Volunteers, Temporary Staff and Background Screening

It is a big season for camps, projects, and programs that require additional help in the form of temporary staff and teams of volunteers. To some business owners, these positions can be lower on the priority list for screening applicant history. Many of these positions are not paid or may not even be recognized as an official company position. In actuality companies are just as liable for thorough background screens when taking on temporary/seasonal employees and volunteer workers as they would be in ordinary situations.

Carefully evaluate the function of your workers.

In deciding how extensive background screens should be for volunteer team members and temporary staff, it is always good for companies to ask themselves:

Q: Who are they interacting with on a daily basis?
A: For example; any staff who will be supervising (or otherwise interacting with) vulnerable populations such as children or the elderly should always have a criminal screen performed.

Q: What will their daily responsibilities be?
A: If your volunteers will be handling money, it would be a good idea to obtain a financial report. It makes sense if your temps will be driving company vehicles, to order a motor vehicle record. If intermingling with your customers or staff, reference checks and verifications will help in protecting your investments.

Q: Is this position a potential long-term opportunity for qualified candidates?
A: Many companies use temporary and volunteer positions as a probationary period and will hire individuals that will be a potentially good fit for the team long term. At this point in the process, a rescreen is appropriate.

For more information on why need background screening, click here.

Allow us to guide you. The NationSearch team is happy to simplify the hiring process. We can easily set up an appropriate screening packages based on your needs.