Staff Vetting

The person you're interviewing may not be who they claim to be. Careful vetting of candidates should reduce the chance of criminals infiltrating your organization

With unemployment rising and vacancies falling, some people can't resist the temptation to cheat their way into a job. That's depressing news for honest jobseekers, forced to compete with ever more brazen CV liars.

It's also bad news for employers. As more and more candidates chase fewer positions, already under-resourced HR departments must cope with floods of application forms.

So how can organizations build a strong defense against phony intruders?

Screening out the criminals

Inevitably, some employers have stronger controls than others - particularly if they've been victims of such crime in the past. In addition, many sectors and professions stipulate staff vetting regimes to protect themselves and their stakeholders.

But, worryingly, even more wary, risk averse employers can often unknowingly grant access to identity fraudsters, CV/resumé liars - and worse. And that's usually because either they don't have the right policies and procedures in place, or if they do, they're not executing them properly.

One common mistake is the vetting of potential employees by recruiters in the HR department who are more focused on the hiring than the background checking of employees. That hints at a conflict of interest within the onboarding process. Another trap is to trust candidate-volunteered sources, who could masquerade as 'friendly referees'. Such people may help to conceal earlier dismissals for dishonesty or to vouch for false qualifications.

Real or fake documents?

Anyone who's had to check passports or visas knows that it's almost impossible to spot the difference between a fake and the genuine article. Yet the onus is usually on the employer to ensure that any recruits are entitled to work in their country. And the problem isn't getting any easier, as false documents are increasingly offered for sale on the internet.

The passport scanners found at most airports use highly sophisticated technology. Armed with such equipment, plus 'watch lists' of suspects, they can spot fakes in seconds. Fortunately, such scanners are becoming far more affordable, which should help to ease the worries of employers. Just make sure the person who turns up for work is the same one who presented the genuine ID during the recruitment process. Security badges with an employee photograph should be a basic control.

Resumé lies

Lies or exaggerations on CVs and resumés are nothing new. Recent research by the internet job site Monster suggests that up to a third of candidates would be prepared to lie on an application form to secure a new job. Phony qualifications, exaggerated job titles, misrepresented employment dates and concealed dismissals for dishonesty are popular fabrications. Just as worrying, too many employers still rely on candidatesupplied contact details for referees who may supply glowing but false references.

Taking a pragmatic view of risk

Many employers struggle to decide what checks to make when recruiting, and end up either doing too much or too little. One simple approach is to build up a 'risk matrix' by considering the risks facing your organization, and the potential impact of different job roles on those risks. It's definitely worth using an objective and skilled facilitator when you're putting a matrix together. He or she should be someone from outside the business or the department in question.

Checking international criminal records

This task is complicated by the long list of differences between countries of what constitutes a crime, the reliability of convictions, the quality of data, and the ease of access to or even availability of records.

Thankfully, the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) in the UK now publishes practical advice on how to undertake criminal records checks in 48 of the most commonly sought countries. They also include pointers for companies needing to maintain personnel security in offshore locations, especially within shared service centres, and those who face the challenge of recruiting offshore staff.

Keeping one step ahead

Fortunately for employers, there's more information and support available these days than ever before as victims, law enforcement agencies and counter-crime experts increasingly join forces to reduce the harm caused by employment fraud. But well-networked and determined criminals won't stop trying new ways to infiltrate organizations. Effective employment screening should be vigilant in keeping abreast of the fraudsters' latest techniques, and constantly deploy better checking regimes.