Three Red Flags to lookout while conducting a Background Check

This post will highlight briefly, a couple of warnings or red flags that should be an indicator of falsehood or inaccurate information provided by a person of interest during BGCs. There are numerous reasons why a person of interest may provide false information during background check processes. Also, note that BGCs is not synonymous with the term investigation, rather it is verification and confirmation of information that has been provided. BGCs check for truth, transparency, it can also be considered a safety too.

Here are some of the reasons why false information may be submitted during BGCs

• Persons of interest who are unqualified may provide false information in a bid to appear as the most suited candidate for a role
• Persons of interest who are staff of your competitors may be on a spying or espionage mission to steal secrets and Intellectual properties, thus providing false background data about themselves
• Persons of interest who have ulterior motives to steal or destroy a system and abscond thereafter may supply the wrong information
• Individuals with critical health issues that may disqualify them from a particular role may provide false data about their health status in a bid to secure the position.

The list is indeed unending. However, the big question here is; are there red flags to observe thoroughly during the initial stage of conducting a background check? Your guess is as good as ours! Yes there are and they may include but are not limited to:

1. Refusal of a person of interest to authorize a background check: Ideally it is important to seek the consent of a person of interest before carrying out BGCs on them. However, refusal to authorize a BGC can only indicate that there’s indeed something they’re hiding and this must be taken seriously. In fact, this is the initial red flag.
2. Unexplained employment gaps: For previous employment checks, an unexplained employment gap can be an indicator that a person of interest may be unreliable, underqualified, inconsistent or even dubious
3. Inaccurate details about previous roles or organizations: When details pertaining to previous employers or roles are dodgy, it is a vivid red flag and must be taken seriously. Chances are that the individual is not qualified for the role or the individual never actually took up that role or worked for the organization.

The above are just a few of them, keep an eye for more of our blog posts on BGC.

We hope this was a good read. Do well to drop your comments, ideas and suggestion in the comment section.