Why should you carry out background checks?
Background checks help you identify potential risks before employment begins. By verifying relevant information, you gain a safer and more fact-based foundation for your hiring decisions.
Gut feeling often plays a role in recruitment, but it shouldn’t be the only basis for a decision. With background checks from DISA, you can verify candidate information and make more informed hiring decisions, reducing the risk of mis-hires.
Meeting the candidate in person is an important part of the hiring process and gives you a sense of the individual. To make a confident decision, that impression should be supported by verified facts. Background checks strengthen the decision-making process and help maintain quality in recruitment.
By working with DISA, you ensure that your background checks comply with applicable laws and regulations. We help you verify, for example, authorisations, work permits and protected professional titles, so you can feel confident in your hiring decisions.
When recruitment takes place fully or partly digitally, opportunities for personal verification decrease. Background checks provide a fact-based decision framework that complements interviews and strengthens hiring decisions.
In international recruitment, or when background checks are required across multiple countries, it is essential to verify information beyond Sweden. Background checks help confirm details such as education, identity and work experience, regardless of country, providing a reliable and comparable basis for recruitment decisions.
What is included in a background check?
Pre-employment screening
- Verification of education and diploma check
- Criminal record check
- Identity check
- Credit check
- PEP, Sanctions list, and Adverse media checks
- Work experience check
- Internet scan and social media check
- Driving licence check
- Statement of integrity
- Alcohol and drug testing for employment
- Right to work check
- Company checks
- Address verification
- Custom checks
How can you perform a background check?
A background check contains several different operational, technical, and legal elements, which often makes it complicated to perform the check yourself. You need to verify information from and cooperate with different agencies and data suppliers. Moreover, it’s important to do this following current (inter)national legal frameworks and standards, the most important being the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and ISO norms. Choosing to outsource background checks to a knowledgeable third party can save time and costs for internal HR departments.
At DISA, we have designed software that digitally verifies information and provides a seamless experience for both the candidate and the employer.
How are background checks tailored to role, industry and level of responsibility?
The scope of a background check depends on both the industry and the level of responsibility associated with the role. For example, a retail sales position does not require the same level of screening as a senior role within the financial sector. By tailoring the checks, you ensure that the screening is relevant, proportionate and compliant with applicable regulations.
Where needed, the pre-employment background check can be extended with additional checks based on industry requirements or the specific role. DISA supports you in designing a screening profile that aligns with your organisation’s needs and the position in question.
If discrepancies are identified, they are clearly flagged in the report. A discrepancy does not necessarily indicate a serious issue – it may simply involve minor inconsistencies, such as differences in employment dates. We therefore recommend reviewing the findings together with the candidate and comparing them with the information provided in their CV, allowing the candidate to clarify any discrepancies.
Is consent required to carry out a background check?
In a recruitment context, candidate consent is generally not required to carry out a background check. Consent is rarely considered a valid legal basis, as it is not regarded as freely given in an employment application process.
Instead, background checks are typically based on legitimate interest under the GDPR. This allows employers to verify relevant information in order to make safe and well-informed hiring decisions.
At the same time, the screening must be proportionate. The scope of the background check should always reflect the role, its level of responsibility and any associated risks.
Communication is the key to a successful background check
For many, it can feel like a violation of privacy if an employer wants to perform a background check. Therefore, communication is important. As an employer, you need to be clear and inform the candidate in good time about what type of background check needs to be carried out and why it is necessary. Drafting a clear background check policy will help you as an employer to demonstrate the necessity.
Screen in-house or outsource?
If you want to verify a candidate’s CV or check if a diploma has been obtained, two options exist. One option is to do the verification yourself. However, checking such information takes time, and it may not be clear how you can verify certain information. The second option is to outsource the background check to an organisation experienced in employment screening.
Outsourcing background checks is not free, but has many benefits, such as:
- Unburden your HR department
- A digitised process
- Less chance of manual errors
- All relevant data and results are centralised in one location
DISA’s background screening software
DISA has developed software for pre-employment background checks that ensures an efficient screening process and secure handling of all information.
The user-friendly platform enables a smooth and efficient screening process, saving time for both employers and candidates.
Screening results become available to the employer and the candidate at the same time. The goal is to provide a process that is as transparent and fair as possible.
Security is a fundamental requirement of our software. DISA applies strict security frameworks that are regularly tested by independent parties. In addition, we have a dedicated Data Protection Officer who ensures that our services, and your background checks, comply with GDPR requirements.
The software is designed for mobile use, allowing candidates to complete the background check at a time and place that suits them.
Through our API, background checks can be integrated directly into your existing workflows. This allows you to collect reports and screening data from your ATS or HR system in one central place.
Background checks and GDPR
When we carry out background checks as part of the recruitment process, we collect and process relevant personal data. GDPR requires organisations to be more aware of how personal data is stored and handled, which means background checks involve several important privacy and data protection considerations.
Secure software
The software we use is secure and designed with data protection in mind. We develop our platform to safeguard personal data against loss, unauthorised access, and improper processing.
Dedicated Data Protection Officer
DISA has a dedicated Data Protection Officer who provides guidance on the lawful handling of personal data and ensures compliance with all applicable national and international data protection laws and regulations.
ISO certification
DISA is ISO certified (ISO 27001 and ISO 9001), ensuring a high level of information security and quality management.
What does a background check look like?
Once DISA has verified all information provided by the candidate, we compile the results into a background check report. Both the employer and the candidate are notified at the same time when the report is available for download in our secure application.
The report provides a clear, consolidated overview of the entire background check and serves as a fact-based basis for making informed hiring decisions.
DISA’s service
Pre-employment background checks
Conducting background checks on candidates can be a complex, sensitive and time-consuming process. When handling verification internally, employers often need to work with multiple data providers and manage ongoing communication with the candidate themselves.
By letting DISA manage the background check process, your organisation saves time and resources. All verified information is gathered in one place and handled in compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
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Frequently asked questions about background checks
Once the candidate has provided the required information, DISA completes the background check in an average of 2–3 business days. Checks involving foreign criminal records or verification of international educational qualifications may take longer.
A pre-employment background check involves verifying certain information about a potential employee before hiring. The information reviewed must always be relevant and proportionate to the role and its responsibilities.
As soon as all candidate information has been verified, DISA presents the results in a background check report within the web platform. The report is available when either the employer or the candidate logs in and contains objective results for each check performed.