How Long Should a Background Screening Check Really Take?

Recruiting agents often find themselves in a difficult situation when they are required to fill some vacancies in the organisation, and do it quickly - yesterday, if possible - which does not give them enough time to carry out the most basic background screening. Human resources agents have the responsibility to vet a candidate's resume to make sure the new recruit will not become a liability for the company, but management often complains about what's taking so long?

Who has time for red tape?

To speed up the process, a recruiting manager should inform the candidate from the first job interview that he or she needs to undergo a background screening check.

When the whole process is time-sensitive, the employer should not leave the prospective employee to deal with this issue on his own. Going to the local police station is a tedious affair the candidate is likely to put off for several days, and, anyway, such checks carried out through traditional channels take a long time as most state institutions are understaffed. Such a process might take weeks, which is unacceptable for a recruiting agent under pressure.

Going online - the solution for 21^st century HR managers!

A good HR manager should take charge of conducting a national police check rather than leave it to the candidate. These days, in modern countries it's easy to obtain a police check on a prospective employee and everything can be done online. In Australia, an Australian police check can be obtained from an agency that is accredited with the federal government and can perform national police checks that are 100% valid and just as good as those done by the local police.

An accredited agency has full access to the police databases in all Australian states and territories, so they can discover if the job applicant has a conviction on their record, even if the crime was committed in a different state.

Using the services of online background screening providers is efficient as the agency has a user-friendly interface and applying for a police check can be done in minutes. The documents come back way quicker than when you go to the local police station. Typically, the results of a national police check come back in 1 to 3 business days. The document will contain all the information about an individual's criminal record that the courts have decided they can be disclosed. The employer receives the document via email as soon as the application is processed and the results come in. Generally a state based police check like a national police check qld, (for the state of Queensland in Australia) should take the same amount of time as a national level check.

Keep in mind that results might take a bit longer if the job applicant has a very common name, like John Smith, as the police agencies would have to sift through all the Smiths out there to find the right one.

At the same time, it should be noted that, in a limited number of cases, the results are delayed if the background check was flagged and sent to police agencies for further review or manual processing. This does not mean the candidate has a criminal background as such requests for manual processing can be made for many reasons. This delay is not caused by the agency doing the background screening as such procedures are outside their jurisdiction.