If you are doing business in the Peruvian market and have plans to hire local staff — be that through your own entity or via a PEO payroll company in Peru — you will want them to have been subjected to proper background checks. Because by conducting background checks in Peru, you are able to build a comprehensive picture of each employee’s professional track record and qualifications, guaranteeing that they meet your requirements and don’t pose any sort of risk to your good standing or operations.
Peru is Latin America’s sixth-largest economy by gross domestic product (GDP) and has experienced decades of political and economic stability. In 2019, GDP reached $226.8 billion (all figures in USD), while gross national income (GNI) — a key indicator of general prosperity — hit $6,740 per capita. The Andean country has long been one of the region’s most popular destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI), with registered inflows of $8.9 billion that same year.
Peru is a founding member of the Pacific Alliance — an economic integration initiative that also includes Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, with ambitious plans to expand beyond the region. In addition, the South American nation has an extensive network of free trade agreements (FTAs) providing its businesses with preferential access to key markets in Asia, Europe, and North America.
Peru has strengthened its agricultural sector in recent years, increasing exports considerably and significantly reducing rural poverty rates in the process. While the country is a famed major producer of copper and gold, it also counts fruits and nuts, and crop-based animal feed among its key exports. The primary destinations for its goods include Canada, China, South Korea, Switzerland, and the United States.
If you are considering entering the Peruvian market, or have already established a commercial presence there, read on to understand how background checks in Peru can help you mitigate business risks and help you find ideal personnel. Or go ahead and reach out to us now to discuss your business options.
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Understanding background checks in Peru
Background checks in Peru involve a detailed collection and examination of personal and professional information relating to a candidate taking part in a recruitment process. They allow the human resources team you are relying on to guarantee that the person has all of the qualifications and experience that they claim to, and has never encountered professional or legal issues that could suggest they are unsuited to the role they are being considered for.
This type of personnel-related due diligence can involve psychological and technical tests that demonstrate a candidate’s knowledge and aptitude for a job, as well as a comprehensive effort to corroborate all qualifications and experience that they have told you about during the hiring process, or identify legal antecedents that they may not have declared.
Note that while background checks in Peru can be performed on potential personnel for any level within your organization, they are particularly important when hiring a senior executive, given that such an individual will often be representing you in front of local authorities, clients, and partners, and will exert significant influence over your operations.
Main types of background checks
Some of the different types of background checks in Peru include:
Personal data: When hiring a new employee for your company, it is always important to verify the personal information provided by the candidate to avoid potential inconsistencies. This verification can be done through the National Registry of Identification and Civil Status (RENIEC), where the following information is shown:
- First name and surname
- Date and place of birth
- Physical attributes and marital status
- Declared address and place of residence
- Education level
- Identification issue date
- Professional restrictions or outstanding fines
Road safety: When a role involves driving any kind of vehicle while representing your company, the candidate’s history of road safety infractions can be studied, to guarantee that any license they present is valid, and to demonstrate that they do not have a history of dangerous or reckless driving that would suggest they are unsuited to the role.
Criminal records: As part of a complete background check process, recruitment agents will verify that any declarations made with regard to criminal records are correct, guaranteeing that no undeclared legal issue comes back to haunt you in the future.
Work history: A full review of a candidate’s work history involves requests to former employers for professional references, to guarantee that any claimed past employer or job role is valid.
Educational accreditation: Background checks in Peru also involve the review and confirmation of any qualification or professional accreditation presented by a candidate, via study of original diplomas and transcripts, as well as through verification with any institution reported to have granted them.
Tax status: Another type of background check involves reviewing a person’s tax practices, to guarantee that they have been fully compliant with local regulations and are not facing any kind of legal issue or financial penalty that could diminish your confidence in their suitability for your team, or reduce their ability to work effectively on your behalf.
Benefits of conducting staff background verification
The main benefits of conducting a background check in Peru when hiring qualified local personnel include:
• Certainty about the veracity of all personal and professional information provided by a candidate
• Minimized business risks associated with hiring inappropriate personnel
• Identification of candidates whose characteristics fit well with your organization’s business objectives
• Time and money saving s through the avoidance of repeated hiring cycles
Will a PEO payroll company in Peru vet staff properly?
If you don’t have a legal entity in Peru, or simply want to outsource some of your operations, and you are considering hiring via a PEO payroll company, you should ask potential PEO firms about the background checks that they subject staff to.
Because while you will not be the official employer of those staff, they could still affect your operations and good standing, and you will need to deal with the inevitable necessity to rehire if an inappropriate staff member is selected.
At Biz Latin Hub, we guarantee our PEO clients that any staff we hire on their behalf are subjected to the highest of vetting standards, to eliminate any doubt about their suitability and give our clients the peace of mind they need to be able to focus on other aspects of their business.
Conduct background checks in Peru with the help of Biz Latin Hub
At Biz Latin Hub, our multilingual hiring & PEO team has ample experience conducting background checks to help foreign companies find the best local talent. With our full suite of high-quality legal, accounting, and back-office services, we are equipped to be your single point of contact to successfully establish and manage a legal entity in Peru, or any of the other 15 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean where we are preset.
Reach out to us now for personalized assistance or a free quote.
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