For over a year, people have been at home and out of work. The American economy is uncertain. Incentive is low. Some people are making more money unemployed at home than they did at their jobs. Despite the fact that some workers are waiting to get another job, competition in the market is increasing. Companies need to hire trustworthy and hard-working employees. One of the ways that businesses are hiring the best employees is to run background checks on every candidate. As 2021 continues, more and more companies will be showing scrutiny in their hiring process.
2021 Hiring
While companies in many fields need to hire employees, a lot of workers are waiting until their unemployment benefits run out to get a new job. Restaurants and other service industry businesses are struggling to find new hires. So many people have gone through a transformation during this time The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a lot of people to take a look at their lives in a new, critical way. People are changing their occupations and working towards creating happier, healthier lives.
Record Unemployment
The transition, however, won’t be easy. Unemployment in the United States reached a record high, and it still hasn’t fully recovered. With millions of people still out of work, for the economy to recover people need to find lucrative employment to replace the unemployment payments. Unfortunately for many occupations, unemployment checks are paying more than the person’s former job. This has led to a disparity between companies needing hard-working employees and those who are comfortable with their unemployment checks.
Background Checks
To respond to this disparity, a lot of companies are running a fast background check on candidates to determine a variety of things about them. Not only will a background check provide criminal history information like if they’ve been convicted of a crime or if the person is on the sex offenders list. Of course this is pertinent information, but it’s just the beginning.
Background checks even provide the ability to verify education and employment history. You will be able to see if the candidate is telling the truth about their past with details on how long they were involved with the job or school, if they graduated, and left on good terms. Your company will have the chance to look at if the person has received workers compensation, which can affect your own taxes, and verify the licenses and references that the candidate has.
A background check will provide all kinds of personal information such as past names and addresses. Criminal record searches are conducted in every county and state and can even be run both nationally and internationally. Just about everything you need to know about a prospective candidate will be delivered to you in the form of a background check. Not only will you be able to determine if they have been honest with you, the details will reveal what kind of person they are and if they are the right candidate for the job.
The Economy’s Future
While the economy of the United States is uncertain, everyone will need to return to some semblance of life before the pandemic. There is no other option. Economic growth projections look positive, but no one knows what will happen after the economy fully reopens and everyone goes back to work. The backlash of 2020 has yet to come to roost. It is absolutely pivotal for employees and businesses alike to get ahead of it. People have spent so much time out of work and are unproductive that it will take a lot of effort to transition back to a faster pace.
Will the rat race continue? Are we irrevocably changed? There are no easy answers to these questions. Whether you’re a business looking to hire high-quality, hard-working and trustworthy employees or a worker looking for a new job, there are a lot of moving parts. Competition in the job market will increase, leaving some people better off than they were before and others struggling to return to life as we knew it before the pandemic. The COVID-19 virus isn’t going anywhere. There is no waiting for it to subside before the economy reopens. We don’t have a choice, it’s time to get back to work.