Hiring is a time-consuming and costly procedure all over the world. Even if it is not that costly, it still takes time, and time is real money. But what if you spend time and money on it but still, in the end, find a candidate who is not a fit for the job and doesn’t deliver the results? To overcome such issues, there is a solution called Pre-employment screening.
Screening cannot be the same for all job roles and all organizations. It is different for different job roles in different organizations. If you think Pre-Employment screening in the UK is very difficult, you can hire an agency to do this job for you.
In this process, you gather all the information to make hiring more effective. The pre-employment screening is not only used for newcomers, but it is also helpful for the old employees who shift their job roles within the organization. A suitably designed screen should be done for every person in the organization who has access to any asset or the organization’s information. It comprises a procedure that saves a lot of risks that whether the person and their skills are suitable for the given job role or not, can they proceed with an organization? ETC.
Importance of pre-screening:
Providing a safe workspace environment is the top responsibility of an employer. That means the workspace should be free from harassment, violence, bullying, and threats. Pre-checks covering all employees’ backgrounds are a critical part of risk management. It is important to reduce the risks and employee turnover rate and improve productivity.
It also shows the newcomer that their employer is not just a piece of cake; he has done his proper research and works to make everything safe and sound.
Signing the past unacceptable acts can make the environment safer. And public policy allows you to check on records and verifications. By doing so, you can minimise data piracy and privacy concerns.
The checks may also include several factors that may cause the termination in future; that also includes access to the use of drugs or alcohol, social misbehaviour, or criminal background.
In case of a mishap after the hiring, you will have evidence of everything done in screening.
Types of screening:
As we discussed above, there cannot be a standard screening for all departments or jobs of an organization. It varies from job to job and organization to organization. Commonly there are three types of screening:
- Pre-interview: This is done before the interview at the very first stage. When the candidate applies for the job, and you check their resume or CV, primary details, and eligibility, do a verification call audio or video and get the basic info and verifications to proceed with the procedure.
- Official interview: shortlisted candidates get interviewed via video conference or face-to-face. This can be an individual person to person or the candidate with the panel interview.
- Post-interview: once the cv and interview screening is done then the background check and verification, references matching, and the rest of the verifications and confirmations are done.
Criminal background:
It covers the criminal background and whether the employee has any criminal record or not. Hiring anyone with a criminal background might affect your work environment and trust level.
It is therefore important to check criminal background in screening
Educational Verification:
Sometimes the applicant does some clever tricks to qualify for the job. They can show you fake degrees and certifications. This will be very unfair to the others who are more eligible for the job. Also, such a person can be a complete waste of time on the job. It is as important as a criminal background check.
Accessing rightful candidate:
Applicants more often fill the clever statements in the CV to be shortlisted. Or provide the wrong information during face-to-face interviews to impress the HR persons. Therefore, the traditional way of gathering information about the applicant is failing. You should take a skills screening test according to the information mentioned in his CV or interview. If the person is telling the truth in his CV and interview, he can pass the test. And you can easily judge the strengths or weaknesses of the candidates. Even if he fails, this is good for a company that avoids the fake talent being hired.
Personality test:
Companies go one step ahead and now do a personality test. They give the candidate a specific situation and see how the person behaves in that situation. Is he calm and nervous, or is he getting panicky and faded? Also, they check if a person is a team player or not? Will he help their team or not? Either they pass the information forward or keep it to themselves? Does he have leadership or management qualities or not? ETC
