Case Studies

CheckBack’s pre-employment screening involves dealing with the facts as presented by a job applicant to the client company. The facts, as given, are verified. This process involves searches of multiple sources in the public domain. All screenings are carried out in accordance with the local Data Protection Act and the Data Protection Commissioner regulates the company.

When recruitment goes wrong

It’s the horror story every manager of an SME dreads. Hiring the “perfect fit” only to find out at a later stage that the person is neither as qualified nor experienced as originally thought. The financial cost to businesses because of bad recruitment choices can be enormous. Examples of staff fraud and theft are becoming more common, as well qualification exaggeration.

The recruitment of new staff is an expensive process for any organisation. It is estimated that the actual cost can be as high as double the first year’s salary taking the time spent recruiting, hiring and training into account. So it is vital that the right person is hired to fill the vacancy in your organisation.

Companies can use a number of recruiting tools to help ensure that the right person gets the job. One of these tools is using the services of a pre-employment screening company.

In the US and UK, pre-employment screening has been an integral part of the recruitment process for years but is relatively new in the Irish and UK marketplace. It plays an important role in the recruitment process. Joey Lyons, general manager of CheckBack International says that in the past year alone there has been a 50 percent increase in companies using pre-employment screening. “It is not just major multinationals and financial institutions,” he says, “but also a wide range of indigenous companies.”

Outsourcing pre-employment screening ensures that HR departments can concentrate on other issues. Outsourcing can be done quickly and is very cost effective. A company like CheckBack International can set up a screening program with a client in a short period of time, ensuring that the program is customised to the client’s needs. CheckBack has recently launched new on-line software which allows their clients access to their accounts so they can track the progress of any screening.

According to Lyons, who has been head of CheckBack for over four years, many companies now regard pre-employment screening as an essential part of the recruiting process. “Employers are spending large amounts of money and time looking for the right employees. Mistakes in the selection process can cost them dearly. And increasingly over-stretched HR departments are outsourcing this function, which is time-consuming but also is becoming more sophisticated and specialised.”

The misrepresentation of educational qualifications is the most common according to Lyons. CheckBack estimates that between 35 and 50 per cent of applicants exaggerate their education to try and seal a new job. CheckBack has found that job applicants will often claim to have completed particular courses but withdrew after the first or second year. The company has also come across situations where certain qualifications are purchased over the internet. “The increased popularity of technologies such as the internet, people could be more tempted to add that ‘little something extra’ to the CVs to try and get one up on the next candidate”, says Lyons.

One concern that a HR director or manager may have is “does screening invade privacy?” Pre-employment screening should never be viewed as an invasion into someone’s background; it is simply the verification of information supplied on an application or available in the public domain. CheckBack’s experience has shown that applicants fully understand the need for such checks and are engaged from the outset of the screening process. Lyons comments, “I went through the screening process myself and feel that it is necessary particularly in certain industries such as finance, security and healthcare. From my point of view, it shows that a company follows due diligence.”

With 85% of serious fraud committed by a company’s own staff, hiring employees with integrity is vital to the financial success of corporations. CV fraud has become so common, that the CVs that actually stand out are not those claiming honour degrees or employment director ships, but actually the ordinary CV that is verified as factually correct and compliant...So says CheckBack.

CheckBack helps companies avoid this issue by hiring the very best researchers, and what follows are some of their experiences.