Wednesday, January 14, 2009

5 Tips on Retirement Home Background Checks

If you own, run or manage a retirement home, you know that the elderly residents of your institution have special needs especially when it comes to caring for them. You also know that your caregivers should also have proper training and background on care providing. Of equal importance is that they should also be patient, trustworthy and genuinely concerned with the well-being of the people they are caring for.

Background checks will help you achieve all this and more. As an employer, it is imperative for you to know that background checks especially criminal background checks are mandatory and should always be included in the hiring procedure of all the employees in a retirement home.

This is because the lives and welfare of your residents are in the hands of your employees especially the caregivers. For this reason, it is crucial that you ensure that you only hire the right people for the job. Good caregivers should not only have proper training and work experience on this field, but should also possess good virtues and a good character.

In today's society, we see a proliferation of resume falsifications, otherwise known as resume lie. Because of this, it is possible for you to end up with an employee who claimed to have excellent credentials but is in fact only a phony. A background check helps you avoid this kind of scenario because it can verify the information on the resume.

More importantly, background checks can ensure the safety of the residents of your retirement home because here you will know if the applicant has been involved in any felonies in the past. Surely, you would not want a person who has been involved in murder or kidnapping to be a part of your care giving team.

Aside from that, background checks also reveal medical records of applicants so you will be able to make certain that they are in top shape. You cannot expect someone unfit and unhealthy to be able to give proper care for the elderly.

Some employers may find it difficult to conduct a background check but these simple tips will prove that doing so can be quite easy.

Tips for carrying out a background check on employees of a nursing home

1. Find a reputable background checking company.
Never go with the first background checking company that you see. You must look around to ensure that you are going to hire one who has good track record and reputation, has extensive experience on this field, has wide coverage on background investigation, has effective, updated and accurate means of gathering information, and has reasonable prices.

2. Look for a company online.
Online, you will find that there are many companies offering this service. You just have to ensure that you do your comparison-shopping carefully so you can end up with a company that will give you the best service possible.

3. Establish fair, reasonable and clear guidelines about the background checks.
Before you go conduct employee background checks, make sure that you formulate fair, reasonable and clear guidelines about the process and that you explain this carefully to any person applying for your retirement home.

4. Know the laws that govern background checks.
Knowing the laws on background checks will make it easy for you to abide them and to ensure that you are not doing anything that can harm the name and reputation of your retirement home.

5. Do not force an applicant who does not want to go through a background check.

If an applicant does not want to go through a background check, do not force him or her. Let him or her go and be contented with the fact that at least you did not have to spend for the background check anymore. By denying to go through one is an obvious sign already that the applicant is hiding something.

Background checks can help you greatly in ensuring the safety of the residents of your retirement home.

For more tips and information about criminal background check.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Marcus_Kane