What is A Background Check? Everything You Need to Know About Employment Background Screening

The most significant risks are often those you don’t see coming–until it’s too late. Every new hire represents both an opportunity and a potential vulnerability. How can you be confident you're building a team founded on integrity, trust, and safety?

The answer lies in a robust, compliant background check. These tools are essential for both pre-hire vetting and post-hire screenings, and they’re used by 95% of employers in the U.S.. However, there are several types of background checks you might not be aware of. From identity verification to employment vetting and social media screening, there is a wide variety of screening solutions available. Understanding each one will help you decide which tool is best for your business needs, so you can ensure a secure environment for your team. 

What is a Background Check?

A background check is a comprehensive review of a candidate's history, essential for verifying qualifications, identifying potential risks, and ensuring role suitability. It’s a fundamental component of informed decision-making, empowering organizations to mitigate risks like workplace misconduct and fraud and to foster a secure, trustworthy environment by providing a clearer picture of who they’re bringing into their workplace.

What Does a Background Check Show?

Not all background checks are the same. But the different types of background checks uncover different aspects of an individual’s history, helping to paint a holistic picture of who a person is. 

• Criminal History Records: Reviews official records for convictions relevant to workplace safety, security, and job-related responsibilities.
• Identity & SSN Verification: Confirms an individual's identity and Social Security Number to prevent fraud, verify U.S. work eligibility, and establish foundational trust.
• Employment History Verification: This due diligence validates that candidates genuinely possess the track record they present, reducing the risk of hiring individuals based on falsified credentials or exaggerated experience.
• Credit Reports: For positions involving financial responsibility or access to sensitive data, a credit report provides insights into financial management history that may influence a person’s suitability for their role. 
• Drug Screening: Promotes workplace safety and productivity by screening for illicit substances or prescription drug misuse, typically conducted post-offer with candidate consent.
• Social Media: Analyzes publicly available online content for problematic behaviors, such as credible threats, harassment, and discrimination, that could pose workplace risks or indicate misalignment with company culture. When conducted ethically and compliantly, social media screening can provide valuable behavioral insights that traditional checks might miss, helping to safeguard company reputation and employee well-being.

5 Goals of a Background Check

1. Ensure Workplace Safety

77% of businesses use background checks to cultivate and maintain a safe and secure environment for all employees, clients, and visitors. By screening for histories of violence, threats, or other concerning behaviors, organizations can significantly reduce the risk of workplace incidents.

2. Hire the Best People

Beyond verifying qualifications on a resume, background checks aim to identify individuals who are not only skilled but also possess the integrity and reliability to be a valuable asset to the team. 

When conducted ethically and with relevance to the role, insights from other checks, like credit history for financial roles or social media screening for misconduct indicators, can offer a more holistic view, helping ensure that new hires are a good fit for the company’s culture and operational standards.

3. Protect Brand Reputation and Image

Your employees are ambassadors of your brand, and their conduct, both on and off duty, can reflect on the organization. Background checks help safeguard your company's reputation by identifying candidates whose past actions or publicly available online behavior could tarnish your brand image or erode public trust. 

4. Maintain Legal Compliance

Adherence to legal and regulatory standards is a non-negotiable aspect of modern business, and background checks play a dual role in this arena. Firstly, the screening process itself must be conducted in strict compliance with laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidelines, and various state and local regulations. 

Secondly, for many industries and specific roles, background checks are mandated to meet regulatory requirements, helping companies avoid penalties, sanctions, and potential legal liabilities associated with non-compliance or negligent hiring claims.

5. Improve Quality of Hire 

All of the above objectives converge on one overarching goal: to improve the quality of hire. By ensuring a safer workplace, validating candidate claims, protecting the brand, and adhering to legal standards, organizations are better positioned to select individuals who will perform effectively, contribute positively to the work environment, and remain with the company longer. A high-quality hire translates to increased productivity, reduced turnover costs, and a stronger, more resilient organizational culture.

How to Conduct a Background Check

Conducting background checks effectively and compliantly requires a systematic approach. This process is not just an administrative task but a critical phase in safeguarding your organization and ensuring you bring the right talent on board. Understanding how these checks integrate into your overall hiring workflow and leveraging modern tools can significantly enhance efficiency and accuracy.

5 Essential Steps in the Background Screening Process

1. Determine Which Checks Are Necessary: Strategically define scope based on role, responsibilities, and industry regulations. For instance, a role involving financial management might necessitate a credit history check, while a position requiring driving would warrant a motor vehicle records search.

2. Obtain Consent: Before initiating most types of background checks, employers are legally obligated to obtain explicit, written consent from the candidate. The candidate must be provided with a clear, standalone disclosure document stating that a background check will be conducted, and they must authorize the employer to proceed. Failing to obtain proper consent can lead to significant legal repercussions, making this step a non-negotiable part of a compliant screening process.

3. Run the Background Check: Once consent is secured, the actual background check is performed. This typically involves engaging a professional background screening provider or utilizing specialized screening software. These services access a wide array of databases and sources to compile the necessary information. However, the method and sources will depend on the types of checks identified in step one.

4. Review the Data Carefully: After the background check report is compiled, it must be reviewed thoroughly and impartially. The focus should be on information that’s directly relevant to the job requirements and potential risks to the organization. It’s crucial to assess any findings in accordance with EEOC guidance, considering the nature and gravity of an offense, the time that has passed, and its relevance to the essential functions of the position. 

5. Make a Hiring Decision and, if Needed, Follow Adverse Action Procedures: If the background check reveals no concerns, the hiring process can proceed. However, if information uncovered during the check leads the employer to consider not hiring the candidate (or rescinding a conditional offer), adverse action procedures must be followed. 

Modern background screening software plays a pivotal role in making this intricate process both accurate and efficient. By removing repetitive, manual processes, advanced platforms can:

• Ensure compliance with FCRA regulations.
• Automate data collection from multiple sources.
• Minimize errors that are more likely to occur with manual processes.
• Improve candidate experience by improving turnaround times.
• Integrate with Talent Acquisition, Onboarding, and HR systems for a streamlined hiring workflow.

Sophisticated screening software means organizations can conduct more thorough, compliant, and timely background checks to help them make confident hiring decisions.

The Role of Social Media in Background Screening Processes

Background checks are critical to ensure that businesses understand the people they hire. Social media can reveal a lot about who a person is outside of a professional environment, which offers a more holistic understanding beyond their resume. Ultimately, these screenings help verify that a candidate would make a good fit within a company and behave in ways that align with the code of conduct and protect the brand.

What is a Social Media Background Check?

A social media background check is an analysis of publicly available online content to find prior instances of misconduct that may make a candidate unfit for employment. For instance, if a social media background check finds that a person made threats to other people in an Instagram post, then that person might act the same way in a professional setting, putting the well-being of others at risk. 

What’s Included in a Social Media Background Check?

Professional social media screening methodically reviews public content for predefined, job-relevant problematic behaviors, not private information. Compliant reports include:

• Candidate identification verification 
• Flagged content, such as
  
  • Violence or threats
  • Hate speech or intolerance
  • Harassment and bullying
  • Sexually harassing material
  • Illegal activities and drug use
• Keywords determined by businesses using social media background checks
• Redaction of protected class information 

It's important to note that a professional social media background check report will not include private messages, content from private profiles, or information that’s not job-relevant or that could lead to discriminatory hiring practices. The aim is to provide objective, behavioral insights relevant to workplace risk.

How Background Checks Are Used for Employee Screening and Risk Management

The commitment to a safe, ethical, and high-performing workplace doesn’t end once a candidate is hired. Instead, it evolves into an ongoing responsibility to manage risk and uphold company standards throughout an employee's tenure. 

Just as pre-employment background checks are vital for informed hiring, ongoing employee screening and periodic rescreening are crucial proactive measures for continuously safeguarding your workforce and protecting brand reputation.

What is Employee Screening?

Employee screening is the use of a background check after someone is hired. Post-hire employee screenings become necessary on a case-by-case basis. For instance, a business might realize that a crucial pre-hire background check was inadvertently missed during a rapid onboarding process, or company policy may have evolved, requiring current employees in certain roles to meet new screening standards.

What is Employee Rescreening?

Employee rescreening involves conducting comprehensive background checks on existing employees at periodic intervals or when specific triggers occur, such as a promotion to a more sensitive role, a significant change in job responsibilities requiring higher trust, or as mandated by industry regulations. 

This process repeats many of the same checks performed during the pre-employment phase (like criminal record checks, professional license verifications, and social media checks) to ensure that employees continue to meet the requisite standards for their positions. 

Both employee screening and employee rescreening are vital for long-term risk management,  helping to verify that the trust placed in employees remains well-founded over time and that the organization consistently maintains its commitment to a secure and compliant operational environment. As with all screening, employee rescreening must be conducted with appropriate consent, adhere to all applicable compliance laws, and be directly relevant to the employee’s role and responsibilities.

Understanding the Legal Framework for Employment Screening

Understanding and meticulously adhering to the complex legal framework governing employment screening isn’t just a matter of best practice–it's a fundamental requirement for any organization. 

The laws and regulations in place are designed to protect applicant and employee rights, ensure fairness and accuracy in reporting, and prevent discriminatory practices. For employers, compliance is critical to mitigating legal risks, upholding ethical hiring standards, and fostering a trustworthy brand. Here are a few of the most critical legal requirements for background checks:

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA)

This federal law is the cornerstone of regulation for background checks conducted by third-party consumer reporting agencies (CRAs) for employment purposes. The FCRA mandates several critical obligations for employers:

• Permissible Purpose: Employers must have a legally permissible reason, primarily for employment purposes such as hiring, promotion, or retention, to obtain a consumer report.
• Disclosure and Written Authorization: Before conducting a background check, employers must provide a clear, standalone written disclosure to the individual stating that a report may be obtained for employment purposes. They must also secure the individual's explicit written consent.
• Adverse Action Process: If information in a consumer report may lead to adverse action, employers must follow a strict two-step process. This involves providing a pre-adverse action notice, allowing the individual an opportunity to review and dispute inaccuracies, followed by a final adverse action notice if the decision stands.
• Proper Disposal of Records: Employers must securely dispose of consumer reports and the information they contain to protect against unauthorized access.

Partnering with an FCRA Compliant Background Check Provider is an easy way to ensure background checks are conducted compliantly. These providers understand the intricate requirements of FCRA guidelines and have processes in place to help employers meet their obligations, from providing compliant disclosure and authorization forms to facilitating or supporting the adverse action process.

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)

The EEOC enforces federal laws prohibiting employment discrimination. Key EEOC considerations include:

• Avoiding Disparate Impact: Policies that broadly exclude individuals with certain criminal records may disproportionately affect protected groups and could be deemed discriminatory if not job-related and consistent with business necessity.
• Individualized Assessment: Employers are encouraged to conduct an individualized assessment for candidates excluded by a criminal record screen. This involves considering the nature and gravity of the offense, the time passed since the offense or completion of the sentence, and the nature of the job sought or held, often referred to as the Green Factors.

State and Local Laws

Beyond federal mandates, a myriad of state and local laws can further shape employment screening practices. These can include:

• "Ban the Box" or Fair Chance Laws: These laws typically restrict when an employer can inquire about an applicant's criminal history, often delaying inquiries until later in the hiring process.
• Restrictions on Credit History or Social Media Checks: Some jurisdictions limit the use of credit reports or access to social media information, like login and passwords, for employment decisions to specific roles or circumstances.
• Variations in Reportable Information: State laws may also dictate what information can be reported and for how long, such as limitations on reporting non-convictions or older criminal records.

Ultimately, a legally sound background screening process is fundamental to building a safe, productive, and equitable workplace. It demonstrates a commitment to due diligence and responsible hiring, reinforcing trust with both your candidates and employees. 

Building a Foundation of Trust and Safety with Background Checks

The most important asset for any business is its team, so hiring the right people is imperative. But beyond that, it’s critical to establish a culture of trust and safety, something that’s a prerequisite for organizational success, resilience, and growth. Background checks make both of these goals achievable.

By diligently vetting candidates and current employees, organizations demonstrate a commitment to protecting their people, assets, and reputation. This commitment resonates through every level of the business, assuring employees of a secure work environment, reassuring customers of your integrity, and building confidence among all stakeholders.

8 Background Check Best Practices

Implementing a robust background screening program requires diligence and adherence to established best practices. These guidelines will help ensure your process is effective, compliant, and fair:

1. Develop a Written Background Screening Policy

Create a clear, comprehensive, and consistently applied background check policy. Ensure it is reviewed by legal counsel to comply with all relevant laws and regulations.

2. Ensure Job-Related Focus

Tailor the scope and depth of background checks to the specific requirements and risks associated with each role. Avoid over-screening or collecting information not pertinent to job performance or safety.

3. Obtain Proper Consent

Before conducting most background checks, provide a clear, standalone disclosure to the candidate and obtain their written authorization, as mandated by the FCRA.

4. Train Hiring Managers and Decision Makers

Ensure everyone involved in the hiring process understands relevant compliance obligations (FCRA, EEOC guidelines), how to interpret reports fairly, and the importance of non-discriminatory practices.

5. Follow Adverse Action Procedures Meticulously

If information in a background check may lead to an adverse hiring decision, strictly adhere to the FCRA's two-step pre-adverse and adverse action process, giving candidates an opportunity to review and dispute information.

6. Say Informed on Evolving Laws and Regulations

Background screening laws are dynamic. Work with your provider and legal counsel to stay updated on changes at federal, state, and local levels.

7. Maintain Confidentiality and Data Security

Treat all background check information with the utmost confidentiality and ensure robust data security measures are in place to protect sensitive candidate and employee data.

8. Partner with an FCRA Compliant Background Check Provider

The effectiveness, compliance, and ethical execution of your background screening program are directly influenced by the partner you choose. Navigating the intricate web of federal, state, and local regulations, while ensuring accuracy and fairness, demands specialized expertise and sophisticated screening tools. This is where a trusted, professional background screening provider like Fama for social media background checks becomes an invaluable ally.

At Fama, we understand that background screening is about much more than just data collection; it's about delivering actionable intelligence that empowers you to make confident decisions and make hiring great people easy. Using advanced AI technology for nuanced insights, we ensure your team is handed detailed social media background screening reports to help you make easy decisions for your business. We also partner with 95% of global background screeners to bring our award-winning social media background checking capabilities to employers all over the world.

To get started, book a demo of Fama’s social media background screening solutions today!

Background Check FAQs

What is a background check?

A background check is a professional review of a candidate's or employee's history, designed to verify information and assess job-related suitability and potential risks, empowering organizations to make informed, safer hiring and employment decisions.

When are background checks used?

Background checks are most commonly used during the hiring process. They are also utilized for current employees for ongoing screening, rescreening at specific intervals, before promotions to sensitive roles, or to meet regulatory compliance requirements.

What information is included in a background check?

The information included varies based on the job role and requirements but often includes criminal history records, employment and education verification, identity verification, and, where job-relevant, credit reports, driving records, or public social media content reflecting risk.

What are the different types of background checks?

Common types include criminal record searches, identity and SSN verifications, employment history verification, education confirmation, credit reports (for relevant roles), drug screenings, motor vehicle record checks, and social media screening.

What’s the cost of a bad hire?

Bad hires cost employers at least 30% of the employee’s first-year earnings. However, the cost of a bad hire extends far beyond financial losses, impacting team productivity, morale, company reputation, and even workplace safety and security, all underscoring the critical value of thorough screening.

Are background checks legal?

Yes, background checks are legal and a standard business practice when conducted in strict compliance with laws like the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), EEOC guidelines, and relevant state/local regulations, including obtaining proper consent and ensuring non-discriminatory practices.