The people search by checkpeople might be a relatively new phenomenon, but to say that it is shaping the recruitment industry would be a gross understatement. It is at the focus of a lot of job positions and the most interesting element is that this relates to both employers and employees.
Sure, a lot of the headlines about people search engines might focus around spouses tracking their other half, or other so-called “juicy” headlines, but for the recruitment industry this is something that has made a monumental difference.
Through the course of today’s post we will now take a look at just how this has played out.
It’s a quick and easy background check for employers
For a long time, employers were reluctant to carry out any sort of background screening. Of course, this doesn’t relate to the large corporations, but anyone who was remotely smaller would struggle to legislate paying large sums of money to an external company.
Ultimately, a people search engine has made things a lot simpler for all concerned. Some functions don’t cost a dime to use, while others are cheap to say the least. It means that companies are now much happier to invest, even in terms of just time, in their background checks and this tends to mean that more suitable candidates are identified.
Employees know everything about themselves
This next point might raise a few eyebrows, but the services are being used by employees as well.
For a long time, there was a degree of mystery surrounding job applications. Applicants would receive rejection after rejection, and be none the wiser as to why this might have occurred.
Sure, there can be a number of reasons behind this, but the services at least allow you to eliminate possibilities. For example, it might become apparent that a candidate has an arrest from decades ago, that is still visible to prospective employers. This is going to be something that is hard to escape, but armed with this knowledge you can at least obtain feedback on why your job hunt hasn’t been successful.
Companies are less likely to break the law
This final point can vary depending on the location you are based. The rules regarding background checks are cloudy to say the least, and will vary between state. As such, we would recommend that you research your local laws before considering any form of background check.
However, something that was historically commonplace was employers using illegal means to conduct a background check. They might source an external company to do the job for them, but even then there as a grey area as to whether or not they were complying with local rules.
As a people search engine is effectively compiling all public information together, there is no harm of this happening. It means that companies can operate in a lot safer way and not risk falling foul of the law the next time they are recruiting a new employee.
