Candidate Privacy and Pre-Employment Screening – What You Need To Know

When you’re bringing new employees onboard – particularly during the era of remote work – it is important to make sure you vet these candidates.

 

While background checks are incredibly useful tools, you have to ensure that you’re using them appropriately. Before collecting information about a candidate, it is important to answer two main questions:

 

-What information is needed?

-Why is it needed?

 

Answering these simple questions can help you decide which background checks are necessary for you while ensuring that you maintain the privacy of your applicants.

 

What is Pre-Employment Screening?

 

Pre-employment screening includes different types of background checks that are done to help you gain more information about prospective hires. This additional information can help you hire individuals who are a cultural fit, maintain a safe workplace, maximize productivity, and more.

 

A criminal record check is one of the most popular checks that may also be a legal requirement for some roles or industries. Other checks include:

 

-Employment History Verifications

-Education History Verifications

-Credit Checks

-Reference Checks

-Driver’s Abstracts

-Social Media Checks

 

Why is it Important to Focus on Privacy?

 

This is because every individual has a right to maintain their privacy. By giving due consideration to maintaining privacy, you’re not only complying with federal and provincial rules and regulations but also establishing a relationship based on honesty and trust with the potential employee.

 

Hence, when hiring and vetting candidates, it is worth reviewing the laws that govern your industry or sector.

 

For instance, If your organization is in the public sector, you have to act in accordance with the Federal Privacy Act and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

 

Similarly, if you’re a private entity, operating in an industry that is federally regulated, you need to keep the guidelines, laid down by Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), into consideration.

 

The Way Forward

 

So, at the end of the day, you have to maintain a balance between being thorough and respecting your potential employee’s privacy.

 

The simple rule is to remember that personal information should be protected and only used for the purposes for which it was collected.

 

At Triton, we help by playing our part in ensuring data privacy. We have a number of measures in place to ensure that privacy is maintained.

 

If you need further support or have any questions on the topic, we are happy to provide insights. You can also reach out to us if you’d like to know more about pre-employment checks such as employment history verifications, educational checks, driver’s abstracts, credit checks, reference checks, and more.

 

Call us on 1-844-874-8667 or visit triton.clientwebdev.com.

 

What are your views on background checks and candidate privacy? Share with us on social media. Triton Canada is on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.