This is a guest article from CER Partner VerifyNow

CER ceased its Police Check Verification service at the end of 2020 and chose leading employment screening company VerifyNow as its trusted service provider for Police Checks. This has many advantages for CER members, including, modern time saving systems and a wide range of employment screening services, such as identity verification, employment history checks, qualification and reference checks.

Most employers recognise the importance of screening applicants thoroughly before making a job offer. With the vast amount of information available online, however, it can be difficult to know the best approach for screening candidates to support your hiring decisions. 

Our preferred approach to employment screening is a “holistic” one. 

Instead of relying on a single source of information, holistic screening takes a comprehensive approach that includes multiple data points. This might include combining traditional background and reference checks with skills and personality assessments. 

This way, you’re not only considering the candidate’s qualifications on paper but also their character, motivation, and ability to fit within the company’s culture. 

While some CER members are already taking advantage of the benefits of holistic background screening services from providers like VerifyNow, others may not be aware of the range of solutions available. 

The purpose of this article is to provide you with a guide to background screening options and the benefits these can bring as part of your hiring process. 

Recommended and required background screening by sector

When deciding which employment background screening checks are best for your business, it’s important to consider the sector and position. Different sectors will have different issues that background checks need to address. 

For example, the healthcare and social sectors are going to be more concerned with preventing the hiring of individuals with a history of violence or abuse, whereas the financial and insurance sectors will be more concerned with preventing fraud and money laundering. 

Similarly, different positions have different risks associated with them. A senior executive is likely to be subject to a higher level of scrutiny than an entry-level employee, for example. Therefore, it’s important to tailor your background check policy to the specific needs of your business.

To read more about some of the key considerations you should factor into your sector’s employment screening solutions, check out VerifyNow’s article on the recommended and required background screenings by sector. 

Legal considerations of background screening

When conducting background screenings on prospective employees, you need to take several legal considerations into account in order to ensure compliance with anti-discrimination and privacy laws. 

For example, you need to obtain consent from individuals before running background checks to ensure you’re not violating any privacy laws. You also need to ensure that you’re conducting your screening fairly and in a manner that doesn’t exclude applicants on the grounds of protected attributes such as race, religion, and disability. 

Failure to comply with these legal requirements could result in costly penalties for your business. Therefore, it is essential that you have an employment screening framework in place that balances the need to appropriately vet your candidates with the need to be legally compliant.

You might be interested in learning more about these legal considerations, which you can do on our preferred screening provider’s website. 

What you need to know about the updated Workforce Screening Standard AS 4811:2022 

When it comes to screening potential employees, it's important to tailor the process to the specific needs of your organisation. There's no one-size-fits-all approach that will work for every business, so you need to take the time to develop a framework that outlines the steps you need to take to ensure a thorough and effective screening process.

In 2006, Standards Australia published the Australian Standard for Employment Screening with the intention of providing guidance as to how to build a workable framework for pre-employment screening. Since then, however, the landscape for screening solutions has significantly changed, so it was necessary to provide an updated framework that employers could use. The updated Standard was released in 2022. 

VerifyNow strongly advises all of our members to familiarise themselves with the Workforce Screening Standard AS 4811:2022 document to align your employment screening framework with the standard.

If you would like to get a basic understanding of the key changes, you can check out this guide on everything you need to know about the updated Workforce Screening Standard AS 4811:2022.

Benefits of Employment Screening during a talent drought

There are times when organisations are reluctant to perform employment screening in order to expedite the hiring process, especially when there is a staff shortage and they are eager to fill positions. 

But along with VerifyNow, we believe that this is counterproductive because a bad hire can end up costing an organisation a lot more in the long run. Not only will there be the financial cost of having to re-advertise the position and go through the whole hiring process again, but there will also be a cost to morale among your existing staff. Undertaking employment screening at the outset may take a little bit longer, but it could save you a lot of time, money, and hassle in the long run.

For more insight on the benefits of adopting a holistic hiring process to find qualified candidates during the talent shortage and how to choose an employment screening partner, you might be interested in reading this article on the benefits of background screening.

Key takeaways 

Employee screening is an important process that can help employers ensure that they are hiring the right people for the job. There are many different elements to consider when conducting employee screenings, but it is important to take a holistic approach in order to get the most accurate picture of a potential candidate. 

By following the tips in this blog post, you can create an effective employee screening process that will help you find the best candidates for your open positions.

Unfortunately, we’ve found that many businesses don't have the time or resources to conduct these checks themselves. This is where an employment screening partner can be helpful, such as our preferred provider VerifyNow, who will have experience with a variety of different types of background checks. 

They will also be up-to-date on all applicable laws and regulations. In addition, a good screening partner will be able to provide customised services to meet the specific needs of your organisation. So, if you would like to discuss your employment screening needs, get in touch with VerifyNow today. 

Have you thought about implementing better employment screening standards in your organisation, but are unsure of what checks are appropriate for you?

To find out more and ask your questions, please join VerifyNow CEO Khai Ngo and Client Services Manager Zahra Nathwani for a value-packed webinar on Wednesday 30 November titled "Recruiting tactics: Creating trust through employment screening".

Khai and Zahra will discuss their experience building trust in the workplace through the strategic use of employment screening. You'll also get tips on some great interview questions to ask and practical advice on how to run an excellent recruitment interview.

📅 Wednesday 30 November 2022

🕥 10:30 - 11:30am

💵 Free webinar