Pre-Employment Screening: What To Expect

Before sending you a job offer, firms may undertake pre-employment screenings. During the interview process, potential employers will usually do a screening to aid their hiring choice.

Fremont, CA: A pre-employment screening, sometimes known as a "background check," verifies your data and background. Employers might employ screening tests to see if you can manage sensitive or secret information and if you have the necessary skills for the job.

Employers can do one or more of the following common pre-employment screenings, depending on the job, role, and position:

• Tracing a social security number (SSN) will reveal all of the names, dates of birth, and addresses linked to that SSN. In addition, employers can use this trace to locate regions where they can look for other records.

• Criminal background checks look for information in various sources, including local, state, national, federal, and even international databases. You may be asked to give your fingerprints for some criminal background checks.

• Motor vehicle records, driving records, credit histories, bankruptcy records, workers' compensation records, civil records, and even medical records can be searched through public records screens.

• Verifications and credentials checks verify the accuracy of your education or degree, past work, professional certificates or licenses, professional references, and military service, among other things.

• A health care practitioner conducts controlled substance screens to ensure that your job complies with a company-wide policy on illicit substances.

• Only companies that provide security services or manufacture or distribute controlled substances can demand lie detector or polygraph exams.

• Pre-employment exams are tests that a potential employer may ask you to do to assess your talents about the job.

Pre-employment tests come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some employers may give pre-employment tests out. These are defined, objective methods of acquiring information regarding your ability to function at work. The following are examples of common pre-employment assessments:

• Personality tests are used to determine your personality characteristics. These findings might assist your employer in deciding whether you fit with the company culture, and certain characteristics can imply superior performance in specific areas. Salespeople, for example, are extroverted and forceful.

• Hard and soft talents are measured in skill exams. For example, soft skills testing might include questions to measure your capacity to communicate or solve problems. Hard skill questions are frequently related to the role. A test for a computer programmer, for example, can include questions regarding a particular coding language.

• Aptitude tests can assess a wide range of cognitive talents. Still, the most typical ones look at critical thinking, attention to detail, and the capacity to absorb and apply new material.

• Technical or theoretical skill in a given sector, such as marketing strategies or accounting concepts, is measured by job knowledge examinations.

• Integrity exams assess your trustworthiness by posing questions regarding workplace ethics. "Do you often agree with your employer's policies?" is a common inquiry. For example, "Do you think it's ever okay to take a lengthy lunch?" or "Do you think it's ever acceptable to take a long lunch?"

• Emotional intelligence exams measure how well you build relationships and comprehend emotions, which are skills you may require in several jobs. These tests may require you to reply to statements like "I agree" or "I disagree" with "Agree" or "Disagree."