Business jargon can be a bit of a running joke – pushing the envelope, blue sky thinking, running things up the flagpole. Mostly meaningless phrases which have a perfectly good alternative in plain English. However, there’s one jargon term which you do need to know. Safer recruitment is something a lot of employers are talking about. The term refers to a lot of different concepts, but you need to see it from both the employer’s, and candidate’s perspectives.
As the name implies, safer recruitment is about thorough checking on people who are applying for jobs. There are lots of reasons for doing this. In part, it’s about protecting your business from the risk of taking on an unsuitable employee. It could also mean weeding out people with a serious debt problem who want to work in a bank handling cash. On the other hand, it’s about looking after your customers or people using whatever service you provide. This is particularly the case when your work involves children, the elderly or other vulnerable groups.
What is Safer Recruitment anyway?
As the name implies, safer recruitment is about thorough checking on people who are applying for jobs. There are lots of reasons for doing this. In part, it’s about protecting your business from the risk of taking on an unsuitable employee. It could also mean weeding out people with a serious debt problem who want to work in a bank handling cash. On the other hand, it’s about looking after your customers or people using whatever service you provide. This is particularly the case when your work involves children, the elderly or other vulnerable groups.
How do employers go about this?
Although there are several templates and guidelines for recruiting safely, there is no law around this. Employers have to come up with their own rules and processes for hiring staff. Each company will do something different. Some of the things an employer might do include:- Legal status checks – all employers have to make sure that their workers are legally allowed to live and work in the UK. The easiest way of doing this is by asking to see applicants’ passports.
- Reference checking – employers might phone up all previous places of work to confirm that you did in fact work for them between the dates you’ve given. They might ask about job titles and responsibility. This is something to bear in mind if you’ve ever been tempted to “beef up” your CV by embellishing the facts.
- Fact Checking – this won’t be done for all positions. If however you’re claiming a particular skill or academic qualification, employers might ask for proof. Hiring someone into a business who needs substantial training to get up to speed can be expensive.
- Criminal records checks – many employers will want to do a check into your police record. They are allowed to do this, within limits. Employers can ask for a basic disclosure check, which looks into your current, unexpired police record only. They are only allowed to dig deeper into your past if the job requires an enhanced or standard disclosure