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If you are running one of the many companies which is starting to delve deeper into the background of people applying for positions, should you have a written policy on it? Most HR organisations agree that background screening is a positive step which companies can take to minimise the risk of employing someone who is at best unsuitable for the position, and at worst, a risk to colleagues or the company’s finances. But it’s important to have a written policy to make sure that any screening is done fairly and ensures that the company is not discriminating against any applicants based on race, sex, or other protected characteristics.

Purpose and Scope

The first thing your screening policy should contain is a statement on purpose and scope. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy; it’s merely a statement about why you are carrying out background screening, and what you will be looking at during your vetting process.

Organisational Responsibility

This section of the policy should detail who is responsible for carrying out the screening. Many organisations choose to use an external company to do this work for them, so it’s important to let staff know if this is what you intend to do. If you are screening in house, it’s best practice to name an individual, or at least a position such as HR Director, as the person with overall control of the process.

Legal Parameters

The policy should also mention that some background checks have to be completed for legal reasons. In the UK this includes a Right to Work check to confirm someone’s nationality and eligibility to work in the UK. Other positions, usually in healthcare or working with children, may need a disclosure, or criminal records check. The policy should contain a statement about clearly stating which positions require a criminal record check in vacancy notices.

Detail the Process

A good policy should also go into a bit of detail about how screening will be done. This should lay out which checks will be carried out, whether screening will be done once at recruitment or repeated at a certain interval, which positions are eligible for screening, and what criteria could lead to someone being rejected after an adverse screening result.

Avoiding Discrimination

Once you’ve written your policy on employment screening – and you can download a template to customise if you don’t want to start from scratch – the next step is to make sure that everyone involved in the process is aware of the policy and what is contained within it. Any policy on screening must be applied across the board, whoever the person is applying for the position. Obviously, deciding just to screen men, or people living in a certain postcode, could lead to accusations of discrimination. But it would also be unfair to not follow the process for someone known to the employer, or who has been referred by an employment agency. Keep all paperwork relating to screening and background checking so you can justify your decisions.

Employers can see how tempting it is for employees to tell a few white lies on their CV. Giving yourself a team leader position when you were just a team member, tweaking A-level grades, extending employment periods to cover gaps. Who’s going to notice and why does it matter? Most candidates aren’t aware that in the UK, lying on your CV falls under the remit of “fraud by false misrepresentation” and is classed as a crime. Many employees who are dismissed after their lies are discovered try to claim that they just made a mistake when completing their application but legally, that makes no difference.

Grade Checking

Qualifications are one of the most lied about things on a CV, and so increasingly employers are checking. Most won’t ask for proof of every qualification, just the highest or most recent qualification, or ones which are critical to the position under consideration. If you have forgotten what grades you got in your A-levels, don’t guess. Just put that you have passes in subjects and if the employer requires more detail, you can ask for replacement certificates at a later date. Don’t ever be tempted to claim membership of a professional body which you don’t have, as it just takes one phone call from your employer to the professional organisation concerned to verify your claims.

Consequences Of Lying on CVs

Most people lie on their CVs because they think they will get away with it. But along with not getting the job, there are many other consequences to being less than honest. Some of these are:

• Embarrassment at Interview – If you say you’re fluent in Spanish, and the interviewer greets you in Spanish and asks about your journey, how will you respond? Also, being quizzed on specific aspects of a job you’ve never done will just leave you feeling embarrassed and out of your depth at interview.
• Removed from Process – probably the main consequence of lying on your CV is that you’ll be asked to leave the interview process, or any existing job offer is rescinded.
• Blacklisting – Major employers don’t appreciate having their time wasted by people lying on CVs and then being caught out. Many will operate an unofficial “blacklist” of people who have been caught out and will refuse to ever consider them for another position in the future. This can hugely hamper your job prospects if you live in an area with just one or two large employers. If you’ve landed the interview through an agency, then they are unlikely to want to work with you again in the future.
• Dismissal -if your lies come to light after you’ve started work, then this is classed as gross misconduct and usually means instant sacking. How are you going to explain that on your CV going forward?

The best advice is clear – don’t tell fibs on your CV. If you’re caught out, the consequences can be severe. If you’re unsure of grades or job titles, state that in your application rather than guessing.

It’s common knowledge that many employers will Google a candidate’s name, or search for them on Facebook to decide whether they are the sort of person who fits with their company. What’s perhaps less known is that a 2017 survey revealed that 36% of employers in the UK discounted a candidate because of what they saw on their Instagram, Facebook, or LinkedIn profile. But what should employers be looking for on candidates’ social media profiles?

Adverse Social Media Activity

Most employers will say that they are looking for adverse social media activity, but what does this mean in practical terms? HR departments who are screening social media sites will have a range of things they are looking for, but these will include:

• Anything which contradicts information or claims which someone has made on their CV or application form
• Derogatory posts about a former employer, their business, or colleagues
• Inappropriate language
• Extreme views or political opinions
• Posts showing illegal or offensive behaviour

How Far Back Do They Look?

Again, the approach taken will vary from employer to employer, and even within one employer depending on the job. Most employers recognise that the main social media sites allow anyone over the age of 13 to have an account and that it’s probably not fair to judge someone in their 20s over a post they put online as a 14 or 15-year-old. Most will only look at posts from the age of 18, or just have a blanket policy of looking at posts going back a year.

Social Media Screening as Part of the Recruitment Process

Social media screening is cheap and simple and can easily be done in house. Usually, media screening takes place at an early stage of the process before interviews. This means that members of staff are not wasting time in interviewing someone who later turns out to be unsuitable. From a candidate’s point of view, if you are often missing out on interviews for positions which you have the experience and qualifications to do, could that be down to what employers are seeing on your Twitter feed or Facebook wall?

Should You Clean Up Your Social Media Profile?

If you’re in the job market, it’s worth knowing what employers are looking for, and making sure that there’s nothing on your social media profiles which could call your character into question. Many employers recommend the “grandma” test – any posts which you wouldn’t be happy for your granny to see probably aren’t the sort of thing you’d want your employer to see either. All social media sites will let you go back through your feed and remove any posts which you feel are perhaps inappropriate. Think also what you’re posting on other people’s feeds, or what sort of replies you are posting to brands or company feeds.

Another option of course is to make yourself impossible to find on social media, if you are uncomfortable with the idea that other people might trawl through your feed. Adopt a pseudonym, misspell your name, or switch your first and middle names, and delete your profile picture too.

There is some degree of pre-employment screening for most jobs, even if it’s just the very basics of establishing your legal Right to Work in the UK or chasing up references. But for other industries, there are many more hoops to jump through before securing a position. Let’s take a look at the industries which have the highest level of pre-employment vetting requirements.

Financial Services

Banks, insurance companies and credit card providers have some of the toughest pre-employment screening around. The level of screening will vary according to the role and depending on how much access the role would have to customer’s cash or accounts. In addition to the basics of Right to Work and reference checking, many jobs in retail banks or insurance will look for a basic DBS check into an applicant’s criminal record, to weed out anyone with convictions for fraud, theft, or dishonesty. A credit check is usually carried out too, in order to identify people who are in deep financial trouble, and who may be either open to bribery, or tempted to commit theft.

Government Jobs

In terms of working in the public sector, the strictest vetting procedures are reserved for central government jobs. Many people working in roles in government departments will have access to sensitive information, or regular contact with people with a high public profile. Security vetting for these jobs generally will include a detailed criminal records check, and for most roles, applicants will be asked to give details of the family and partner too. Security services will then check the information given to ensure that the applicant is not “on the radar” of the police or security services as a member of an extremist group, or with extremist views. For jobs with MI6, MI5, or the Ministry of Defence, the bar will be set even higher.

Police Jobs

Police vetting is similar to vetting for work in the government. Most police forces in the UK have the vetting form online, so you can see exactly what applicants will be asked. Police recruiters are obviously interested in your criminal record and will also look at your financial situation to make sure you are not vulnerable to bribery. Police forces will also ask applicants about their immediate family, people they live with or close friends, in order to make sure they are not a known associate of a serious criminal. Vetting in police jobs is carried out regularly just in case someone’s situation changes.

Safety Critical Industries

If you want to work in a power station, drive a train, or be an air traffic controller, there are different types of vetting which might apply. Employers in this sector are less interested in your finances, but may have medical testing prior to hiring you, and compulsory random drug and alcohol testing on an ongoing basis. A DBS check is usually not required, beyond the basics of asking about unspent convictions. In some industries though, especially for those working in aviation, additional vetting will be done with the security services.

With an increasingly busy jobs market, employers are often faced with hundreds of applications for every position. It’s quite a task to sort through all of the applications and work out which ones are worth inviting to interview. With a high number of applications containing at best exaggerations and at worst downright lies, how do you spot a dodgy application in amongst the piles of paper or inbox full of emails?

Cover Letter

All serious job hunters know that it’s essential to craft an individual cover letter for each position, explaining exactly how you meet the criteria in the job advert. If someone hasn’t bothered to do that, and appears to be sending out generic letters, then they are either lazy, or not aware of the conventions around job hunting. If you only have a limited pool of candidates then you may choose to overlook a generic letter, but in most cases, these applications should be disregarded.

Spot the Cliché

If your applicant sounds like one of those Apprentice candidates who confidently says they are the best salesperson ever, then what else could they be telling fibs about? Words like “driven”, “passionate” or “results-oriented” are used so frequently that they have lost their meaning. A candidate who uses cliché isn’t necessarily lying, but do they have the evidence in their work experience to back up their claims?

Right Work Experience

Experience will depend on the position – someone recruiting for a graduate training scheme for example will not expect years of relevant experience from someone straight out of university. For other candidates, check that their work experience matches your requirements. Candidates who don’t quite have the required experience shouldn’t be discounted if they are strong in other areas. It’s also wise to check references to confirm that claimed job titles match up to what employers have told you about a candidate’s employment history.

Weird Job Titles

If you are recruiting people from within the same industry, you’re the expert on the terminology used and the terms used to describe jobs. If a candidate is using terms which sound odd or out of place or claiming to have carried out tasks which you do not associate with their previous employer, they might well be telling fibs. Similarly, someone swapping frequently from job to job, often in very different industries, can be an indication that they are either an unreliable employee, or someone who’s economical with the truth.

Interviews are Key

Often, lies can only be uncovered at interview stage. It makes sense to have someone on the interview panel who understands the industry and specifics of the job rather than someone from HR or a different department. A skilled interviewer will soon be able to work out whether a candidate really has done the tasks they are claiming or has exaggerated their role. This can be done in a non-confrontational way, but any discrepancies should be fully investigated and if there’s still a doubt after interview whether a candidate is telling the truth, then it’s probably best not to employ them.

Asking about people’s health and well-being is something which has been in the news often recently, with coverage of whether it is appropriate or not to ask staff about whether or not they have had their Covid-19 vaccination. At the pre-employment stage, employers often shy away from asking any questions about health, absence due to sickness or disability out of fear of falling foul of discrimination legislation. However, employers are allowed to ask about health, and in some cases, ask job applicants to go for a medical before their job offer is confirmed.

Reasonable Adjustments for Disability

Refusing to interview or employ members of staff who have a disability is clear discrimination, but on the other hand, asking about disability can help employers put additional measures in place for support. Most employers will ask about any adjustments which an employee may need to perform their job. There are also specific instances in which asking questions about health is justified. For example, asking someone being employed in a role which requires heavy lifting whether they have an illness which might affect that, or whether someone wanting work as a roofer has a health problem which could stop them climbing ladders or working at height.

Pre-Employment Medicals

The Equality Act, passed in 2010, made it illegal for employers to have a blanket policy of carrying out medicals on anyone who wishes to work for them. As with everything in law however, there are exceptions. Employers are still allowed to send prospective employees for medicals in two situations:

• A Legal Requirement
• Job requires it

For example, someone working as a pilot, cabin crew, or air traffic controller must pass a medical in order to be certified as safe to perform their job. It is therefore entirely reasonable for an airline to require a medical before offering work to a new cabin crew member. The other exception is for work as something like a driver or courier, where insurance companies may demand that employers check their drivers’ eyesight or medical details to ensure that they are safe to be behind the wheel.

What Information Will Be Shared?

Employees are often very concerned about giving employers access to their medical records or sharing information about illnesses or medical history. Most medicals for employment purposes are carried out by external, private companies rather than by individual employers. Medical assessors will be told what job the person is being considered for and will then carry out their assessment on that basis. Results will usually be passed back to the employer on a pass/fail basis, with no details being given about why someone would not be considered for a role. This ensures that the applicant’s medical details remain private.

Employers usually don’t have rights to demand access to a worker’s medical records, at any stage of their employment. This area of employment law is a legal minefield, and employers should always consult with HR experts to make sure that any plans they have for checking or medicals are legal and fair.

Every industry sector has its own vocabulary and jargon. If you’re not up to date with all the different phrases and expressions used, then it’s easy to get lost in confusion about what is actually being said. We’ve put together a handy glossary to help explain some of the most common phrases in plain English.

DBS – DBS stands for Disclosure and Barring Service. This is the organisation in England and Wales which does criminal records checks for people working in that area of the UK. Your employer will be able to let you know whether you need a DBS check or not.

PVG – PVG stands for Protecting Vulnerable Groups and is the name of the system in Scotland for the most detailed level of criminal records checking.

Right to Work Check – this is the legal requirement for employers to check that the people they are employing have the legal right to work in the UK. A right to work check usually involves employers seeing passports to verify nationality.

Screening – Screening is just another word for checking. In some situations, screening is used to mean checks carried out at an earlier stage of the recruitment process, in order to make sure that you’re not wasting time interviewing unsuitable candidates. More frequently however, it’s used to mean the same thing as checking.

Vetting – Again, vetting is another word which means the same as checking or screening. Vetting was formerly used in connection with government or military positions but now is used in a wide range of other situations too.

Verification – Verification just means fact checking, so in an employment context this means looking at facts you have given on your application form or CV and checking to make sure you’ve told the truth.

BPSS – BPSS is Baseline Personnel Security Standard and is the screening which is usually carried out for people working in government departments. For people with access to sensitive data, a higher level of checking might be required.

RICE Framework – the “RICE” acronym covers the basic checking which employers should be doing: Right to Work, Identity, Criminal Record and Employment History.

Background Check – this is a term which isn’t specific and can mean a range of things, from a very quick check into someone’s references, to full-on checking every fact on a CV and running a full credit check.

Credit Check – this is an investigation into someone’s financial history, usually carried out in connection with jobs in banks or other financial services. Employers will always ask for consent before carrying out a credit check.

Security Clearance – government and defence jobs, or roles in police or Armed Forces may use the term “security clearance” instead of vetting or background checking. This process is more about assessing someone’s criminal background, to ensure they don’t pose a security risk.

GDPR – this acronym is the General Data Protection Regulation. GDPR sets out the rules about how your personal information should be stored and processed. In basic terms, it should mean that anything sensitive discovered on a background check should be kept confidential.

One of the main rules when employment screening is to construct a full employment history for your potential employee. This usually means accounting for the last three years, but some employers will want to see an employment history going back five, or even ten years. All the HR advice will talk about looking for gaps in employment history, but how do you go about investigating breaks in employment?

Reasons for Gaps in Employment

There are many reasons why a candidate might have a gap between one job and the next – redundancy, caring responsibilities, extended period of travel, study – so don’t automatically jump to the assumption that the candidate has something to hide. They might have been sent to prison, but it’s probably far more likely that there’s another explanation. Candidates are always advised to account for gaps on their CV, so check the application to make sure they haven’t offered an explanation elsewhere.

Chasing References

People know that employers don’t like to see gaps in employment history and are often tempted to tweak their CV to hide the fact that they were sacked and had a couple of months out of work before finding a new job. Always chase up references from previous employers to confirm dates of employment, and make sure they match with what the candidate has told you. Most former employers will also confirm the job title. Giving candidates the benefit of the doubt is important too, especially when taking an employment history going back five years or longer. People forget exact dates; they might remember that they started at a particular job in the autumn, but if they tell you October and it was really November, that’s of no great concern.

Voluntary and Involuntary Gaps

If you do discover gaps which can’t be accounted for, at interview you are trying to get to the bottom of whether these gaps were voluntary, or involuntary. A voluntary gap would include taking time off to have a baby or care for an older relative, to study or to travel overseas for several months. These reasons are not anything to be concerned about, and candidates are usually happy to detail these gaps on an application.

Involuntary gaps are what employers are more concerned about. An involuntary gap can be due to redundancy, being sacked, or even something as serious as being in prison. Candidates are usually happy to tell employers they were made redundant, less so that they were sacked or went to jail. Previous employers may be happy to give a reason for leaving, others will merely stick to giving the dates of employment with no further comment.

Mind The Gap

Not all gaps on CVs indicate the candidate is trying to pull the wool over your eyes. But some might, and you’re not doing your job properly as a recruiter if you don’t investigate what’s going on. It all helps build the picture of a candidate’s background, and helps you make a more informed choice about who to hire.