Job applicants' previous work experience is a critical factor in the hiring process. Strong work history on applicants' resumes distinguishes them from the rest. Hiring an unqualified applicant may bring undue risk to your business.
Unfortunately, not all applicants are truthful or forthcoming about their previous positions. You need to verify your applicants' work experience to ensure they have the experience they claim to fit your business needs. They won't pose a significant risk to your business or customers.
In this post, we walk you through why an employment verification check is essential to every thorough background screen.
Employment verifications confirm the work history provided on your applicants' résumés. This process verifies past and current employers and may also include employment dates and positions held.
As an employer, you seek the most qualified applicants to fill your open positions. But hiring applicants without verifying their past employment could significantly damage your business and its reputation.
You may be responsible for harm that results from your employee's actions. Failure to verify your applicants' employment history places your business, customers, and employees at risk, leaving you vulnerable to legal action.
Employment verification is critical to a thorough background screen, especially when your open position requires:
| • Direct access to financial or confidential information. |
| • Interaction with the elderly, children, or vulnerable individuals. |
| • Interaction with outside clients and vendors. |
Verifying employment will help you ensure the applicant is qualified, avoid future risk, and hire with confidence.
Our team at Orange Tree works with clients to meet their business's unique needs. We offer customizable solutions throughout the employment verification process to ensure each aspect fits their company requirements.
Orange Tree confirms employment dates, position titles, and applicant history within our client's time frame. We take the following steps to ensure our clients make the right hiring decision every time:
| • Request verification records from employment databases such as The Work Number®, a reputable employment verification database. |
| • The results reported back to us contain all present and past employment within 7 years. |
| • We compare these results to the work experiences reported by your job applicants. |
| • If an employment database did not verify your applicants' employment, we make four "valid attempts" to contact the former employer over a minimum of three business days. |
An Orange Tree "valid attempt" is an outreach to a confirmed phone number or email address. It also means that we attempt contact over several business days and at different times each day. This approach leads to high success rates.
When employment verification is unsuccessful, Orange Tree offers the following add-on services:
| • Contact the applicant to request valid documentation of employment per our client's company policy. |
| • Applicants can easily capture and upload documents from their mobile devices to our secure CandidateConnect® portal. |
| • Orange Tree confirms that the candidate's name, one alias, employer's name, and the employment date match the documentation provided. |
| • Make additional attempts as defined by our client's requirements during the account setup. |
Another option is for the candidate to complete IRS Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return. This process requires the candidate to complete the form with a wet signature. As one might expect, this process is cumbersome, slow, and expensive.
For these reasons, companies typically avoid this option.
With a success rate higher than 90%, Orange Tree is dedicated to delivering accurate results fast, so employers can return to doing what they love.
As your business grows, you need a partner in the background industry who will work and grow with you. Orange Tree seeks to earn long-term partnerships that provide employers background screening programs designed for their needs and solely in their best interest.
Want to learn more about how our team can be of service to your organization?