March 9th, 2023 | Joy Henry, US Head of Technology and Business Services

5 Components of a Thorough Background Check

In an industry with a high level of person-to-person interactions, an ideal hospitality candidate is representative of a hotel’s brand and also thoroughly vetted to ensure the safety of employees and guests. Integrating background and identity screening such as criminal searches, sex offender searches, and drug testing into your hiring processes adds an additional level of protection for your hotel and helps ensure that you know who you’re really hiring.  With these goals in mind, below are five key components of a thorough and well-rounded background check for hospitality staff.

1. Fast Time-to-Hire

Demand for hospitality employees is high in today’s job market, and you need to act fast to secure staff. In an employee-driven market, any bottleneck in the hiring process can deter candidates. An efficient and fast screening process will ensure that you don’t miss out on hiring the best talent. At Sterling, we run our background checks in hours, not days, so you can help your candidates start Day One as soon as possible.

2. Customizable Packages

When hiring in the hospitality industry, every establishment has its own unique hiring needs. Therefore it’s critical for HR teams to have the ability to customize the background screening process to suit all these needs. Several screening products are available, including: Social Security Number traces, county criminal checks, nationwide criminal searches, National Sex Offender Public Website (NSOPW) searches, locator-select criminal checks, and drug test screenings. At Sterling, we offer clients a consultative experience with the goal of building a tailored program fitting into your hiring process.

3. Scalability

One of the greatest advantages of combining technology with a fulfillment engine is access to simpler, more efficient background checks. Even with variations in the number of employees and locations, the use of advanced technology in screening means that hotels can more easily screen employees. With many hospitality organizations having multiple locations throughout the country and the world, it is important to have a screening provider who can manage all these details.  For example, a screening process should have the ability to customize screening for different roles and levels within the organization (maintenance staff, management, etc.) That’s why an advanced technology solution is essential for thorough background checks.

4. Compliance and Mitigating Risks

With constantly-evolving rules and regulations, managing compliance can be challenging, time-consuming, and resource-intensive. Therefore, an effective pre-employment screening program should be both thorough and compliant. A screening partner’s compliance expertise should entail years of experience in the background screening industry, a deep understanding of the law, and keeping updated on the constant changes to hiring laws. In addition, a hotel’s screening partner must possess a strong ability to track changes in state and federal laws; particularly how they impact hiring in the hospitality industry.

As a result, having a well-rounded background screening process will help create an environment of safety and trust for both hotel guests and staff. Performing due diligence when screening your hotel’s talent will help your business give guests the finest experience possible — and some of their best memories.

5. A Partner Who Understands the Hospitality Industry

The hotel industry is highly complex and requires constant mindfulness of the needs of both guests and employees. An experienced background screening vendor can partner with you to provide industry benchmarking, compliance expertise, and specific tools to optimize your hiring program. At Sterling, we have hospitality industry specialists who can provide this niche expertise, from sales to implementation to account management.

Hotels can help to build a strong culture based on trust and safety by ensuring that these five critical components are a part of their background checks for new hires. In this way, hospitality HR leaders can contribute to a safer workplace for both hotel staff and guests.

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