Spotlight for Recruiting Professionals

When you make a job offer to students do you run a background check immediately or closer to the start date? URR professionals in the NACE Community shared their approaches and ideas on the timing of their background checks.

One company does background checks about 30 days before the start date. “A lot can happen in six to nine months” between the offer and the start date, said the URR professional.

Several recruiters said their organizations do check 30 to 45 days before start. One recruiter noted that the process may take a little longer than usual because of court closures due to COVID.

One organization runs background checks before students start internships, so anyone who gets a full-time offer doesn’t have to be vetted again.

A recruiter noted that their organization does run two background checks—once at the offer acceptance and another 45 days out—and said the process works well. That means a student has time to address anything problematic that comes up in the initial background check, including finding a job with a different employer. It also allows the employer to know if anything significant has changed between the offer and start dates.

Another organization has an appeal process built into its hiring program that allows students to explain any problematic note in the background check process. An in-house background check team reviews the appeal and makes a final hiring decision if the hiring manager is agreeable.

When do you do background checks? Join this and other discussions of interest to employers in the NACE Community.