By jose 
Background checks in Mexico, Everything you need to know - Emptor
If you’ve made it this far, it’s probably because you want to know a little more about background checks in Mexico: what their particularities are, how they differ from other regions in LATAM, and how you can ensure you hire the best background check service in the country.
Background checks are checks where it is verified from various sources whether a candidate for hire has a clean record and is worthy of trust. In this other article we talk in more depth about the topic: What are background checks and how do they work?
In this article, we will share a series of key considerations that you should keep in mind if you are looking to hire a background check company in Mexico:
1. Ensure proper handling of personal data
In Mexico, the company that hires a certain platform to perform criminal background checks on its candidates is responsible for the handling of the personal data. What does this mean? That if the background check platform you use does not have the technology to adapt and effectively comply with the specific laws of each country (in this case Mexico), your company would end up suffering the legal consequences.
So our recommendation is that you validate that the background check tool you hire adheres to best practices for the treatment and protection of personal data so that you avoid legal issues in the future.
Another aspect to consider is that these data privacy laws can change from one day to the next, so make sure the company you hire can quickly update the way it handles data to comply with current legislation.
2. Consider the candidate’s criminal record in neighboring countries
This is a key point. Given the proximity and relationship that Mexico has with the United States, it is important that a criminal background check is also carried out in the neighboring country.
In fact, a report revealed that 68% of foreign inmates in U.S. prisons were born in a bordering country to the south and that the main countries of origin of the convicted were Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic.
According to statistics, one-third of those sentenced for homicide in Mexico were also detained in the United States. Of this same group of prisoners who were sentenced for homicide, 31.3% committed the homicide outside the country.
Therefore, it is essential that you ensure that the background check service in Mexico that you decide to hire also performs the validation of criminal records in neighboring countries.
3. Don’t rely solely on the certificate of no criminal record
You might think that background checks are unnecessary if you have the verdict of a certificate of no criminal record. But don’t fall into this trap… Why? Because certificates of no criminal record only include limited geographic cases that have been processed and convicted - so they do not report if a person was detained or incarcerated. According to the Global Impunity Index in Mexico (2015):
- Only 8.8% of those accused in investigations and case files were convicted.
- Only 31% of those accused of a criminal case end up being convicted.
- 46% of those convicted who are in custody take more than 12 months to be sentenced, 72% wait more than 12 months.
This means that if a candidate was accused of a serious crime, but has not yet been sentenced and is in the investigation process, you would not see it reflected in their certificate of no criminal record. But someone with that type of accusation could definitely pose a danger to the recruiting company.
4. Check and validate the sources consulted
Another consideration you should take into account if you are looking for a background check company in Mexico is what sources are consulted and whether they are constantly updated.
If the final verdict on a candidate is made after consulting only a few sources, you may not be seeing the full - and correct - picture.
So look for background check solutions that offer you the largest number of updated sources. To give you an idea or use as a benchmark, at Emptor we run background checks on more than 500 public sources. Can you imagine how long it would take a human to review more than 500 sources for a single candidate? The good news is that thanks to artificial intelligence, this process is done automatically.
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5. Verify how accurate the results are
Not everything that glitters is gold… Although automation and artificial intelligence have facilitated background verification in a surprising way, completely setting aside human criteria and judgment is a frequent mistake made by most background check service providers.
Without this second human filter, it is very common for what is called homonymy to occur, which is when a candidate’s name matches the spelling or pronunciation of another person who has had a criminal record, and consequently, they are erroneously and unjustly disqualified, leaving them without the opportunity to be part of the company.
Another issue that needs to be highlighted is how serious the offense found by the background check system is. It is not the same to have committed a kidnapping as to have been detained for drunk driving. When there is no human assessment as part of the process, both candidates are discarded equally. Do you consider this fair?
For this reason, at Emptor we have invested in a team of legal experts who verify the failures that our artificial intelligence system throws and who issue the final verdict based on criteria that we have previously defined and that have proven favorable in the past. This allows us to offer the highest candidate approval rate in the region (98%) and not unnecessarily disqualify applicants.
6. Compare times and prices per background check
A final recommendation we would make is that you search for and compare the times and prices of the various background check tools in Mexico that you are considering, as remember that any significant savings in time or money will greatly benefit and streamline your recruitment process.
The innovative and advantageous aspect of automated background checks is that a process that could take hours or, in certain cases, days, can now be done in a matter of seconds as in the case of Emptor.
Let us help you find the right people for your company. We know how important the people who are part of your company are to you, and that’s why we want to reaffirm our commitment to helping you find more people you can trust and who will contribute to the success of the vision you have as a company.
Let us handle the heavy lifting of the process and you’ll see how easy and fast it is to find safe and reliable candidates for your organization.
Would you like to see how Emptor works? Request a free demo or learn more about our background checks here.