Employers use background screening to find best candidate

Background screenings are becoming increasingly important to employers as some sectors in the economy begin hiring at an increased rate. Running background checks, which look into information such as what type of criminal history someone has or their credit score, has become so popular that more than half of companies hiring now do so, according to the Society for Human Resource Management. According to the group, 60 percent of employers use some type of credit check on applicants, a number that is 18 percent higher than it was in 2006. "When you hire someone for sensitive positions, you need to learn as much about them as you can," said Jeff Huckaby, an executive at an IT management firm, in an interview with Entrepreneur. "If I see they've taken command of [a negative financial] situation, I may even favor them over someone who has not faced similar adversity." Employer background screenings received national attention recently when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a decision that supports the use of increased background checks on federal contractors, saying that people working in the private sector were often asked the same questions.