Employers recruit new employees on a regular basis to fulfill their requirements to do certain jobs in the company. The employers usually conduct a pre employment check on the prospective candidates before they hire them for the post in their company.

These pre employment background checks are conducted keeping in mind the requirements of maintaining security of data, to avoid people with criminal background that may cause some problems with their intent and also to avoid problems with negligent hiring. It is also conducted to eliminate the possibilities of providing false information and boosted-up information regarding years of experience, educational qualifications, salaries in the previous places of employment, etc.

Due to the difficulties of allocation of manpower to conduct the jobs, many prospective employers use some third party agencies that are capable of doing the job for them more easily to perform the pre employment checks.

If the employers are conducting the pre employment background check themselves, it is not necessary for them to obtain a signed consent from the person seeking employment. But, if the employers are seeking the help of an external agency to conduct pre employment background checks, it is necessary to obtain signed consents on a form that follows Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) guidelines to allow the agency to go ahead with the verifications

Whether it is the employer or an external agency that is conducting the pre employment background check, they follow a set pattern in assessing the credibility of the person and to eliminate the risks of criminal activity or credit frauds, etc. The verification is performed on the basis of the information provided by the person on their resume or curriculum vitae and also based on the information provided at the time of interview.

The information provided in the resume is cross verified by contacting the list of references provided by the prospective employee, which includes both personal references and employment references.

The next step in the pre employment check includes going through many verifiable records that will help in giving a fair idea about the credibility of the person. These include going through a trace on the social security number, running driving motor vehicle records, checking the background for any criminal activities by going through county and state crime records and sexual offender lists. These days many companies also ask for a check on terror report watch lists to eliminate the possibility of employing terror suspects and people on most wanted lists