For many prospective employees, however, the employment background screening seems like an invasion of privacy. However, employers are weary of hiring without doing these checks.

In fact, given the recent changes in the Federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, the pre employment test screening has become part of due-diligence in the hiring process.

Pre employment test screening also offers some advantages to employees. It means that all the employers recruited by the company have passed through a record background check as well as criminal background check. For a lot of employees, this provides a feeling of security.

For the employer, employment background screening save times and money wasted in recruiting, hiring and training a candidate who is unsuitable for the job profile. Employers can choose from a number of employment screening companies to carry out this task.

Employers need to follow some rules when it comes to carrying out employment background screening. They are bound by several rules under the Fair Credit Reporting Act as to the information that they can use as well as the information that they can access.

Under this Act, employers need to inform prospective employees before they recruit the services of an employment screening company to carry out the employee background check. The disclosure to an applicant about the employment background check cannot be buried in an application in the fine print. A signed release is required before the employer can do a criminal background check

Employers also need to provide prospective employees with an additional notice when a employment screening service is enquiring into the prospective employees previous job performance.

In addition, if an employer intends to deny employment based upon information in the report, the applicant has to receive a copy of the report and a notice of legal rights. If the applicant believes that the report created by the employment screening service is inaccurate, the agency has 30 days within which verify the information. Applicants have the right to inspect their files.