Incidents of corporate fraud have been on a steady increase in the last century. And by recent statistics, the trend might continue into the unforeseeable future.
Recent data by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) shows that consumers lost nearly $8.8 billion to fraudulent activities in 2022 alone.
Numerous reasons have been cited as the primary motivating factors behind corporate scams. Notable ones include a compelling desire to meet earnings expectations and a dishonest urge to conceal a company’s deteriorating financial position.
One way to combat the rising wave of corporate fraud is to hire honest employees with a strong work ethic. However, it’s not always easy to look a jobseeker in the eyes and get a sense of their soul. Not when many have mastered the art of projecting false exteriors that are a direct contrast from their real characters.
Therefore, it’s imperative to conduct extensive background checks to ensure you’re engaging someone who’ll not put your company in jeopardy. And that’s where background check APIs come in.
Read below to unlock the power of background APIs and how they can streamline your company’s screening process.
What Are The Benefits Of Background Checks?
Background checks have become an inseparable part of the screening process for many companies worldwide. That’s understandable due to the numerous benefits it offers.
Many recruiters perform background checks on job seekers to establish that the job candidates are who they claim to be. This entails verifying their personal information, academic qualifications, work experience, social background, credit history, and criminal record. The goal is to establish that the person is the most qualified candidate.
Background checks are the only effective way to vouch for a jobseeker’s credibility. These processes can help reduce the risks of workplace crimes, ranging from physical violence to verbal abuse, sexual harassment, and massive economic crimes like corporate fraud. They also serve as excellent safeguards against professional incompetence.
During the screening process, background checks can help uncover whether a job candidate has had a criminal past. Prospective employers will then leverage that information to consider or eliminate the candidate based on their risk assessment.
For instance, a job applicant with impeccable academic qualifications and illustrious working experience may have had previous run-ins with the law for minor traffic offenses. These aren’t sufficient grounds to deny the person an opportunity to work in your firm if their resume stands out.
But if the said individual was once indicted for major economic crimes, such as money laundering, their criminal record is enough to drop them from the screening process.
What Are Background Check APIs
A background check application programming interface (API) refers to a software program or service designed to serve as a link between a company’s existing systems and the background screening gamut.
Like most software, the primary benefit of a background check API is to streamline the background verification process. These tools integrate seamlessly with existing systems, reducing the time it would have taken for potential recruiters to verify a job applicant’s information manually.
But the significance of background APIs doesn’t stop at the interview stage. The programs maintain massive databases for storing every candidate’s credentials. This allows the software to passively continue with background screening. The idea is to uncover crucial information about an already-onboarded employee, which might have been missed during the initial screening processes.
How Do Background Check APIs Work?
Most background check APIs boast an intuitive user interface (UI) that makes them incredibly easy to navigate. These programs do not require prior experience in coding, programming, or software engineering to get the hang of them. Instead, they maintain neat and uncluttered dashboards that provide a comprehensive perspective of the background verification process.
All you need to do is run the software on your device to kick-start the screening process.
Depending on the nature of the job advertised, potential recruiters can send out a common link to all the applicants inviting them to start filling up their details.
Remember that the software must have already been integrated into the company’s existing systems. Therefore, all provided details are relayed to the relevant departments (such as HR and interviewing panel in real-time). This allows the teams concerned to decide on an applicant’s suitability split-secondly.
What Are The Benefits Of Background Check APIs?
Time-efficiency is one of the most notable benefits of integrating a background check API into your systems. As already hinted, these programs can complete pre-employment candidate verification at a fraction of the time it would take for the same to be achieved manually. In most cases, you’ll only require the candidates’ email to kick-start the verification process.
Background check APIs are also effective at streamlining processes. With this software, the HR staff won’t need to physically obtain the data of potential employees from the interviewing panel. Not when they can have the jobseekers’ details automatically transmitted across the API’s interface.
This is especially important for firms that outsource recruiting services, where there could be a significant communication lag between the HR department and the interviewing staff.
In fact, the seamless experience that background check APIs guarantee can provide additional benefits to your brand. Even unsuccessful job candidates will have something to write home about their sense of time management and organization.
Ease of use is another excellent thing to love about background check APIs. Most of these programs are designed for non-tech users. There’s a little-to-no learning curve involved, which means end users can get the hang of the tools without requiring prior coding or programming know-how.
However, remember that background check APIs will differ considerably in user-friendliness. That underscores the significance of test-driving a program before integrating it into your system.
You’ll also love background check APIs for their customizability. You can optimize these software’s efficiency based on the expected number of job applicants. Besides, the programs allow you to create personalized query forms depending on the nature of the job posting.
And needless to say, background check APIs perform the fundamental role of helping you verify a job applicant’s credibility. They can make a difference between hiring honest, competent individuals and unethical or unskilled ones.
Final Word
It’s important to remember that background check APIs aren’t made equal. Therefore, conduct due diligence before selecting the best API for your needs.
Ideally, the most efficient background check API should integrate seamlessly with your system for fast and accurate results. Be sure to test-drive the software to uncover its ease of use, uptime score, data access, and customizability.
