• (Photo : How to Hire the Right Manager for Your Small Business)

Hiring reliable, competent employees should be at the top of every business owners' priorities. After all, these are the people who are representing your business, your brand and by extension, you. As the level of responsibility goes up, it becomes even more important that you hire the right person for the job. Managers, supervisors, basically anyone who has any ounce of authority in your business can really affect the productivity, culture, and ambiance of your business. And all of those come into play  If you're looking to hire a new manager to delegate tasks to, keep on reading.

So how do you hire the right manager? How do you vet through mountains of job applications, interviews, and meetings to find the best fit? Obviously, you truly can't know what a person is like on the job until they starting working for you. 

However, an easy and immediate way to get a lot of information on prospective candidates is by running an employee background check. Doing a background check on employees is becoming common practice amongst business owners and hiring staff. From big corporations to local businesses, employers can benefit a lot from screening employees through background checks.

Employee background checks can tell you everything from their previous work history to criminal records. In this article, we break down the reasons why you should conduct background checks and what you can learn from them.

Why should you conduct a background check on a potential manager?

You can conduct an employee background check to ensure that beyond anything else, you are protected from a number of risks.  Some of the biggest risks you can eliminate by running a background check is having an unsafe, potentially harmful person working for you. Most background check services can reveal an individual's criminal record. Seeing someone's violent background on their criminal record is a lot less risky than finding out once they actually start working for you. The effects of unknowingly hiring a violent or dangerous manager are multiplied because of their position of authority. They could potentially harass employees and normalize a toxic work culture. Or even worse, they might treat your customers that way.

Beyond putting your employees and customers in an uncomfortable or potentially unsafe situation, you might also be putting yourself in legal trouble by hiring a dangerous manager. Employers are legally responsible for providing a safe workplace for their workers so hiring someone with violent history could land you with some legal troubles from your other employees.

What other things could you find in an employee background check that would be crucial to know as an employer? If your potential manager has a history of theft, that is a big red flag. No business owner wants to be losing profits because of a thieving employee. Manager theft is much worse because it could normalize that kind of behavior in your work environment, leading theft amongst your other employees. 

There are a multitude of other things that could appear on a criminal record that may concern you as an employer. Negligence, fraud, or other financial crimes may be big concerns for as a hirer.

Let's say they don't have any criminal history. Background checks are still useful in verifying resumes. Not all background check services have work history information available, but for those that do, it can be extremely valuable for employers. With 85 percent of people lying on their resumes, you can never be sure of the information that's presented to you. Were they actually in the position that they claimed they were in at their previous company? Or did they really work on the projects they claimed they did?