Over the past few weeks Americans and citizens worldwide have been able to take a cautious sigh of relief. The FDA approval of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines has given us the sense that there is light at the end of the tunnel and that sometime soon, hopefully within 2021, our world, and businesses may begin to return to a sense of normality we so longingly miss. With unemployment rates higher than they have ever been and the economy in a recession, employers need some good news. Rehiring and hiring new talent to keep our collective doors open is right around the corner and choosing the right candidates is more important now than ever to recoup what the pandemic took in terms of time and profit.
All Closed Down
With much of the country shut down, there has been an effect in every form of business. With schools, courts, and businesses closed, gathering all the reference materials needed to perform a complete background check can become more difficult, but diligence and timeliness pays off while performing these screenings for employers.
Stay Up-to-Date
With this large pool of employees at the ready, your business’s employment screening practices should be in place for hiring. These practices include making sure your hiring policies are in line with EEOC guidelines and federal, state, and local laws, and updating screening process to ensure COVID-19 safety. If you need help understanding where your business stands, we are here to walk you through it.
If closures throughout the country have affected every form of business, it would seem as though completing employment verification and drug screening would be difficult to do, but there is still a robust system in place for much of the employment screening process that has advanced in recent history. Considering the advances made in logging data and information, most of the channels by which the necessary information is obtained is done so digitally and online.
The Courts Go Digital
Most county courts, which is where criminal records are stored, have been digitized and made available with limited need for human interaction, thus making the most pressing portion of an employment screening easily accessible to qualified persons. This is also the case with state’s departments of motor vehicles—much of state’s records are online (viewable only upon request by an accredited company or individual), so there is little time lost in obtaining these verification documents.
Drug Screening During COVID-19
Drug screening for employment verification can take longer than expected due to the influx of high numbers of COVID-19 tests that labs are required to process to deal with the ongoing pandemic. Though the results may take longer than usual, most labs are open and any delay should not cause a significant time lapse in the screening process.
Online College
One of the largest resources for Educational screening is the National Student Clearinghouse Database, which is the “leading provider of educational reporting, data exchange, verification, and research services.” Although it is just one of our several education reporting databases, National Student Clearinghouse has over 3,600 colleges and universities and over 13,000 high schools reporting to the database electronically. Obtaining the necessary reporting for your screening is not an issue amidst the pandemic.
Be Prepared
If we have learned anything from 2020, it is that things can go wrong, and very quickly, but being prepared for whatever comes your way is critical in surviving in business. The better you screen and know who is representing your company, the more your business with thrive and be built upon trust and loyalty.
Let’s Get Back to Business
At ESS WNY, we take great care and pride in complete information. The reports and information we provide for your business takes the guesswork out of hiring in such an uncertain time. If your business needs help getting ready to bring some of your staff back to work, or bring on new staff, we are here to help you with the transition. The time is just around the corner for everyone to safely get back to business, and employment screening is the first step back.
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