Therefore, Pre-employment screening services are gaining in popularity to help your organisation to identify undesirable individuals, who may be dishonest or susceptible to committing fraud, before they join you.
Employment application forms vary from one organisation to another, but often you can request additional information relating to an applicant’s:
• Identity (full name and date of birth)
• Residential address
• Educational and/or professional qualifications
• Employment history (including any gaps) and references
• Right to work in the Canada
• Criminal history
• Financial background.
Depending upon the type of vacancy and sector in which your organisation operates, it may be necessary to verify some or all of this information.
As a minimum, you should aim to verify the applicant’s identity, residential address, eligibility to work in the position applied for and previous employment history.
Here is an important piece of information - the background checks your organisation conducts should be proportionate to the risks associated with the advertised role. For example, managerial or financial positions may require more extensive screening. Particular care should be taken in screening applicants for positions with access to customer records and/or other confidential information, such as call centre staff.
What is pre-employment screening?
Pre-employment screening is the process of checking that information provided by a prospective employee – usually in a job application form, resume or CV – is accurate and complete. The results are used to make an informed decision about the suitability of an applicant for a particular vacancy.
To be effective, pre-employment screening should be completed before a prospective employee starts work; otherwise it may be too late.
Why is pre-employment screening important?
Pre-employment screening can provide some assurance that a prospective employee is trustworthy and has the necessary skills and/or experience required to perform the role they have applied for.
It can also deter dishonest individuals from applying in the first place.
Pre-employment screening will not completely protect your business against an employee committing fraud once they have started working for you – an individual’s personal and/or financial circumstances can change over time – but it can help to reduce the risk of this occurring.
The risks of not screening
Failure to undertake pre-employment screening may expose your organisation to the risks of:
• Abuse of procurement and/or staff expense reimbursement processes.
• Theft of business assets, customer information and/or intellectual property rights.
• Use of your business premises and/or equipment to conduct unauthorised or illegal activities.
• Appointment of individuals not suitably qualified or experienced for the role and/or who are dishonest.
Common types of pre-employment fraud include:
• Uses a false identity
• Impersonates an innocent party
• Use of a false immigration document
• Provides false education and/or professional qualifications
• Provides false references
• Conceals his or her employment history
• Conceals his or her employment record
• Conceals unspent criminal conviction(s)
• Conceals adverse financial and/or credit history.
Taking action
If you discover that a prospective employee has provided a serious material falsehood on his or her application form for employment with your organisation, you should:
1. Withdraw any offer of employment that has been made.
2. Report the matter to the appropriate authorities (such as the Police, Canada Border Agency, etc).
3. Notify any recruitment agency involved that a fraudulent employment application form has been submitted.
Finally, your organisation may wish to consider conducting periodic checks on employees being promoted, as well as in high risk positions, to ensure they remain.
The Renwick Group - www.therenwickgroup.ca - 1 (888) 722-9807 - is a private investigation firm founded in 1997 and is based in Barrie, Ontario, covering Toronto, GTA and South Central Ontario. We excel in delivering our core Private Investigation Services in the most efficient, secure, and professional manner. - Our services include: Surveillance, Skip Tracing, Pre-Employment Screening, Litigation Support and Labour Dispute Management
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