What is employment screening?
Employment screening involves the verification of relevant candidate or employee data that relates to job performance. In doing so, you know who you are recruiting and retaining in your organisation!
Here you can read everything you need to know about employment screening:
- Why conduct employment screening?
- Types of employment screening
- Example of the employment screening procedure
- Employment screening software of DISA
- Employment background checks
- Employment screening and the GDPR
- Employment screening services of DISA
- Frequently Asked Questions about employment screening
Why conduct employment screening?
- Risk management: When you enter into a business relationship with someone, you want to be sure that you can rely on them. After all, you don’t want to be faced with any surprises, right? Employment screening helps to better understand and reduce potential risks for your organisation.
- Quality management: There are certain quality requirements in some sectors, but an organisation can also voluntarily choose to set up a quality assurance policy. This can apply to the quality of your products, services, and processes, but also to your staff. In this case, employment screening is a suitable tool that an organisation can use.
- Mis-hire, or bad hire: In the worst-case scenario, an organisation has already had to deal with the consequences of employee fraud in the past. Think about the financial and reputational damage as a result of an unqualified employee who started work with a forged diploma. Prevention is always better than a cure.
- (Increasing) Laws and regulations: Laws and regulations regarding (hiring) personnel are increasing rapidly. It can be a complex process to comply with these regulations, especially because you do not want to lose focus on your core business. Outsourcing to a professional screening party ensures that you always comply with relevant laws and regulations and that you use an experienced party in this field.
Types of employment screening
1. Pre-employment screening, screening applicants
Pre-employment screening, or the screening of job applicants, is applicable when a new employee joins the organisation. Job interviews give a good first impression of an applicant. Yet, in addition to an introductory interview, it is good to check the facts before definitively hiring an applicant.
2. In-employment screening, screening of personnel
On the other hand, in-employment screening entails the screening of current personnel. A lot can change in someone’s living and working environment over several years. It is therefore interesting to perform certain checks again. In-employment screening is a means of strengthening mutual trust. The stronger this trust is, the lower the risk of unnecessary risks.
Example of the employment screening procedure
With DISA’s employment screening services, you can be sure that all data is verified in the most efficient way, and you are unburdened by the process. As an employer, you must choose the appropriate screening profile for the person being screened. You only need to enter the name, phone number, and candidate’s/current employee’s email address. DISA will take the process off your hands and invite the (potential) employee to provide the relevant data and manage all the contact throughout the screening. For example, reminders about missing information will be sent or a referent who has not yet responded will be notified. The screening is eventually completed with a clear report.
Employment screening software of DISA
DISA has developed software for employment screening that ensures an efficient screening process where your data is always secure.
Our software makes the screening process fast and efficient due to, amongst others, a user-friendly design.
The results of the screening are simultaneously offered to both the employer and the candidate. By doing so, we try to offer a process that is as transparent and fair as possible.
The security of our software is perhaps the most important precondition for our existence. DISA uses strict frameworks that are periodically tested by independent parties. In addition, DISA employs a DPO, who ensures that our services, and thus your screenings, always comply with the guidelines of the GDPR.
The software is designed for mobile use. This gives candidates more freedom to go through their screening when and where it suits them. This flexibility ultimately benefits the turnaround time.
Through our API, it is possible to integrate employment screening into your existing workflow and collect reports and data from within your existing ATS-/HR-tool, in one central place.
Employment background checks
The background checks in an employment screening depend on who you want to screen and for which position. Are they job applicants or current employees? In 2021, the following five background checks were most conducted among our clients:
- Identity check - DISA carries out the ID check on a national as well as an international level.
- VOG check - With DISA's VOG check, we can make the application for a Certificate of Good Conduct simple and reliable.
- Education check - With DISA's education check, we check an applicant’s or employee’s diploma(s), so that you can make a thorough choice based on this.
- Work experience check - The work experience of a (potential) employee is checked with a reference check.
- Statement of integrity - An integrity statement is an easy way to manage risks.
Employment screening and the GDPR
During an employment screening, relevant personal data is collected and processed. The GDPR requires companies to be more aware of how they process and store data. Privacy and screening are thus inextricably linked.
Secure software
For the development of our secure environment, we have taken technical and organisational measures to safeguard personal data against loss or any other form of unlawful processing.
Data Protection Officer (DPO) at your disposal
DISA employs a dedicated DPO who advises on the correct processing of personal data and ensures that we comply with all (inter)national privacy laws and regulations.
ISO certified
DISA is ISO certified (2700 & 9001). This guarantees high-quality management and information security.
Employment screening services of DISA
DISA is market leader in employment screening and supports organisations with both pre- and in-employment screening. Through our years of experience, we are well aware of the needs in different sectors. We work together with various trusted partners to verify the correct data. Outsourcing the screening process means that a company does not have to enter into these partnerships itself and that the data is stored centrally.
Frequently Asked Questions about employment screening
Pre-employment screening takes place before a candidate is hired and primarily focuses on verifying background information such as identity, educational qualifications and employment history.
In-employment screening is conducted during the course of employment, for example in the event of role changes, periodic checks or where required by regulation.
The duration of a screening depends on the type of checks performed and the countries in which verifications take place. A standard screening in the Netherlands takes approximately five working days on average.
If information does not correspond with the details provided, these are recorded as discrepancies in the screening report. The report is then shared simultaneously with both the employer and the candidate. Based on these findings and internal policy, the employer determines whether and what further action is required.
The cost depends on the selected verifications, the number of checks and the countries in which the investigation is carried out. Many organisations work with different screening profiles aligned with the risk level of the role.
Employment screening introduces an additional verification stage to the recruitment process. When initiated early in the process, the impact on the overall timeline is generally limited. In many organisations, screening runs in parallel with the final stages of onboarding, preventing unnecessary delays.