By Jennifer Hunter
In today’s competitive job market, when a new hire is found, speed is of the essence to get that candidate onboard. But with an average cost per hire of about $4,000, when one of those hires turns out to not be the right fit, costs can mount. Retaining talent starts with talent acquisition – and having the right solutions in place to help enable more informed hiring decisions is a key. Before investing in a candidate, employers can benefit from leveraging pre-employment verification solutions to enable a more holistic candidate view and in turn, enable better informed hiring decisions.
Although about 93 percent of employers worldwide conduct at least some kind of background screening, research shows that 80 percent of job candidates who falsify or omit critical information on their resumes are hired. This not only hurts retention and the overall employee experience if the candidate turns out to not be the right fit but can also put the organization at risk if critical information, such as education and experience, is falsified. And the information a candidate chooses not to include is also a critical piece of the puzzle.
More fully verifying a candidate’s history with solutions that not only help validate candidate-provided information but also detect omissions can assist in driving key indicators for future retention success, while helping you mitigate your risk. If a candidate does not include relevant experience on their resume, what might they not be telling you? From hospitality, to warehousing and manufacturing, the risk of candidate omissions – because of termination due to putting themselves, their peers or their customers in danger, for example – could be especially troublesome. Many industries and specific job types already require verification of past employment for similar reasons, meaning pre-employment verification solutions that enable more holistic candidate views help you address your regulatory needs too.
Because employers need to make sure they are thoughtful about every candidate entering the application process before making an offer, hiring is not only expensive but time consuming too. By leveraging an automated pre-employment verification solution, talent acquisition professionals can spend less time manually verifying candidate-provided information, saving time for more strategic work. Using automated employee verifications also helps offer better privacy for candidates, especially if their current employer doesn’t know they’re actively looking. Paired with a faster, more efficient hiring process that sets the tone for a more positive employee experience – and instilling greater confidence in the candidate that they’re well-equipped for the role – enabling a more holistic candidate view with pre-employment verifications can help set the new hire up for greater success too.
Because having verified employment data during the hiring process helps employers provide greater visibility into future candidate retention and job success, the more verified data they have, the more informed of a hiring decision they can make. Research shows that in 2021, the top three reasons for conducting background checks were to protect employees and customers (76 percent), to improve the quality of hires (52 percent) and to protect company reputation (41 percent). It’s clear that organizations are beginning to recognize the need for pre-employment verifications and now, they need solutions that make the process as efficient and streamlined as possible, while also adding verified education and employment data to help deliver a more holistic view of the candidate.
As employers increasingly demand additional data sources that fulfill top screening data needs, such as education, the future of pre-employment verifications is trending toward all-in-one solutions that enable a more holistic candidate view – all in one place – to help streamline the experience. By leveraging such pre-employment verification solutions, talent acquisition professionals can verify current job status, validate experience and detect omissions or inconsistencies that require further conversation with the candidate. And by tapping into verified employment data to help enable more informed hiring decisions, employers can also help candidates feel more assured that they have confidence in their ability to perform and be a good fit for the role.
The information provided is intended as general guidance and is not intended to convey any tax, benefits, or legal advice. For information pertaining to your company and its specific facts and needs, please consult your own tax advisor or legal counsel. Links to sources may be to third party sites. We have no control over and assume no responsibility for the content, privacy policies or practices of any third party sites or services.