What background checks should I do as a tech scaleup?

Picture this: you’re tech scaleup is growing at a fast rate, you’re hiring new people frequently, spending weeks reviewing CVs and interviewing applicants, and finally landed on your perfect candidate. Success!

Naturally, you want to onboard them as quickly as possible, so you can crack on with the important job of building your business. BUT, before you go any further, there are a few bits of important paperwork to get sorted first - background checks.

These checks don’t need to be arduous, but they are necessary to ensure your brilliant new hire is who they say they are. In most tech scaleups, not every role will require every possible background check, but background checks should be completed nonetheless.  

Before starting any background checks, ensure that you always ask the candidate for their permission before proceeding and be transparent about how their information will be obtained. Respecting the candidate’s privacy is paramount under GDPR.

So, down to business - Which background checks should you do as a tech scaleup?

• Right to work: All employers are legally required to carry out a legal right-to-work check, and that includes your tech scaleup. There are three different ways you can verify a candidate's right-to-work. If you fail to do this, you could face a fine of up to £20,000.
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• References: Research shows that 1 out of 11 people lie on their CV. So, if you want to confirm your perfect candidate is as perfect as you think, reference checks can help confirm this. You can verify a candidate’s employment history, either by contacting previous employers yourself or using a third-party platform like Zinc to do this for you. Reference checks confirm the candidate's previous work experience and provide you additional insight towards their suitability for the role. You may choose to only check a candidate’s most recent position or to verify a set time period, for example, five years.
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• Education: It’s a similar situation with educational qualifications, 40% of people who provide false information on their CV exaggerate their academic qualifications, while 11% make up a degree altogether. Yet, a significant number of employers don’t verify this information. Education checks can be done simply by requesting certificates or checking with the educational institution itself.
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• Credit check: While not required for all roles, a credit check may be appropriate when hiring in the financial services industry, including fintech businesses, to reduce the risk of fraudulent activity. A credit check can provide insight into an individual's financial responsibility and help ensure compliance with industry regulations.
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• Criminal Record: Similarly, criminal records checks aren’t standard practice for most roles in tech scaleups, however, if you operate in fintech, this may be appropriate for some positions where an individual is handling sensitive information. 
  

• Address checks: Verifying the accuracy of an employee's personal information is an important step in the hiring process. An address check ensures that the person you are hiring is who they claim to be, safeguarding your company and reducing risk.

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Using a third-party provider like Zinc to complete these background checks will remove the manual, time-consuming tasks often associated with traditional hiring processes. Saving you precious time, budget, and resources, you can generate background checks with the click of a button. Using this automation to onboard employees sets you up for success as you continue growing and hiring at scale. 

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