Employment Screening
Surveys suggest that up to a third of people falsify details on their CVs. While this is mostly done to inflate qualifications or otherwise to exaggerate, it may occur with more sinister intent – to conceal past criminality or gross misconduct in previous posts. Whatever the motivation, such falsification reveals a worrisome propensity to lie. It is perplexing, therefore, that pre-employment screening is neglected by many organisations, despite the fact that effective screening represents a small fraction of a typical recruitment cost, and can pre-empt very serious problems from arising at a later stage.
Haymarket’s employment screening division undertakes comprehensive background checking of applicants to identify falsified and meaningless qualifications, grade inflation, bogus references, disciplinary issues, pending litigation, serious indebtedness and undisclosed criminal convictions. Far surpassing the checks traditionally carried out by time-pressured HR departments or bonus-driven recruitment firms, Haymarket’s professional objectivity and thoroughness provide reassurance when it comes to new appointments.
A candidate applying for a middle management position with a client organisation had shown unusual reluctance to complete the Information Form used to obtain consent to conduct screening checks. Haymarket's findings quickly explained this reticence: His claimed “BA (Hons)” was in fact issued by a bogus university or “Degree Mill” at a cost of US$100 and was academically worthless; One of the written references he provided with his application proved to be a forgery, designed to conceal a significant gap in his career; A media search and other corroborative checks revealed that he had been in prison during one of his “absences”- serving time for a fraud against a previous employer. The previous employer was identified and confirmed that the candidate had been dismissed for gross misconduct.