Screening potential employees is increasingly becoming standard pactice, even twhen not legally required. Working Week talks to Kim Kerr, general manager of LexisNexis Risk and Information Analytics Group, about what is involved

How widespread is preemployment screening? About 86% of all companies do some form of background checks, although this may be as simple as checking references. The larger companies do background checks as a matter of course – the figure approaches 99% for bigger organisations. For smaller companies it’s more hit and miss – they normally do it if they’re required to, such as in industries like aviation where there are legal requirements.

Is it a growing area? It is a fast-growing business. It’s becoming a part of doing good business, because people do lie on their applications.

How common is it for checks to reveal discrepancies? About 3% of the time we get a hit in the criminal area that hasn’t been disclosed on the application. We have a higher variance in the education and employment area. If we’re working off a résumé, between 30% and 40% of the time we would have a variance. It can be a degree they don’t have or a degree from a diploma mill, or maybe the dates are wrong. But 30-40% would have a significant difference. With job application forms, this falls to about 10%. The job application form is a very good tool for hiring because the applicant has the opportunity to certify that the information they have provided is accurate.

What are the consequences if deception is discovered? If you’re a professional in a particular industry, your credibility is what you’re selling and if you want to lose your credibility, the easiest way to do it is to falsify your résumé. Everyone wants to put forward a good résumé and there’s a lot of skilled writing out there where individuals are trying to put their best foot forward, but you can do that without inflating your résumé to the point of being deceptive.

How relevant is this for the aerospace industry? The aviation industry is probably one of the most active in terms of background checking. It does a lot of excellent work concerning the people who are directly connected with airlines. One area that needs to be looked at is employees that are related to the airline industry, such as at airports. Background checking is very important for anybody that is connected to, or has access to, the so-called “back of house” at airports. Any of the suppliers within the industry should also ensure their employees have adequate screening.

What problems arise if companies don’t screen résumés? Not checking can be risky, especially when you’re making a detailed decision on talented individuals, or someone who has to have a specific degree or certification. Recently there was a case in the USA where a law firm hired an attorney without doing a background check and it turned out that he didn’t even have a law degree. It can be absolutely staggering in terms of their liability. And of course if they’re not able to do the work and you start missing projects, you’re talking about big problems as well as the cost of replacing that individual.

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