一个叫 Scott Baker 的人被捕对你来说重要吗？如果他是你的雇员，这可能会令人担忧。贝克是一家家庭医疗保健公司的护理助理员工，他试图闯入他被分配到的住所，并刺伤了患者的妻子，杀死了她。他的雇主被判犯有疏忽雇用罪，陪审团判给受害者家属 4060 万美元。

逆向选择的影响
在当今具有安全意识的商业环境中，超过 85% 的大公司和 50% 的中小型公司正在将背景调查作为招聘流程的一部分。这对不进行背景调查的公司意味着什么？他们是通常所说的“逆向选择”的受害者，而贝克就是一个典型的例子，说明这些公司所冒的风险可能比他们意识到的要多。

当申请人可能无法“通过”筛选公司的就业筛选或药物测试，向未筛选的公司申请时，就会发生逆向选择。由于背景黯淡的申请人通常通过逆向选择获得工作，因此所涉及的雇主往往会在不知不觉中拥有更高比例的员工，他们有犯罪记录、吸毒成瘾以及与其经历、教育或证书相关的谎言。当它导致不安全的工作环境时，处于逆向选择的错误端可能会带来危险情况和潜在的法律责任。

一家中型公司艰难地了解到逆向选择。人力资源经理在裁员后收到暴力威胁后，公司开始对所有新员工和现有员工进行背景审查。通过这个过程，公司发现发出威胁的员工以及其他几名员工都有暴力犯罪记录。

逆向选择也会对筛选申请人和员工的公司产生积极影响。通过自我选择，只需提前告诉求职者背景筛选过程，公司通常可以让求职者隐藏一些东西，从而将自己排除在外。

例如，一家大型酒店公司能够在投入大量时间之前排除可能存在问题的申请人，方法是在初次面试时告知申请人该公司会立即进行现场药物测试。按照这个建议，事实证明，许多候选人会突然“需要从他们的车里拿点东西”，永远不会回来。

从逆向选择中受益
由于背景筛选已成为美国大多数公司的标准，其余不进行这些搜索的组织可能会在不知不觉中雇用可能使他们的公司面临风险的申请人。如果您还没有，请立即开始就业前背景筛查，利用逆向选择对您有利。这将鼓励自我选择，节省您的时间和资源，帮助您吸引更高素质的候选人，并降低整体就业风险。

The Impact of Adverse Selection
In today's safety- and security-conscious business environment, more than 85 percent of large companies and 50 percent of small & medium-sized firms are conducting background checks as part of the hiring process. What does that mean for the companies that aren't background checking? They are victims of what is commonly termed "adverse selection" and Baker is a prime example that these firms may be risking more than they realize.

Adverse selection occurs when applicants who are likely to not "pass" employment screening or drug testing at companies that screen, apply to the companies that do not screen. Because applicants with tarnished backgrounds often gain employment through adverse selection, the employers involved tend to unknowingly have a higher percentage of employees with criminal records, drug addiction and lies related to their experience, education or credentials. Being on the wrong end of adverse selection can bring about dangerous situations and potential legal liabilities when it leads to an unsafe workplace environment.

One mid-sized company learned of adverse selection the hard way. After the HR manager received a violent threat following a layoff, the company began conducting background screening on all new and existing employees. Through this process, the company discovered that the employee, who made the threat, as well as several others, had records with violent criminal convictions.

Adverse selection can also have a positive effect on companies that do screen applicants and employees. Through self-selection, just by telling applicants about the background screening process up-front, companies can often get candidates with something to hide to weed themselves out of consideration.

For example, a major hospitality company is able to eliminate potentially problematic applicants before much time is invested, by advising applicants during the initial interview that the company does an immediate, on-site drug test. Following this advisement, it has proven that many candidates will suddenly "need to get something from their car" to never return.

Benefiting From Adverse Selection
As background screening has become standard in the majority of companies in America, the remaining organizations that do not conduct these searches may be unknowingly hiring applicants who could put their firms at risk. If you are not already, use adverse selection to your advantage by starting pre-employment background screening today. This will encourage self-selection, save you time and resources, help you attract higher caliber candidates, and reduce overall employment risk.