There are a lot of websites available on the internet that offer free background verification services enabling everyone of conducting checks on anyone that too within a couple of minutes. The whole process may be the most efficient of all other background verification processes but is certainly not considered a good idea for anyone who wants to utilize these instant checks in making important judgements. It is not advised to rely solely on the data that these websites offer when making important hiring choices for your workforce.
Here are the reasons why conducting quick free background screening check is not considered a good idea.
- Lack of Accuracy
- No Quality Assurance
- Limited Data Sources
- Lack of Accountability
- Lack of Compliance
The majority of the time, free online background checks employ automated systems to look through public databases and then produce results. The systems are not clever enough to pick up on nuances like people with remarkably identical names. As a result, the incorrect person may have their criminal history reported. Accuracy checks require personnel, which most free background check firms lack.
Results of checks obtained through free background screening service are never reviewed. It frequently calls for doing research as well as sifting through and evaluating many sources of information which required time and money.
Since the checks are performed for free, no effort is made to verify the obtained information hence there is no surety of quality.
Free background screening service providers often limit their searches to publicly available digital records. The effectiveness of the governing body in charge of those records and how regularly they submit their data determine how current those records are. Free background check providers often lack the resources necessary to do manual searches, hence they do not scan non-digital information.
The majority of free internet background check services include a notice with their results, waiving all responsibility in case any error is reported. It is a sign that the person who is in charge of the background check understands the risk and will be held responsible if the applicant challenges the findings.
Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) mandate the ones responsible for conducting background verification to obtain written consent before executing screening process against the candidate.
There are a lot of free background verification service providers who conduct checks without requesting candidate’s authorization document. Moreover, a lot of them keep their clients aware of the fact that running background checks without consent may subject them to legal liability and they cannot legally use it for pre-employment screening if the service provider is not in compliance with the FCRA.
Wrapping Up
Using free background screening online services may appear to have benefits like less cost and speedy results but they also have major drawbacks as there is no guarantee of accuracy and accountability which easily outweighs these apparent advantages.
Hence, free background checks should be avoided by anyone looking for trustworthy information about background checks since depending on findings retrieved from such services can result in legal issues and the employer can sued along with getting burdened with heavy fines.
