Done well, background checks should be quick, secure, and seamless for candidates. Done poorly, these checks can cause delays, extra work, frustration, and concern about data privacy.
Just as it is important to hiring organizations to have a seamless experience when performing background checks, it is equally important that candidates have a positive experience, too.
Why is candidate experience so important in background screening?
The candidate experience encompasses each step of the hiring process, from submitting their application to assessment, interviewing, onboarding and orientation. When a job applicant has an overall positive experience, they are likely to think highly of your company, and if hired, will feel confident about their decision to join your team.
On the other hand, if the candidate has a negative experience, the opposite will likely occur. A PwC study found that 49% of job seekers have turned down an offer because of a bad experience during the hiring process. And if a candidate has other job prospects, it is more likely they will turn down your offer for another company with which they’ve had a more positive candidate experience.
On top of that, applicants with a less-than-enjoyable experience will be inclined to share it on platforms such as GlassDoor, which can potentially hurt your company’s hiring reputation.
So, to avoid all these downsides, steps should be made to make the candidate experience as seamless as possible, and that includes the background check process.
How to improve the candidate experience during background checks
Regardless of the type of background screening you perform, these considerations can help you improve the candidate experience during the process.
Choose a user-friendly background screening provider
Your technology can make or break your candidate experience. Prioritize background screening providers that are mobile-first and provide self-service options for your candidate. That way, candidates can submit and sign their documents, or schedule drug testing, no matter where they are or when they’re working. This puts screening back in your candidates’ hands and also helps facilitate faster turnaround times. Your candidate gets results back more quickly — and you can onboard your new hire more quickly. Everybody wins!
Also look for platforms that are easy to navigate and provide quickly accessible reports for you and your team.
Speed up your onboarding process
Every background check platform requires applicants to sign in (often requiring the candidate to create a new account and password), input past job information, and sign various documents. To make this process easier, small additions, such as allowing Google or social media sign-in, e-signatures, and syncing information from LinkedIn, will make a difference.
Look for providers with quick turnaround times
The background check usually comes just after an applicant receives a conditional job offer. Often, it’s the final hurdle they need to clear after a long and difficult job search process. So the longer your background check takes, the longer your candidate needs to wait until starting the job and getting their first paycheck.
A streamlined screening application or platform should allow candidates to quickly and easily submit the right information needed to perform the background check. Your background screening provider should provide an estimated time frame within which applicants can expect a follow-up or confirmation.
Look for background screening providers that have pre-existing relationships with local and state courts, as well as automated workflows to speed up processing, as these providers tend to have faster turnaround times.
Provide regular updates to candidates
Background screening can create stress and uncertainty for your candidates. Checking in with them during the process can alleviate that anxiety and help build a foundation of mutual trust. Staying in touch with your candidates also reduces the odds that they’ll drop out of your process during the background screening process.
So in addition to the mandatory disclosures and authorization forms, keep your candidates informed of the status of their application, next steps, and explaining why it is necessary to collect their data.
Keep your candidates’ data safe
Background screening requires your candidates to disclose personal information about themselves. And your candidates depend on you to keep that data safe.
To ensure the safety of candidates and their data used for background checking, make clear that you value their privacy and have an easy-to-access policy in place to assure them that their information is safe and will only be used for screening purposes. A three-tiered data privacy approach will involve processes, people, and technology.
At the end of the day, your candidates should feel satisfied and have the utmost confidence in your background screening processes.
Invest in candidate support
You can tell your candidates you care about their experience with you. Prove it by giving them a variety of support options.
When your candidates have questions, they expect to get connected to a live person that can help them. And if they’ve already got a 9-to-5, they may not be able to reach out during standard business hours. So look for background screening providers that provide live human support outside of standard business hours.
This has some tangible benefits: your candidates can resolve issues and submit information more quickly, and you can proceed to onboarding more quickly. But more importantly, supporting your candidates even before they formally join your organization shows them that you can deliver on your promises — and that you’ll be a great place to work.
Accurate pairs mobile-first technology and industry-leading client and candidate support to provide background screening you can count on. We offer 24/7/363 customer support manned by real people, so you can give your candidates the seamless, transparent and personalized experience they deserve. Reach out today to learn more about Accurate’s background screening options and see how you can build the best background screening program for your business.
