidates, you might be wondering why criminal record checks are necessary before you hire someone, or what kind of background check you should use or conduct to keep your employees, clients, and customers safe.

One of the most common background checks is the criminal record check. It is a check that gives you details of any criminal activities carried out by the person you have shortlisted. It could give you details regarding a small misdemeanor or a more serious felony or conviction. However, unlike a general background check, criminal record checks will only show crimes that a potential employee has committed in the past. These cannot be used as a means to verify their educational qualifications or previous employment details. If you want to conduct a criminal record check for specific types of crime in a particular state, you can go for a state criminal background check.

Criminal record checks usually retrieve information from police reports, court records, and publicly available information. This way, you can get a more clear picture of the candidate’s background and other necessary details that they might be hiding from you.

Why is it necessary to perform a criminal record check?

1. Highlight criminal history

Before hiring a candidate, companies run a pre-employment background check which includes criminal record checks for one reason – to find out about any previous criminal activities that the candidate may have been involved in. A candidate’s criminal history is the key to help the employer make the decision of hiring him/her or not. Sometimes, there could be petty crimes listed on the record check, which are not of much significance. However, running a criminal record check cannot be ignored at any cost.

2. Avoid liability

Negligence in hiring can lead to heavy liability for your company or organization. When you hire an applicant without running a criminal record check, you are liable for it. For example, let’s say you hired a truck driver without running a criminal record check on him. One day, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, he happens to get into a major accident. After an arrest, the police officer finds out that the truck driver already had a history with three DUIs. You will be liable for the incident as you did not conduct a thorough check on the driver, and the company can be heavily sued for the same.

3. Ensure safety at workplace

The truth is, not all people have good intentions, and the chances are that you may meet people who have committed some heinous crimes in the past. This includes sex offenders, murderers, or violent criminals. As an employer, you are highly responsible for the safety of your employees at the workplace, and you cannot take the risk of hiring these candidates. Workplace safety is one of the major concerns for every employer, and running a criminal background check will help you keep your employees safety intact and avoid any fatalities involving employees.

4. Job competency

Many candidates claim false statements during an interview. It is a fact that most of them lie on their resumes and interviews in order to get a job they’re looking for. Regardless of whether they lie about their educational qualifications, job history, or criminal history, verifying these claims is an important task for the employer. For details regarding educational qualifications and job history, a general background check would suffice; however, for the criminal history, run a criminal record check to make sure that a candidate hasn’t been hiding any detail from you regarding convictions or arrests.

5. Take the right decisions

As an employer, you need to be sure and positive about any hiring decision that you make. If you want your company to be successful, you need to choose the best candidates for the right jobs. Ensure that when a candidate passes lengthy screening processes, he also passes the criminal record check to be positive that he is not just fit for the job, but is also a great choice for the company.

Bottom line:

Running a general background check on a candidate will not be complete without a criminal record check. The latter will bring to light any criminal activities that a person or candidate has previously committed to giving you a fair idea of what you are dealing with as an employer. When you run a general background check, you are at risk of being unaware of any serious violations, crimes, or felony that has been committed by the candidate. In such cases, employers can use services like SpyFly to get a detailed and comprehensive report of existing employees or potential candidates.

SpyFly provides consumers affordable, immediate access to public record information. Federal laws prohibit businesses from using SpyFly’s service to make decisions about employment, insurance, consumer credit, tenant screening, or for any other purpose subject to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 USC 1681 et seq.