When your business spreads its wings to overseas, it comes across multiple challenges. Establishing a new branch is a complicated task on its own and the worries of hiring new employees invite more complications. Here comes the need of Fingerprinting vs. Biometrics which is an essential step to ensure the safety of your company before hiring new employees.
Why international background check is performed?
International background checks are initiated by companies if the applicant has lived abroad or the company has branches abroad. Nowadays it has become a common practice as the number of international candidates has increased and as criminals have the tendency to cross international borders to hide themselves in different corners of the world.
Background checks are extremely useful for employers as they offer detailed information about a potential employee. However, the procedure can be complex as different countries have different laws for international background check. For example there are some countries that refuse to cooperate with American screening whereas others happily offer what they can. Finding a way to deal with nearly 200 countries is not easy.
Even if you are lucky enough to deal with a cooperative country in international screening then also the time duration will be longer in international background check than in the domestic ones.
What can you figure out from an international background check?
International background checks involve checking records of an applicant in each country where he or she lived. Things that are included in a background check up are decided by an employer and there might be a lot of variation. The following are the most common information that is mentioned in an international background check.
1. Criminal record
Each country has different laws when it comes to criminal records and their accessibility. Based on these laws each of these countries governs how an employer can use the information within the criminal record. Some countries allow employers to restrict a candidate from joining his office if he or she has a criminal background that forbids him from working with vulnerable population like children.
2. Verifying educational qualification
Verifying the educational qualification of an applicant helps employers to decide whether he or she is capable of doing the job. Education verification is usually done by academic institutions for senior level positions. Employers directly get in touch with the schools and colleges that an applicant claims to have studied in. This procedure often takes a long time due to the strict privacy policies of some educational institutes that only allow either students or their parents to access the educational records. The language barrier and time differences can also increase the time duration of the procedure.
3. References
This is a straight forward method in which an employer contacts each reference mentioned by the applicant and inquire about his performance and salary structure to verify his experience and work efficiency. Employers might need the help of a translator in case the reference does not speak the same language.
4. Credit report
Just like international criminal records, obtaining an international credit report is equally a tricky job. This is again due to variation in laws in different countries in reporting credit, debt and responsibility. Moreover, many companies also have restriction on who can access the credit reports.
No matter how complicated the international background checking procedure is, an employer must do it to guarantee the safety of his company. Since there is no defined method that an organization can follow to complete an international background check, it will take your time, effort and patience to examine a candidate who has lived abroad.