The top reasons for performing employment background and drug screening today are to mitigate risk, improve the quality of hire, promote workplace safety and meet regulatory compliance requirements, finds a survey of firms of all sizes that currently use background screening technology. Furthermore, more than half of all companies currently use or plan to use a screening solution integrated with their applicant tracking or talent management solution, reveals the associated compiling of this research, the 2008 HireRight Background Screening Benchmarking Report.

The vast majority (93%) of firms that use background screening technology verify candidates' educational backgrounds with it, according to the survey's results, followed closely by those (88%) who use it to verify past employment. Interestingly, only 13% use background screening technology to look at candidates' usage of social networks, and barely more than one-quarter (27%) use it as a way to vet candidates' references.

Additional findings include:

• Extended workforces, including consultants, contract labor, temporary and vendor personnel, are screened one-third as often as the permanent, full-time workforce, resulting in increased risk for firms that utilize contingent labor
• A little more than one-third of all respondents indicate their organization conducts background checks internationally in some form
• Job applicants are five times more likely to be screened than current employees, highlighting the existing employee risk that may exist at many companies

Article courtesy of Kennedy Information Recruiting Trends providing leading edge insights and strategies for the recruiting professional