Why We Background Check at SHI Group
SHI Group meticulously background checks for every position we fill for our clients. It is a lot of work and ends up killing a lot of candidates that customers would otherwise hire.
Other recruiters know we do this and do not follow. They have a good reason not too. It creates way too much work. However, the ROI on what we do is great. We have a 95% successful placement record.
Why Do We Background Check at SHI Group?
We have led companies and personally done turnarounds. Leaders in my company have felt the trials of working in highly political companies. That’s why they are loyal to me now. We do not want to live in inefficient political companies and do not want our customers to live that way either. We also love to refuse the politicians.
If I was hiring a key position, I would want to know the truth about the candidate’s working experience. I would want to filter out the people who just interview well. Furthermore, I would want to dramatically lower my risk of hiring. Finally, I would want to increase my chance of a great hire. In fact I was always finding ways to do that for myself.
Getting Real Data is a Key Reason for Background Checks
Making a good decision on hiring is important. Without real data, the process is more like rolling the dice to get consistently good hires.
Background checks show us very clearly that interviews cannot achieve transparency in hires. Let’s say you hire someone as they have long and successful experience in your industry. In truth they made that up to get your job offer.
They actually worked for only 6 months, and then the company fired him or her for incompetence. They knew that is not what you want, so they list they worked there 3 years and left as a head hunter called them. To do this, they erase the gap of 6 months they had after getting fired. Also, they do not show you the 2 year and 3 month’s experience they had at a little Chinese company. The change makes their resume look much better and gets them more interviews.
Most recruiters will praise them for this or tell them to make such a change. It is thoroughly wise from a non ethical standpoint. It helps the recruiter as the hiring manager may be tricked. Moreover, it helps the individual get back with a worldwide company. The candidate and the head hunter hope they can last more then 6 months this time.
The Truth Appears too Late
When this person starts for you, you may note that they do not seem to be as knowledgeable as you hoped. They further do not get along with the team very well and show little ownership. They are too passive. Gaps in the quality of their work appear within a month. You can either put up with it as they were so hard to find, or you have to restart the search. That is too much to think about.
If you have real data, then these surprises do not occur. Even more so, we want you to give us real data and a realistic picture of your business. We then pass all of what we know to the candidates. If the candidates have the true data, then the right people sign up to take on your challenge. Both sides having real data is a benefit of our thinking and recruiting process. The background check is a critical part of that as we cannot make candidates tell the truth. You may also want to read Great Resumes or Great Hires.
Background Checks Are One Big Part of Our Best Fit Placements
Of course, this brings us right to our success of making great fit placements. Too many hiring managers think great fit is about a feel good interview. Many times this happens unconsciously. Manipulators and politicians take full advantage of this. They are experts at knowing what the hiring manager wants to hear. The very best at this are the most dangerous as they can live undetected for years inside your company as they are so good at maintaining your loyalty to them!
When the game of best interviewee is on, then only the appearance of good fit can appear.
Falsified Resumes Are Another Risk
Also, the resume champions are also part of the problem. They have beautiful resumes that show consistent growth in the positions they are given. Further, they show a long time in the same companies. They may also show promotions inside companies they work. Hiring managers mouths can start to water when they see these resumes and feelings of good fit appear faster and stronger. Candidates know this, so they massage their resumes and make small company experience go away. This allows them to make a good company experience to have the appearance of a longer time there. It gives that double benefit for the crafty candidate, so it is a super common practice. On the same line of thinking check out Reference Checks as We see Them.
You can only get lucky to uncover this practice in the interview. Our deep search and background check can find this out. The check uncovers the person who only pretends to have ability but actually is a very bad fit. What the company thought was a match is illusory. 90% of the perfect resumes are lying to get the job offer. So you get a resume that looks great and has no gaps? First moan, as the likelihood of a great fit is very low. Because the perfect resume is rarely real, you cannot achieve a true fit without getting lucky.
So the background check is necessary to have any hope of consistent good fit.
The Background Check Starts and Proves Indispensible
I managed or fixed a lot of different companies during these 27 years in China. Candidates were continuously getting better at interviewing. By 2008 I saw that the interview, though done very well, still had too many gaps. (See also, The High Cost of Bad Hiring.)
So we started to do thorough background checks in 2008. It immediately saved us from making one bad placement. As we did more, we saw the future was clear. Thorough background checks gave us glasses to see candidates that interviews could never reach. Real checks make our lives harder, but they also help us achieve real data which is always our deepest heart. When both sides have good data, they make the best decisions. No more gut feel and 95% successful hires became the standard.
Summary
Let’s think through the reasons and benefits in doing background checks: overcoming candidate improvements in interviewing, uncovering real data, getting better fit, and doing it all more consistently are very good reasons. It is not for beginners. We developed lots of methods and guarantee that each of our recruiters are with us heart and soul. Then the background check gradually gained traction. We know that no one can catch us as we keep growing in our real life experience with it day by day.
Furthermore, I always wanted to reward the candidates who were mature enough to tell us the truth even when it made them look bad. I am further glad to tell the people who are the politicians that they are not a good fit. Moreover, I want to send them home to consider the error of their ways.
That is why we do background checks. Come and experience another world and learn why we make 95% successful hires.