Confounding Fraud by knowing your candidate – Getting recruitment right first time.

Confounding Fraud by knowing your candidate – Getting recruitment right first time.
22/11/2021 Qualification Check

Confounding fraud by knowing your candidate

Getting recruitment right first time

How well do you know your candidate or employee?  Confirming a candidate’s identity and their credentials before employing them seems logical, and where identity documents are concerned, it is also a legal requirement in the UK, to comply with the right-to-work regime.

There is an increasing focus on right-to-work, ensuring that identity documents are valid and genuine.  Identity document validation technology is now widely used and can assist companies with the verification process by identifying false documents that may have been presented by the candidate, before he or she is employed.  Companies often go to significant lengths to protect their reputations from harm caused by employing an illegal worker or someone using a false identity document.

But what about that candidate’s wider identity, their credentials that prove they have the relevant experience, qualifications or training to do a particular job?

It is equally important to get the verification of a candidate’s wider identity right the first time and before the candidate is employed.  Much of the heavy lifting for a business can be done at this stage by getting the basics right, and the use of verification technology can certainly help protect the hiring company’s reputation.

When things do go wrong, it can have a massive knock-on effect.

Take the recent case of a false court interpreter who had been employed in 140 court cases.

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/convicted-fake-interpreter-worked-on-140-court-cases/5107427.article

The interpreter had used their own identity during the recruitment process but had used a false community interpreting certificate to ‘prove’ their experience and education despite having no qualifications.

His deceit was only uncovered when discrepancies were discovered with his timesheets during a high-profile child sex abuse case.  On that occasion he even had a friend stand in for him during the trial.

The consequences of this person’s actions have potentially compromised the criminal justice system, put numerous convictions at risk, and prevented victims gaining proper justice. His actions were purely for financial gain; it was the deceit related to his experience within the role that led to the truth being discovered.

The issue of not ‘getting things right first time’ is frequently down to the basics of human oversight. Many employers do not know how to check identity or education documents, or have knowledge of the security features contained within them.  And it is widely accepted that as technology advances, so does the quality of false documents.

Many people we speak with are unaware that education credentials can be validated using a technological solution.  Yet it can easily be done, and at a cost that is negligible, compared with the reputational damage of discovering an employee’s deceit, and the potential cost of reviewing or repeating any work they have undertaken.

At Qualification Check we reduce the risk that a business faces when dealing with a prospective candidate.  And, by making the best use of technology to conduct education verification, we can help a company comply with their operational processes, and overcome the challenge they face in the wider verification of a person’s identity.

For further details, contact Gary Williams, [email protected].

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