Background Checks For Small Business

Background check, why would I need to run a background check? That's what I told my wife. "Come on dear, I heard you can get absolutely free background checks online" she said. How those words echo in my mind every time I think of what happened to my small business.

As a small family business anytime we needed more help, we would check for the nearest niece or nephew looking to work, we didn't need a background check on them so we never even had considered the idea. So when we decided to hire a young man to help run our store during busy season, I never even though of running a background check . I now know better. I bugs me even more to know you can get absolutely free background checks all over on the internet.

"Steve" as I will call him was a clean cut young man who walked in one day looking for some part time work to put towards college that fall. He filled out a basic application for employment, (a standard form we picked up at the office supply store) that looked pretty good. He just seemed like such a polite clean cut kid, I have to admit, I didn't check his references, much less run a background check.

Steve took to the business right off and had a great way of handling customers, everyone left with a smile and we had many good reports on him. It wasn't more than a month before he was running errands for us with the company truck (something I never would have done if I had run a background check on him) including taking the daily deposits to the bank for us.

Steve seemed to be so honest. His third week with us, I made a mistake on his paycheck, for whatever reason, I had figured his hourly rate at .50 more an hour than he was supposed to get. He came right into my office and showed me the mistake and asked me if I would make him a different check. I said no and turned the mistake into a raise for him telling him how important me it was to have someone as honest as him working for me. Man, he was good!

So, now it's the end of the summer and Steve gives me not 2 but 3 weeks notice, letting me know it's back to college and even asked about coming back to work the holidays on his breaks or maybe on the weekends if I was in a bind. This guy was the ultimate employee. I would always ask my wife, "so still think we need to run that background check? I think I trust him more than you, maybe I will run a background check on you! I know a place where you can get absolutely free background checks"

Two weeks before Steve was supposed to quit, he "lost" his paycheck and asked for a duplicate. Two days later we came in at the normal time, but our company truck was gone as was our computer, cash drawer and about $5,000 in merchandise from our store. It turns out, "Steve" came in early that day! He had apparently made a spare key for the truck, cashed his "lost" paycheck and the replacement check, charged a full tank of gas and headed for a college far far away.

That night, my wife ran a background check, an absolutely free background check. Turns out Steve has more work experience than he listed on his resume. If we would have seen just one of the issues on his background check, we never would have hired Steve and I wouldn't be writing this story.

Does your business need to run a background check on new hires? You better believe it. And why wouldn't you when you can get an absolutely free background check online? You have put a lot of time and sweat into your small business, don't make the mistake of cutting corners on something as simple and potentially important as a background search.