Tips for Conducting an International Background Check

As the business world has gotten smaller and smaller thanks to instant communication, more and more companies have a multi-ethnic, multi-national management team. That can pose problems if the company in question is USA based and has a background check policy. If your company is wondering about instituting a policy for background checks on international job candidates, here is some general advice.

It is Necessary

For the same reason a background check policy makes sense for your American employees, it makes sense for international employees. People with criminal records, resume embellishments, education and training fabrications or legal troubles exist everywhere. If you neglect to review prospective employees from a background check perspective, you risk hiring someone with profound issues, regardless of where they live or are from.

What Should You Check?

This is a bit trickier, because depending on where a person is from, the available information may vary and its accuracy may fluctuate. In some cases, completing a criminal background check may not be possible..

At least, you should check the following:

Educational History: This is done by having the employment candidate contact the place they received their degree or training and asking the institution to verify they completed their education and posses the degree they claim.

Resume References: These are easy enough to check out. Make sure you ask the candidate for contact information, however.

With either of these type types of background verification, you may experience a language barrier. If this is the case, getting absolute third party verification of education or references may not be worth the effort if the candidate passes in all other regards.

Criminal Background Check

The criminal records check is by far, though, the most difficult when done internationally. It is willingly delving into a sea of bureaucracy, red tape, political influences, data accuracy and the possibility that a national criminal database from the prospective employee’s home country is not accurate.

Here are some reasons why you may run into trouble:

There is no global database: There are dozens of reasons for this, including the fact the USA is hyper-vigilant about individual privacy. Regardless, the result is no common database, which means you have to go country by country.

Each country has its own rules: The data collected in China is different than that of England. Likewise, the data of the USA and Russia are not identical either. In some cases, sharing criminal information with US companies is prohibited. Finally, the actual data may vary as may the degrees of a crime (felony versus misdemeanor, etc.)

As the world has become more connected, background checks on international job candidates has become more and more important. If you are implementing an international background check program, this advice and information should help you.