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WHY EMPLOYEE SCREENING ISN’T AN HR FUNCTION

Published: Thursday, August 16, 2018

LabourManagement

In many organisations, the recruitment function is often left up to the Human Resources department. While there is certainly merit in partnering with HR throughout the talent acquisition process, seeking the advice and guidance of professional employee screening services is essential.  

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    In many organisations, the recruitment function is often left up to the Human Resources department. While there is certainly merit in partnering with HR throughout the talent acquisition process, seeking the advice and guidance of professional employee screening services is essential.  

    In an over-regulated labour law environment, employers often find themselves in hot water when they realise too late that they’ve hired an incompetent person to fulfil a critical position. According to Kyle Condon, Managing Director of D&K Management Consultants, effective pre-screening is crucial and could save the company time, money and aggravation by ensuring the right person is hired the first time around.

    “Creating a partnership with industry experts allows the business to hire employees, knowing full well that the candidate is, in fact, the correct investment,” adds Condon. To be effective, the pre-screening process must be conducted by professional investigation and risk management specialists. These skillsets are not ordinarily built into an HR function.

    A full background check includes many elements that are far beyond the HR practitioners scope of work. “It should go further than checking educational qualifications and calling references,” advises Condon. “The investigator should delve into the candidate’s past employment, their market reputation, their true level of experience and their lifestyle. Do they have a criminal record? Do they have a bad credit rating? Are they really qualified for the job at hand (work permits, driver’s license, truck license, forklift license, for example)? Are they who they say they are – can their identity be verified? Does their address exist, are their bank account details correct, and do they operate with integrity? All of these questions are pertinent in determining whether an employee will become an asset or a liability, if hired.”

    Recruitment can be an arduous process – and so it should be. It is worth taking the time to screen candidates properly, because there‘s nothing quite as debilitating as realising the business has hired the wrong person but has no grounds on which to let them go. With a thorough vetting, a hiring decision can be made knowing that a mindset of questioning, analytical thinking and critical exploration has been applied throughout the recruitment process.

    “The fact is that the most important asset in a business (its employees) is also its single biggest threat,” concludes Condon. “Companies must make use of professional employee background screening services when recruiting; those which have access to reliable data and global sources. In doing so, they are effectively taking the risk out of hiring.”

     

    For more information, contact Kyle Condon on saint@intrigue.co.za, follow him on Twitter @investigatorsZA or visit www.investigators.co.za.  

    Issued by Perfect Word Consulting (Pty) Ltd

     

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    D&K Boilerplate:

    Established in 1993 by Declan and Kyle Condon, D&K Management Consultants is firmly entrenched as the preferred investigations and risk consultancy provider in Africa and abroad. Declan’s legacy is a wealth of investigative skills and experience, which - combined with Kyle’s vast understanding of risk analysis and security management - are applied to every case file handled by the company.

    With a significant handpicked force of investigators and security specialists, D&K Management Consultants provides criminal and civil investigations on behalf of companies or individuals from every sector. The same level of discretion and dedication is afforded to each and every client, whether they are blue chip or local community. Assisting clients to operate in a hostile business environment is a D&K speciality. Criminal and civil investigations are simply the key required to unlock the door leading to successful loss control portfolios.

    For more information, visit www.investigations.co.za.