Pre-Employment Checks for Potential New Employees - Getting it Right

Introduction

Many employers use a range of checks on their employees as part of their recruitment policy. These checks usually take place as a pre-requisite to the employee starting work, and after the contract of employment has been offered.

Organisations may take up checks on everything from an employee’s health record, references from employers from ten years ago and even criminal records checks. At the other end of the scale, employers do not undertake any checking on their job candidates at all, except perhaps a right to work check and even that is not necessarily done in line with the latest legal requirements.

A business may outsource pre-employment screening, have their recruitment agency undertake it on their behalf or rely on overstretched administrative staff to take up checks in-house. So what are the risks in getting this wrong and overlooking this task - can you be sure that you have the correct documentation in place and are you aware of the risks of getting it wrong?

So why is there such a wide range of approaches to pre-employment screening? Is this just an exercise in risk management or can you find out whether you candidate is more likely to be a good fit for your organisation by taking up the right checks?

In this webinar we look at developing a strategy that is right for your business in terms of what you need to achieve, the resources that you have and whether or not you are turning down good candidates due to overly complicated screening processes.

What You Will Learn

This webinar will cover the following:

• Purpose of pre-employment screening
• Limits to what we can achieve and setting expectations
• Looking at social media activity
• Right to Work in the UK (either UK passport or share codes)
• References - past employer
• References - personal or ‘character’ refs
• Qualifications
• Pre-employment health screening/OH reports
• Employee rights under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act
• Basic criminal record checks
• DBS checks
• Other checks

This pre-recorded webinar will be available to view from Monday 12th May 2025

Alternatively, you can gain access to this webinar and 1,700+ others via the MBL Webinar Subscription. Please email webinarsubscription@mblseminars.com for more details.