Do you need to run a criminal record search on every applicant that you are thinking about hiring?

This is a question that people ask time and time again.  The fact of the matter is that this decision is up to you.  Some companies will not hire anybody until they get a clear criminal record search, and others think that this is nothing more than a waste of time. Most industries do not require you to run criminal record searches on your prospective employees, but the majority of companies feel that this is a good idea in today’s day and age.

One of the biggest mistakes that companies make is thinking that since they have never been burnt before that this will not happen in the future.  Remember, just because a criminal has never hit your company does not mean that they will not in the future.  If you get entirely too comfortable with what you are doing you may end up making a big mistake, and in turn losing a lot of money in the process.

You can even have a lawsuit filed against you if you hire a criminal who in turn harms somebody at your place of work.

All in all, you do not need to run a criminal record search unless it is required by the industry that you are working in.  But remember, just because this is not a requirement does not mean that you should pass this by. If you do you may end up regretting it big time in the end.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 9th, 2007 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Background Checks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.