Why an Executive Background Check Should be an Essential Step in the Hiring Process
What is an Executive Background Check and Why is It Important?
When hiring a top-level executive or making an executive appointment to your company’s board, it is crucial to gain an insight into that person’s professional and personal background. By not knowing the background of an executive hire, you put your entire organization at risk for being put in bad light in front of your clients, your core investors or the media. Once a prominent executive joins your team, their name becomes synonymous with your company. Taking the very simple step of running an executive background check prior to finalizing a hire can save you and your team from major headaches and reputation loss down the line.
As a company, your reputation is a cornerstone of your success. You have likely worked for years, or even decades, to earn that reputation. Once lost, a good reputation is extremely hard to recover. In today’s digital world it is even harder due to the fact that once something is out on the internet it is most likely there forever. An executive background check can keep both your tangible reputation and digital reputation in good standing.
Our executive background checks are extremely thorough. We pride ourselves on offering one of the most comprehensive background checks in the industry. The information you will receive includes:
- Physical interviews with provided professional and personal references
- Any criminal history
- Any form of past of present civil litigation
- Verifications of any certifications or business credentials
- Thorough social media review
- Credit review
- A deep dive into all available records
- Motor vehicle history review
- Business interests
After we finish the complete executive background check, we will come to you with our expert professional analysis. We will also provide any recommendations that are pertinent to your executive candidate or potential board member. In addition we will present any other findings that we feel are pertinent. Our goal is to not only dig deep to find anything that could be damaging to your company’s recommendation, but to paint a full picture of your candidate’s history and current standing in the business world.
A prime example of the benefits of a pre-employment background check was the finding of multiple false identities. An equity firm was looking to hire a manager for a portfolio that it manages. The frontrunner for the job was vetted with an executive background check. It was discovered that the applicant was utilizing false identities in order to hide the fact that he had a longstanding criminal record and was actively evading a prison sentence. The company was able to gain this information prior to hiring the candidate for the management position.
Separating Suspicion from Fact
In addition to doing an in-depth background check prior to an appointment or a new hire, an executive background check is also incredibly useful to separate suspicions or rumors from actual fact. For example, in one situation, several board members of a prominent company received emails that accused the company’s Chief Financial Officer of embezzlement. They were unsure if it was a disgruntled employee or a true case of someone attempting to blow the whistle. After an incredibly deep investigation was conducted, the executive background check confirmed the suspicion. The Chief Financial Officer was using a shell company to embezzle money. The company was able to discreetly terminate the CFO and the findings also helped the Board to revamp internal security issues that allowed the CFO to embezzle in the first place.
This is just one of the many examples of how executive background checks should be an essential step in vetting high-level employees and board members.
