Best Business Practices for Employment Screening in Australia

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Fiaccabrino Selection Process (44-slide PowerPoint presentation). The Fiaccabrino Selection Process is a powerful methodology for interviewing and screening the best people for your organization. The objective is to select those people who will be the highest performers with the lowest turnover. (Whereas the methodology was originally developed for a sales [read more]

Also, if you are interested in becoming an expert on Human Resource Management (HRM), take a look at Flevy's Human Resource Management (HRM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.

* * * *

Hiring is a complex job, and HRs must conduct the right screening process to get an individual on board. No doubt it is long, but it is securing your office and your past employees.

You would want to ensure a full background check and discuss any suspicious activity before hiring someone. All the while having a permit from the potential employee to do so.

It is systematic, and if you take help from the right professionals and AI, it should also be quick. So if you plan to introduce an automated and systematic employment screening process in your Australia office, you have reached the right place.

In this excerpt below, we will be discussing some of the best employment screening processes.

What Is an Employee Screening Process

An employee screening process is an in-depth background check on the individual who is coming for an interview, and you are planning to hire them for their credentials and qualifications. Here is why HRs conduct an employment screening process.

• To ensure that they are a registered citizen of Australia or some other country. In case of foreign onboarding, you also have to check their visa and passport.
• HRs also have to make sure that the individual is who they claim to be.
• This will include police verification, employee educational qualification check, and the verifying the recommendation letters which are offered.

We will be discussing the other elements and why they are important in the section below.

How to Ensure a Proper Employment Screening Process in Australia

Here are some of the common elements of screening that are crucial. Understand that these shouldn’t include:

• Age.
• Sexual Preference.

Or

• Marital Status.

Since these are not correlated to work, neither are they in any shape or form that will affect the work. These are the ones that you should stick to during an employee background check.

1. Checking the Qualification

There is no law against lying in your resume, but when someone fabricates their qualification, it can lead to difficulty. Later, when you need that particular employee to carry out a certain high end, you will discover that they lack the skill.

Therefore, get a thorough background check on each qualification of the employee. Especially the school and college degrees that they claim. If they have diplomas and certificates from external courses, find the credibility of the same.

Do not hire someone on the face value of their resume. Remember, even CV makers can be hired to present a picture-perfect CV.

2. Reference Check Is a Must

The second most basic element on a resume which almost everyone lies about, is their experiences. There is nothing wrong with being a fresher with a few internships here and there. However, the invention of experience before work life even begins already puts a bitter taste among many recruiters.

However, there should be a way to scout the genuine ones from the ones that are lying. A great way to verify their qualification is to first research the companies beforehand and then call or email their official mail id to verify the claims.

Try not to call the number offered on the CV, as it may be fake.

3. Police Verification Is Crucial

Police verification is a crucial part of any employment screening in Australia. Therefore, if you are someone moving to the continent for a job, have a police verification ready. If you are an HR person, get an efficient police verification on any employee from a nationally coordinated criminal history check.

Some of the common police checks include the following –

• Fingerprint check.
• Identification check.
• Drug testing.
• Past criminal record.
• Past DUI or DWI record.

However, one cannot carry on an employee screening test on someone who is not consenting to it.

4. Credit & Loan History

This might sound irrelevant in terms of giving someone a job. However, as the organization will be a part of its primary financial provider, understanding its financial history is important.

Although any form of financial fraud will come up in police verification, you should know how well they are improving and managing their finances. Plus, the loans they currently have in their name can make some of the

Again, this is a very sensitive matter and shouldn’t be conducted without full consent from the employee. Or else, getting a snoop into someone else’s financial matter is deemed illegal.

5. Health Comes Next

Mentally sound and physically fit comes at the bottom of verification. This is because there is less rigidity in the matter. So, for example, if someone has had a case of addiction or mental disability but is continuously taking medical help, they cannot be subjected to discrimination during hiring.

When it comes to physical disability, the country or the state’s claws will matter. However, the efficiency of the work should be the final deciding factor for getting that person on board.

How to Conduct an Employee Screening Safely

Here are some of the rules you should maintain when you are conducting a thorough employment screening.

• Warn about the employment screening in the recruitment ad itself.
• Get full consent for the screening, and show them the different criteria you will be checking into.
• Do not proceed with the screening if the employee doesn’t consent.
• If you find any criminal history, then first have a conversation with the employee. If you are unwilling to hire them for this reason, give them an elaborate reason. They have a right to this information.

Why This Screening Test Is Important for Companies

If you are still skeptical about an employment screening test or believe it to be an utter waste of time, then here is why you should conduct these background checks.

• When you are hiring someone for sales, or marketing, ensuring your client’s safety is also very important.
• A wrong hiring can drain your company’s reputation after any suspicious incident.
• For the protection of the employees who are working there for such long hours.

It is not illegal to check someone’s record, but it shouldn’t include information like marital history, political reference, and sexual orientation since that can spark necessary bias opinions.

Want to Achieve Excellence in Human Resource Management (HRM)?

Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Human Resource Management (HRM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.

The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.

This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization's Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.

This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.

Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.