What Employment Gaps May
Signify
When you are interviewing a new applicant, you
may see that there are gaps in their employment history. For most people,
this may be explained by family issues, sickness, or other insignificant
reasons. However, with certain people this may be an indication that they
had difficulty with their former employer, or that they spent some time in a
correction facility during that period of time.
One of the main reason that gaps in an employment history are a problem is
that it is harder to track down background information on your own. The
applicant may have lived in a different state, or spent extensive time
traveling during that period. This is one of the main reasons that it is an
essential part of good business to run background checks on all potential
employees, before you actually hire them.
An applicant may not be forthcoming about the reason behind any gaps in
their employment. In some instances, they may outright lie, or they may try
to “dress-up” their reasons with clever wording. Instead of trying to read
between the lines, or take their word for it, you can easily find out the
truth by running a criminal background check on the person. Typically, a
comprehensive background search will return information on convictions,
lawsuits and criminal charges that may have been filed during the period in
question.
If your business is in the state of California, you can use our Worker’s
Compensation History check to determine if fraud was the reason for an
applicant’s gap in employment. This is an issue that is quickly becoming
quite common as more people try to beat the system. A worker that files a
false worker’s compensation claim can drive up your insurance premiums and
give your company a reputation for being unsafe.
Typically, when someone attempts fraud with a worker’s compensation claim,
they have already tried it in the past. By checking through their history,
you’ll be able to see if they are previous offenders and you can save
yourself a lot of future problems.
Another important facet in determining the real reason for employment gaps
is collecting verifiable references that can be used to give you a more
complete picture of your applicant. It is extremely important to follow up
on these references to make sure that you can collect all the information
that you will need to make a good hiring decision. In the event that your
applicant does not provide correct information, a background check can
assist you in finding more information about this person and possibly their
previous employers.
Not all employment gaps signal problems, but they should give you some
pause. Make sure that you ask your applicant the reason for the gaps, and if
you are not satisfied with their response, or if something just doesn’t feel
right about their reasons, take the time to run a background check on them.
You’ll save yourself time, money and possibly prevent fraud from occurring
at your company.
Back to Background Check Overview