Hiring is hard! You can only tell so much about a person from a resume. Face-to-face interviews usually provide deeper insight, but you still may not truly know someone after a brief round of questions and answers. The bottom line is that an employer can never be sure they’re hiring a person with integrity and strong character. That said, there are some tools that will help you figure that out.
Perform a Background Check
There’s nothing wrong with utilizing background check services for employers, in fact you absolutely should use one for every prospective hire. You deserve to know if a person has a criminal history. If they have a violent crime record, you need to protect your employees and customers. If they have a history of theft or fraud, you don’t want them handling money. This is not an intrusion, it’s necessary information.
Call Their References
A good resume should always include 3-4 references, preferably business-related. If someone does not include any references, this should be a major red flag. Even teenagers applying for first jobs should be able to get a teacher or coach to write them a recommendation. Having the reference is the baseline first step. A hiring manager should always call to verify that the information they’ve been given and ask open ended questions, like “Can you describe a situation where this person was under high pressure and how they handled it?”
Check Out Their Social Media Accounts
There’s a fine line between prying into someone’s personal life and seeing what information they have made accessible to the general public. Put their name into a search engine and see what comes up. If they have a criminal history, that will probably be near the top. Otherwise, it will likely be one or several social media profiles. Don’t request their friendship or follow them but do see what sort of information and media is public. If you can find it, your other employees and clients can as well.
