The average cost to hire an employee is $4,000 and can take upwards of a month to close the deal.^[1] This includes the time and energy put into developing or updating the job description, performing compensation analysis, sourcing candidates, and holding interviews to ensure the candidate is a good cultural fit taking into consideration the candidate’s skill set and experience. New hires can’t join your team without marketing the open position and relying heavily on your internal or external recruiting team.

So why do companies short-change the employment verification process? Employers and recruiters alike know they are unable to rely completely on the candidate’s resume or professional social networking profile. Employee verification is an important aspect of the recruiting and hiring process that is regularly overlooked or not fully executed.
For example, the three most common resume embellishments^[2] include:

• Minimizing employment gaps by “adjusting” dates or fabricating a temporary or interim position.
• Inflated academic records by tacking on honors achievements or awards that were not earned.

In these examples, employment verification through a background check can be immensely helpful in highlighting details of the candidate’s resume, including dates of employment, salary, duties, the reason for leaving, etc.
When verifying information on a candidate’s resume, employers are urged to ask for and check provided professional references. This provides the employer with an opportunity to learn about a job candidate through the lens of another professional. Here are some common questions to ask for employment verification purposes:

• How do you know the candidate?
• If you had the opportunity to rehire the candidate, would you and why?
• What are the candidate’s biggest strengths and weaknesses?

Employers may run into an issue if the professional reference is either unable or unwilling to share this information. Either way, it is important to ask questions that relate to the candidate’s future at your company and how they would fare in the job to which they are applying.
Safeguarding your business by devoting time, energy, and dollars (when necessary) toward a good employment verification and background check process will not only improve efficiency in your existing screening process but will help to obtain quality information used for verification and reduce the time to hire for candidates.
The hiring process can stressful for the candidate and the hiring or recruiting team. Proper communication can help keep everyone in the loop and put a focus on the candidates’ hiring experience. VensureHR has helped businesses across the country continue to grow while protecting the company’s reputation. Contact us today to learn more.

^[1] Glassdoor: How to Calculate Cost-Per-Hire
^[2] Monster: The Biggest Resume Lies to Avoid