What is the need for antecedent/reference

What is the need for antecedent/reference verification before a person is offered employment?

Antecedent means background. From the organizational point of view it is very much necessary and important to check the background in terms of experience, knowledge, skill, inter-personal relationship, attitude of the selected candidate from the previous organization before giving him the offer. The organization should contact through correspondence or telephone the concerned official of the previous organization to verify information relevant to it. Also the organization should write to the referees provided by the candidate in his employment application and seek their impressions about the candidate. In some instances organizations verify the background through investigative agencies or send their representative to the educational institute where the candidate passed out from or even go to the police in the candidate’s locality to verify the background. Antecedent verification is a kind of pre-emptive step to ensure that as far as possible the candidate it is recruiting is blemishless or does not have any skeletons in his professional cupboard.