frequently asked questions

A background check is a full investigation of a potential or existing employee’s background. Depending on the specified criteria determined by you, a background check can include but is not necessarily limited to financial, criminal, educational, employment history checks and other open source information. It can also check their legal right to work and provides you with the necessary information to make an informed hiring decision on your potential employee whilst protecting your business, existing staff and clients.

Certain employers have a duty of care to carry out pre employment screening checks for the sake of shareholders, fellow employees, clients and in some instances the public. Aside from this, thorough employee background checks can save an organisation a great deal of resources further down the road. Using giant’s fast & flexible employee screening solution, you can accelerate the recruiting process and ensure that your organisation makes well informed hiring decisions from top to bottom. This can reduce the costs associated with turnover and re-training.

A job applicant must give written or electronic consent prior to a third-party screening company conducting any criminal record search, credit history check or reference interview.

This depends on your specific background screening objectives. Each business is unique, which is why we tailor our system and processes to match your exact requirements. We will design your unique screening solution based around the goals of your organisation, ensuring that the process is fully compliant with legal requirements.

In some regulated industries it is essential for prospective employers to conduct background checks prior to recruiting an individual. For sectors where it is not a legal requirement, you can avoid many complications later down the line if you complete a pre-employment background check before making a job offer.

This can depend on the types of searches conducted in the screening process. Some of the more simple checks may be completed inside 24 hours, while more complex searches, such as international credit checks, may take weeks or even months. We pride ourselves on delivering fast turnaround times compared to industry standards.

The screening process is a multi-stage procedure which should provide you with a clear background history for your candidate.

Step 1. Once you or giant on your behalf have started a background check in the system, the candidate will be sent an email containing a link to the candidate submission form for their background check.

Step 2. The candidate fills out this submission form in its entirety. This form asks for the candidates, personal information, address history, employment history, academic history, if there are any employment gaps, they will be asked to declare them. They will also be asked to complete any additional questions that you have for your candidate as well as provide any additional documentation.

Step 3. Once the candidate has successfully submitted their completed form, the assigned giant advisor will validate the information and references submitted before sending out reference requests and commencing your desired series of data checks.

Step 4. Any references or data checks that come back will be checked by the assigned screening advisor and if there are any adverse findings with your candidates’ background check, they will raise this directly to yourself.

Step 5. Once all data checks and references have come back and the background checks requirements are satisfied, they will be sent to quality control to ensure the information is accurate.

Step 6. Once the background check has passed quality control the assigned advisor will contact you directly via email with a link to the candidates file. You only need to follow the link,  log into the system and download their background check report.

At giant screening we are registered with the Information Commissioners Office for data protection purposes and so are fully compliant with UK data protection laws when handling other people’s data across the EU. Our ICO registration number is ZA242124. You can view our data protection policy here. All Information is stored securely in encrypted servers hosted locally in the UK, no information is stored or sent elsewhere.

If you have questions or issues during the background check process you can call our team directly on 01245 379 040 or email our support team at hello@giantscreening.com. You will also have access to a Service Delivery Manager if you require further help.