Does your China recruiter do background checks? We are well known for our diligence and our deep background checks. Today, I wanted to comment on something else we see.
Many recruiters in China will say they do background checks. Most do something to call it a background check. It has many layers.
We had a candidate for a GM position who interviewed quite well. He said we could background check but not with that company where he said he did very good work and indicated he was greatly respected.
We told the hiring company that we wanted to withdraw the candidate and went to work to find other truly qualified candidates. It made a lot more work for us to turn him away.
We have had references who read from the resume to refer the candidate. This person proved to be their friend who was pretending to be the candidates old boss.
Usual background checks are a check the box effort. Companies are glad to take a name and cell phone number of an old boss. They will call and ask some questions like if they liked the person. They can get some verbiage and call that a background check and pat themselves on the back. You can be sure they will never kill the candidate that interviews best.
Does Your China Recruiter Do Background Checks? We Doubt the Value
If some reference does not respond, they just get another number. References by email that do not respond usually did not like the candidate and do not want to risk liability by saying something bad. SHI Group never lets email end a background check. We need to get a verified boss on the phone in such cases. We ask questions that do not make the boss say they hate they guy as that is subjective, and also, they do not want liability.
At SHI Group, we ask them about specific projects we learned from candidate and ask them who what why where when. Even old bosses that want to protect an old employee will kill them off by answers to such deep questions.
SHI Group has helped countless customers dodge bullets here in China. High quality, comprehensive background checks are so excellent. We do them for all our recruiting. We use a lot of different means but always make sure the candidate is real and not faking.