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Pre-Employment Background Screening – The Effective Way

  Sue McConnachie   |     Nov 29, 2019

Pre-employment screening is the best way to ensure that you are employing the most suitable people for your company. Not only will it help improve employee morale, by effectively matching each candidate to the appropriate job, it will also improve productivity and reduce turnover.

It will also:

  • Protect you from negligent hiring lawsuits
  • Ensure your workforce properly represents your company
  • Attract more qualified applicants in the future
  • Provide a safe environment for employees and reduce workplace violence and accident
  • Reduce the number of benefit claims
  • Decrease hiring and training costs
  • Identify resume fraud and individuals with a history of theft or embezzlement
  • Allow human resources to focus on other equally important tasks

But today, with so many laws surrounding the employment process and privacy, many employers are concerned about requesting background information. However, when done correctly, employers have an absolute right to conduct lawful pre-employment screening in order to hire the most qualified candidates.

When conducted in the proper manner, Pre-Employment Screening should look at information relevant to the position without invading an individual’s privacy or violating any of the Canadian legislation governing employment screening and privacy such as:

  • Provincial Human Rights Legislation
  • Credit Reporting Legislation
  • Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA)

The key to making the screening lawful is informed consent, which should be obtained prior to starting any investigation.  The investigation should only be conducted if the candidate authorizes the employer to conduct specific searches.  In fact, certain searches, including CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre), education verifications, consumer credit files or motor vehicle abstracts can only be obtained with the candidate’s consent.

Information that can be obtained during a Pre-Employment Screening includes:

  • Confirmation of personal information including legal name, current address and Social Insurance Number
  • A nationwide search of CPIC (Canadian Police Information Centre) database will provide information concerning any record of convictions or pending charges for which the potential employee has not been pardoned
  • A summary of the candidate’s borrowing facilities including credit card and loan balances and repayment history
  • Employment history and employers which may not have been reported by the candidate
  • Verification of the candidate’s post-secondary education
  • Verification of current employment 
  • Confirmation of previous position start and finish dates, income, reason for leaving, responsibilities and comments regarding strengths and weaknesses
  • Confirmation of professional credentials including whether the candidate is in good standing with a given association, when the designation was obtained and if there are any disciplinary actions noted
  • A 3-year history of driver’s status includes violations and points recorded
  • A history of collection actions launched against the candidate are detailed
  • A history of bankruptcies and consumer proposals under the Bankruptcy Act
  • Pending legal actions and judgments obtained against the candidate

For more information on Pre-Employment Screening take a look at our expertise and product pages.

Pre Employment Candidate Screening Solutions

By Sue McConnachie

 Tags: Human Resources

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