A background check will help you make sure that your employees are reliable and trustworthy. It also helps you keep your company safe from any potential risks. In short, running a criminal record history check on all of your candidates is a good idea before you make an offer.
You may wonder how much a pre employment screening costs and what it consists of. The good news is that several different types of background checks are available for purchase at different price points, depending on what information you need from each candidate.
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How much does a pre-employment screening cost?
It all depends on a few factors. The cost of a pre-employment screening will depend on your state, whether or not you’re hiring a contractor, and what kind of position it is. On average, however, you can expect to pay between $20 and $100 per screening. For example:
- A standard background check (which typically includes a criminal record check) may cost around $50 for an applicant who lives in New York City but costs about half that much for someone living in Kansas City—in part because of variations in state laws and other factors.
- If you conduct your own pre-employment screenings by yourself rather than hiring a third-party service provider, then labor costs will be closer to $30 per applicant (assuming there are two rounds).
What does a background check consist of?
The main purpose of a background check is to verify that an employee’s identity, education and work history are legitimate. This can be done by confirming their social security number, address, birth date and other information.
Generally speaking, there are two types of criminal records that employers may look for in a background check: conviction records (criminal offenses) and registered sex offender listings (convicted sexual offenders).
In order to determine whether or not an applicant has any criminal convictions or registered sex offender listings on their record, you’ll need to perform a comprehensive background check.
Education verification
Education verification is the easiest part of the process. All you need is:
- The name and address of their college or university,
- Their degree, major and minor,
- Date of graduation.
Employment verification
An employment verification check is one of the most common types of pre-employment screenings. It’s a simple and quick process that verifies an employee’s past work history, education history, references, and other personal details.
You can use this type of screening to make sure someone has actually worked at the places they claim to have worked at in their resume or application. If you’re hiring a new employee for a sales job, for example—you want to know whether they actually had previous experience selling products before applying for this position.
You might also want reassurance that they won’t steal from your company if they’re going on sales trips or making business trips with clients out-of-state or internationally. A criminal records check will tell you whether they’ve been convicted of any crimes before, so you know what kind of character traits your potential new hire possesses before making an offer!
The cost depends on how thorough your background check is going to be: Full Name Search ($19), Employment Verification ($14), and Education Verification ($14).
Criminal record history
Criminal record history is a report containing an individual’s criminal history. A background screening company performs criminal record history, which is part of the pre-employment screening process.
The cost for criminal record history varies based on the number of counties searched, the level of detail in which those records are searched, and how often there are updates to those records.
Driving records
The cost of driving records will vary depending on the state in which they are requested. For example, if you request driving records in California and New York, each state will charge a different fee for this service. However, if you request driving records in both states at once (for example), your price will be reduced to the lowest possible.
Another factor that affects the price of driving records is whether or not it includes information about accidents and convictions. If you want all three types of information included in your report—accidents, offenses and crimes—then expect to pay approximately $30-$50 for this type of report.
Credit history
Your credit score is very important in determining what types of loans and services you can receive. While some lenders will still lend to individuals with bad credit, it’s usually at a higher interest rate than someone with good credit.
As a result, employers may want to access your credit history as part of the screening process. A new hire might be asked to disclose their social security number or other personal information so they can pay for their background check.
What are the benefits of a background check?
Background checks are beneficial to the employer because they help avoid the following:
- Hiring a person with a criminal history. A company may have its own policies about hiring people convicted of crimes. Some companies will not hire anyone with any kind of criminal record; others will hire people who have committed lesser crimes but only if there has been some time since the offense occurred and if it was not for very serious offenses like murder or rape.
- Hiring a person with bad credit history. If you are going to be paying someone to do work for your company, you want to make sure that person can actually pay his or her bills, right? A bad credit rating could indicate that this employee won’t be able to pay his/her rent or bills on time, which could cause problems if he/she is also running up debt against your company’s account!
- Avoid hiring an applicant who has lied on their application form by providing false information about their education level or employment history; this protects both sides when they find out something like this after signing off on employment contracts (because now they know what they’re getting themselves into).
In the end, background checks are a great way for employers to ensure that the people they hire are the right ones for their company. They’re not only a proven method of finding out if someone has been dishonest about their past or is lying about who they really are, but they also help keep them safe from harm.
