When you are going through the process of hiring someone to work for your company, it is imperative that you know exactly who you are hiring. This is especially true if the employee will be in a position of responsibility. This may mean financial responsibility, but it may also include company secrets. It’s also important to know that the person you hire has the educational background they claim they have. The following are a few things you should know about background checks.

It’s not worth attempting it yourself

Doing a search online is next to useless, but there are sites that will, for a price, do a background check for you. These sites only doing a limited search of public records. They may look for criminal records, for example, but they will only be looking in a few states. Even if they are able to do a robust search of criminal records throughout the entire nation, the search will be meaningless if the person of interest has changed their name. This name change may not be a legal change, but is one that represents an alias, or in some cases, it may be identity theft.

References cannot be depended upon

It is too easy to get people to vouch for you, but what many employers are often unaware of is that it it not difficult to provide fake references for employment history or education. Companies that are no longer in business are easy to list on a resume, but educational institutions that exist outside of the country can be difficult to verify. In fact, a man or woman whose background has been mostly outside of the country can be difficult to verify. For this reason alone, you need to use a professional international background check services firm.

It is simply too important to cut corners on a background check for key employee hires. The liability associated with hiring the wrong person can be quite high, and can affect the future of your company’s profits and in some cases, even its reputation. You should spend the extra money, so you are hiring the person you think you are hiring.