The employee vetting process extends well beyond an initial interview. It assesses whether or not a candidate is a good fit for a role within a company with the help of different processes and tools. Even candidates who pass their interview with flying colors might be hiding experience flaws or hidden character traits that make them unideal for a position in your company.
Whether they’ve exaggerated on their resume or if they are hiding a criminal history, a background check and thorough screening process can help you gain clarity on candidates. The vetting process can reveal things that disqualify someone from becoming a part of your team or may ensure that your favorite candidate is the right pick for the role. In this article, we’ll help you understand the vetting procedures you can use to do your due diligence and find the best new employees with your hiring process.
Why it’s important to vet employee candidates
Hiring a new candidate is an important process that you shouldn’t take lightly. Hiring unqualified candidates can cost your business time, money, and resources. A thorough vetting process can help you search through job applicants and find a new hire that best represents the values and intentions of your organization.
According to Glassdoor, hiring a new employee can take an average of $4,000 and 24 days. This number depends on things like how much you spend on the job listing, the seniority of the job, and whether you have to pay to train new employees.
Making a poor hiring decision leads to significant inefficiencies in your organization and can increase employee turnover. This, in turn, can lead to more money and hours spent on re-hiring. And worst of all, a new hire could be a bad culture fit for your business, and your team could suffer as a result.
The sooner you eliminate unqualified candidates from your application process, the better. Vetting candidates ensures that only qualified candidates wind up in your talent pipeline, go through the interview process, and have the potential to become a member of your team. By asking the right questions, taking steps like holding phone screenings, and running a thorough background check, you can avoid having the wrong candidates come in for interviews.
You can verify a candidate’s education history
Different job roles in an organization require different levels of education. Therefore, the educational history of your candidates is an important factor to consider. Some roles require specific professional licenses or certifications in order to qualify for a job. By checking a candidate’s education history, you can learn about where they graduated from, their highest level of education, and any other specific educational training they have that makes them a good fit for the role.
You can review employment history, skills, and certifications on a deeper level
Another important factor in hiring a new employee is their employment history. This shows you where else they have worked and what roles they have held during their career. It also allows you to see how many jobs they have held, how long they have been in each role, and if there are any gaps or times where they were not employed. All of these play into the hiring of a qualified candidate.
You can also examine your candidates' skills, certifications, and professional references. Some of the roles you hire for might require specific skill sets or professional certifications that you need to ensure your candidates actually have. And professional references help you understand what past employers thought of the candidate and what they enjoyed or didn’t enjoy about working with them.
You have the proper time to check a candidate’s criminal background
One of the biggest parts of finding the right candidate involves running a criminal background check to see if the candidate has a criminal history or criminal record. While a criminal history doesn’t automatically mean that a candidate won’t be a good fit for your organization, it’s essential to know this information right away. Some candidates try to hide their criminal record — if they have one — so being thorough in a background check protects your company and your team from an unqualified candidate.
You rule out candidates who don’t seem like a match early on
The vetting process allows your business to figure out who is a good match early on in the hiring process. This way, you can avoid going through the entire interview process with a candidate who isn’t the right fit for your business or who doesn't have the qualifications to take on the role. This not only saves you time and money, but also helps you make the process easier for the candidates as well.
The step-by-step process of vetting employees
Now that you understand why having a vetting process in place is important as a hiring manager, let’s discuss some ways you can create a vetting program for employees in your organization.
1) Create an in-depth job application
Your job application is the first step toward vetting unqualified candidates for your role. Asking for a cover letter, having a detailed application, and requesting professional references (instead of a family member or friend) can go a long way in reducing the number of unqualified candidates who apply for your job. Taking the time at this stage to carefully examine the applications and determine who fits the role on paper can help you avoid unnecessary time and money spent on candidates who don't match the qualifications you want.
You should also take the time to write a clear job description so potential candidates know exactly what responsibilities and tasks would fall to them if you hired them. This allows them to self-vet and make sure they are applying for a role they qualify for.
2) Schedule phone or video interviews
Once you determine which candidates you want to move forward with, you can schedule screening calls or phone interviews to help you get a better feel for each applicant in your hiring process. You can ask some basic interview questions and start a conversation with candidates so that you know more about them, their background, their experience, and their intentions toward the role — should they be hired.
By having this screening phase in your vetting process, you can further narrow down your field of candidates to individuals who will be a good fit for the company. By speaking to the candidate on the phone or over a video call, you can understand more about them and not just what they have written on their application.
3) Use software to run background checks
Because running a background check is such an important step in the vetting process, you should use tools and software to help you accurately gather information about a candidate’s criminal background. Many free tools will do basic checks and help you gather information on criminal history, but some roles will need a stiffer background check.
If you work in government, education, or security fields, having an in-depth background check and a high level of clearance is especially important. By using online programs and software tools to help you check your candidate’s backgrounds, you can get the most detailed information and protect your company, team, and customers.
4) Follow up with the candidate’s references
Gathering references is more than ensuring a candidate has checked a box. You should follow up with the references they provide in order to verify the information they have listed on their resume. Professional references will be able to give you a different perspective on a potential candidate than you can get through interviews alone.
By following up with references, you can learn exactly what it's like to work with the candidate from other managers and supervisors. You can determine if they work well with other teams, take advice and listen to direction, excel in any particular areas, or have unique and helpful skill sets. Conversely, you can learn if the candidate has exaggerated their experience on their resume and determine if they are as qualified for the job as they claim to be.
5) Review all of the candidate’s information and make a decision
The final step of the vetting process is to make a decision. Now that you have information on the candidate’s educational background, criminal history, job history, and have spoken to them in person (or via phone or video call), you can decide whether or not you think that they will be a good fit for your company and the role in question.
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Partner with a reliable recruiting service that vets talent for you
An employee vetting process allows you to find reliable talent that fits your company’s culture, determine a good candidate for the role, and will help benefit your entire business. Without a vetting process, you risk hiring unqualified candidates for your open roles, leading to team dissatisfaction, high employee turnover, and wasted time and money.
Vetting a potential employee has numerous benefits, but can be a hassle. Partner with a reliable recruiting service like Hunt Club that will handle the vetting process for you.
At Hunt Club, we take the complexity out of the recruiting process and help you at every step. Whether you need help vetting applications or want to learn how to navigate pre-employee screening, we are here to do the heavy lifting for you.
