Effective hiring involves a mixture of clear strategic thinking, personal judgement, time and money. Recruitment isn’t cheap, even if you do it in-house, whereas third parties might be asking for 25% of the candidate’s first year salary. But once you have your ‘ideal’ hire you need to make some checks. Gut instinct alone is not enough, as many a shrewd boss has been caught out by a cunning candidate.
1) Don’t rely on CVs
“We had a candidate who appeared to be great, but she said she worked for a business which we hadn’t heard of – it just didn’t add up,” says James Callander, managing director of recruitment business FreshMinds. “Curiosity got the better of me and I had to check it out. I discovered the company had never existed, which was a real shame as she seemed so good. I wanted to find out why she had lied, but she withdrew from the process.”
As far as lies go, this is a big one, but many candidates will exaggerate and ‘fill in the gaps’. Employers should read CVs with both care and caution, but one document is nowhere near enough. Create your own forms and ask your candidate to formally make declarations about their experience, qualifications and any other notable instances in their life (both positive and negative). Other key questions to ask about employment history include start and finish dates and reasons for leaving. Lies told here can be grounds for immediate dismissal.
2) Chase former employers
“One of the things we often come across is that employers don’t go to the basic lengths,” says Vanessa James, head of employment at SA Law. “All employers must get at least two references and if one of them isn’t from their current employer, this can be a bad sign. Employment should always be ‘subject to references’.”
Most companies will do you the courtesy of providing a reference, even if it consists solely of providing start and finish dates. Some companies fear being sued as a result of providing faulty references, although James believes this is unlikely. Nevertheless, follow-up calls and discreet chats with colleagues may uncover interesting details.
3) Verify qualifications
The failure to disclose grades or provide evidence of qualifications such as certificates should ring alarm bells. Getting confirmation of grades from educational establishments can be tricky, but if you have the candidate’s permission there’s no legal barrier. “Professional qualifications don’t fall under the Data Protection Act, so they can give them to you, but that doesn’t mean they will,” says Carol Smith, a senior consultant at employer advisers Croner.
A mixture of charm and guile is often needed when dealing with officials. Make things easier by asking the candidate for names of lecturers or teachers and other details of their course. This will give you more confidence in them and more entry points when making checks. Another tip is to email an institution with the candidate copied in, thereby sidestepping any perceived privacy issue.
4) Understand criminal convictions
Businesses in some sectors (security, childcare, etc) are obliged to establish whether a job candidate has a criminal record. Others can use organisations to do this for them. However, most employers can’t contact a government department, such as the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), to find out as this information is deemed confidential. But you should have a question on your form that asks if candidates have ‘any current criminal convictions’. Failure to disclose a criminal conviction when asked is an offence. If you find out later someone has lied, you will have the right to fire them.