It regularly appears that applicants with ‘a past’ can find a new employer very easily. False references and diplomas can easily be produced. And which prospective employer can judge which piece of paper is authentic and which not?

Few employers take the trouble to check, or to have checked, the documents submitted to them. Often not even a telephone call to the previous employer is made to ascertain whether the applicant worked there or not, never mind find out what kind of employee they were and why they left. This is even more the case where the applicant claims to have been working abroad.

Two English newspaper reports recently showed how easy it could be to obtain a position of trust. In the first case a journalist saw the chance to be taken on as a servant at Buckingham Palace. Only when the newspaper printed photographs he had taken inside the palace was it realised what a breach of security had occurred. The second case concerned a journalist who obtained work as a waiter in the Houses of Parliament. It appeared that the false references that he had submitted with his application had not been checked. In this case too the newspaper brought to light the risks involved.

There is an added difficulty for a business if the applicant claims to have been working in another country. The applicant assumes, often rightly, that enquiries will not be made abroad. However, we can check references and diplomas worldwide.

| Prevention Guide | Volume 6 | No: 5 | article 5 |

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