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Screening checklists

Employers should take note of the following checklists when taking on new staff.

Basic checklist

* Criminal record checks.

* Verification of educational qualifications.

* Credit checks.

* Drivers licence verification.

* ID verification.

Verifying qualifications and CVs

According to Legal Protection Services (LPS), there is a virtual epidemic of fake credentials and inflated résumés amongst those seeking employment. Industry specialist Trudie van der Merwe says 14% of qualification queries submitted are problematic to some degree. They are either tampered with or forged.

Networking and reference checking

Reference checking establishes if an employee is hiding anything. The process confirms that references, work experiences and dates are authentic. Information can also be obtained from the CCMA on a prospective employee ie, whether the employee has used the CCMA or not.

Advanced checklist

While basic screening is an essential first port of call, Erna Penning believes that merely verifying credentials is no longer enough. She says companies in high-risk sectors should be qualifying a prospective employee’s background and profile by including the following in-depth screening procedures to their basic checklist:

* Signed consent of the individual to integrity testing/risk analysis.

* Credit and criminal enquiry. If there is a cause for concern, the individual in question should be interviewed to explain why he did what he did.

* Qualification verification.

* CV verification.

* Work enquiries: talk personally to previous employers.

* Media search. Done in the case of high profile individuals or if an international citizen applies for a job; for foreign citizens, a thorough risk profile would need to be done, and past media coverage can be an effective means of assessing a person.

* A consolidated risk report should be provided – with recommendations.

Health checklist

“If an employee’s wellbeing and health is not in order, this can have a radical effect on his work ethic and output,” says Jenny Reid, who has recently started up a company called Orange, specifically to address the growing concerns of the wellbeing of company employees. “Stress, poor diet and personal issues combined can push a person into doing crime through sheer desperation,” she says. “Syndicates prey on weaknesses and will target a vulnerable employee to work for better rewards. Furthermore, unhappy employees may well turn to fraud as a means of bettering their circumstances.”

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