Where Traditional Background Checks Miss The Mark

In the days prior to the emergence of social media, a standard background check was more than sufficient for any new hire. A little extra diligence might have been performed when it came to C-Suite and executive hires. In the current climate of cancel culture, PR nightmares, and increased scrutiny about every public decision, relying on a traditional background check is obsolete and outdated.

It only takes one scandal to damage a brand. Traditional background checks have improved significantly at catching fake academic credentials, falsified job experience, and criminal history; however, that process still overlooks something critical: social media and digital footprint. Knowing whether a potential hire associates with unsavory figures online or has posted derogatory content on message boards matters just as much as verifying their degree.

The worst time to discover that your new hire is tied to a hate group or has a history of discriminatory posts is after internet sleuths have already found it and exposed them publicly. Any high-profile hire, whether it’s a football coach, a C-suite executive, or a politician, will face intense public scrutiny. Online investigators thrive on uncovering dirt on public figures, often hoping to bring them down. If that discovery happens after you've already brought the person on board, the damage is done. Depending on the severity, you may be paying a PR firm, crisis managers, and a severance package to mitigate the issue and repair your brand's image.

A little due diligence upfront can mitigate significant risk and reduce cost.

What Organizations Should Do

• Ensure every potential executive or high-profile hire be thoroughly vetted, beyond a standard background check. It is much cheaper to conduct due diligence than it is to conduct damage control and crisis management.
• Go the extra mile investigating an individual’s social media. No matter how much we deny it, we all live on social media and are much more transparent online than we should be. Often, there will be warning signs.

How Sentinel Can Help

Sentinel helps organizations identify, assess, and respond to emerging integrity and reputational risks through intelligence-led risk assessments, monitoring, investigative support, training, and advisory services. For organizations navigating the ever-changing hiring landscape, proactive intelligence-led due diligence is the difference between identifying an issue before it becomes a problem vs having to pick up the pieces afterwards. To learn more contact Sentinel at Info@Sentinel.Security