At the 2007 SHRM Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas, Chief Marketing Officer Nick Fishman and President Jason Morris of employeescreenIQ (formerly Background Information Services), a global pre-employment screening company, are already thinking about next year. They shared with BLR what they believe will be the 10 background screening trends in 2008.

Here are the trends, along with insights from employeescreenIQ (www.employeescreen.com) as to the central issues of each:

1) Privacy, data protection. Privacy issues will continue to dominate the news and industry dialogue. Several bills are currently before the U.S. House and Senate, and although they will probably be tabled during this session, the issue continues to be a hot topic on the Hill.

2) Verification of right-to-work. The government is discussing mandating electronic verification of the I-9 form, the form used to verify citizenship and right-to-work in the United States. Currently, employees fill out the form, show documentation that proves identity and are then eligible to work. The new system, dubbed The SAVE Program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements), debuted two years ago, is electronic and allows instant confirmation. employeescreenIQ believes it is likely this new system will be mandated for use by all employers by the end of this year. The system has already been mandated for use in Colorado.

3) Evaluation of blogs and social networking sites. These websites continue to be an extremely hot topic, with the question being, how should they be used in the hiring process?

"It goes without saying that prevailing logic indicates that the more information you have about a candidate, the more you insulate yourself from risk," Fishman explains. "While not a widespread practice, this has become a hot topic because people divulge things about themselves--whether true or not--in social environments where they feel safe to do so. Our take is that employers should not consider such information, because among other things you never know if information provided by the subject or his or her peers is fact or fiction."

4) International screening. While not a new facet of the industry, international background screening continues to gain in importance as U.S. companies open offices globally and/or recruit overseas candidates to work in the U.S.

5) Evaluation of the use and value of credit reports. Should an applicant's credit history factor into his or her background check? If so, what determines hirable or non-hirable credit?

"Approximately 15% of all applicants that we screen have their credit reports checked," Fishman notes. "I would argue that the trend is going down based on the fact many employers that were receiving this data are more confused about what constitutes good and bad credit or for that matter hirable or non-hirable credit. Throw in there the increasing emphasis on protecting such data and those that don't truly need to evaluate credit, most often do not.

"As a generalization, the types of positions that would have a clear need for credit are those that work in the financial sector- bankers, brokers, accountants, etcetera--or those that have positions where they are exposed to company financials or large amounts of money."

6) University screening. Following the tragedy at Virginia Tech, the topic of screening students, faculty and staff has been raised and will continue to be discussed as educational institutions look to avoid future catastrophic events. Universities are beginning to see the value in screening staff and even branching into screening new students.

7) Opportunities to dispute records. As employers look for more information during the hiring process, they and their background-screening agents must continue to protect consumers by providing avenues for them to dispute background reports.

Fishman points out that employers are mandated to do so by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA): "Consumers (applicants) are given 30 days to dispute the findings of their consumer report (background check). They can do so in writing, by phone or on-line. In the event that the report was furnished by a Consumer Reporting Agency (screening firm), it is the screening firm that takes on this responsibility."

8) Increased use of application tracking systems (ATS). The prevalence of applicant tracking and HRIS systems will continue to increase, especially among mid-sized companies. These systems allow HR departments to consolidate work.

"Rather than having an employee re-enter data given to them by the applicant, the ATS can consolidate the information that it already has and provide that information electronically to the consumer reporting agency," Fishman explains. "This saves duplicate data entry, which saves time and money."

9) Industry growth. Before 9/11, only the largest companies did background checks. Today, nearly all large- and mid-sized companies are employing the use of background checks. Over the next year, this practice will continue to trickle into the small-business arena.

10) Focus on balancing rights. This regards finding ways to balance comprehensive background reports with consumers' rights so as to not create a class of people with records who cannot get jobs.