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Everything about pre-employment screening (PES)

Pre-employment screening, also known as an PES screening, is an important practice that involves verifying an applicant’s relevant data before they start their employment.

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What is pre-employment screening?

Pre-employment screening is the verification of a potential employee’s relevant data that relates to the execution of the candidate’s job. The screening provides certainty about the candidate’s information shared and allows you to make better informed hiring decisions based on facts. Are you moving forward with the potential employee?

Here you can read everything you need to know about pre-employment screening:

Why conduct pre-employment screening?

  • Risk management: Investing in the screening of applicants in advance, offers great added value in the long term. By objectively checking the relevant personal data, you know for sure who you are hiring and potential risks come to light.
  • Mis-hire, or bad hire: In today’s labour market it is often a matter of acting quickly to become the best in the market, but perhaps you have also experienced the other side of the coin: an employee who got through the job interview flawlessly, but in reality is not suitable for the role. This is something you want to avoid at all times.
  • Quality management: Job interviews remain the most important way to gain an impression of whether a candidate fits in well with your company culture. However, by adding screening to the recruitment process, you guarantee that the quality and integrity within your organisation remains intact.
  • (Increasing) Laws and regulations: The 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.
  • Remote working: Since working from home has become increasingly common, the way in which organisations recruit new employees has also changed. Many recruitment and onboarding processes have been digitised and therefore take place online. It remains important that the right candidates are chosen for a job. By screening you take thorough precautions.
  • Internationalisation: If you decide to expand internationally as a company, you automatically have to deal with different countries of residence, different laws and regulations, cultures and personal data. Screening is then a proper solution to convey a uniform policy regarding integrity and quality.
White paper
Download the basis of employment screening
White paper
Download the basis of employment screening

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Is pre-employment screening obligated?

In various sectors, regulations and sector requirements must be met regarding (hiring) personnel. Pre-employment screening responds to this and helps organisations to comply with laws and regulations. Think, for example, of financial services and the healthcare sector. These sectors have to deal with privacy sensitive data and vulnerable target groups. This establishes the need for high quality and reliable employees, but even in sectors where screening is not mandatory, pre-employment screening offers great added value. Above all, pre-employment screening strengthens the trust in the people you work with. The stronger the trust, the lower the risk is of possible incidents, financial and or reputational damage .

Pre-employment screening for your sector

 

 

 

Example of the pre-employment screening procedure

Step 1: Log in

Fill in your personal username and password.

Step 2: Select a screening profile

Select the correct screening profile for the candidate.

Step 3: Enter the candidate's details

The candidate’s name, email address, and cell phone number are requested.

Step 4: Candidate provides information

The candidate receives an email with their login details and goes through their screening.

Step 5: Screening is processed

Validata verifies the candidate’s input with its data partners.

Step 6: Screening is complete

Once the screening is completed, both candidate and client will receive a message that the screening report can be downloaded.

Pre-employment screening services of Validata

The screening of candidates can be a complex, sensitive, and also a labour-intensive process. To facilitate this data verification, you would need the help of various data suppliers and must also maintain the contact with the applicant. Outsourcing the screening process means that an organisation does not need to engage in these partnerships and that this data is stored in one central place. With Validata’s pre-employment screening services you are unburdened and can be sure that data is verified as efficiently as possible.

More about pre-employment screening services

 

Pre-employment screening software van Validata

Validata has developed a software for pre-employment screening that ensures an efficient screening process where your data is always secure.

Valluga on laptop, tablet and mobile phone
Fast and efficient

Our software makes the screening process fast and efficient due to, amongst others, a user-friendly design.

Transparent for employer and candidate

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.

GDPR-proof

The security of our software is perhaps the most important precondition for our existence. Validata uses strict frameworks that are periodically tested by independent parties. In addition, Validata employs a DPO, who ensures that our services, and thus your screenings, always comply with the guidelines of the GDPR.

Access anytime and anywhere

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.

Integration with other software

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.

Example of the pre-employment screening report

Once all of the candidate’s data has been verified, Validata delivers a screening report containing the results. At that time, both employer and candidate are notified and can download it directly from our secure application. This report presents the objective findings per screening check.

Download a screening report example

 

Example screening report

Pre-employment screening background checks

The background checks within a pre-employment screening vary per sector and depend on the position a candidate will hold. For example, a retail employee should be screened less extensively than the director of a financial institution.

Some of the checks that Validata typically includes in a pre-employment screening include:

In addition, depending on the sector and position, a pre-employment screening can always be extended to include other background checks. We would be happy to think along with you and ensure that you have a screening profile that meets your organisation’s needs.

A negative pre-employment screening?

A (potential) employee has gone through a screening and the screening report has subsequently been created. The results presented in this report are completely objective, meaning that Validata does not pass any judgment on them. We only verify the data that the candidate has entered in our application.

In the event that our data partners note that this data is incorrect, a discrepancy is placed in the screening report. This may indicate that the pre-employment screening was negative, but this may not be as severe as it seems. A discrepancy will also occur in the case of unintentional errors, for instance when the start or ending date of employment does not exactly match. This does not adversely affect the execution of a position and therefore, we always advise the employer to compare the candidate’s CV with the data the candidate has submitted in our system and discuss possible discrepancies. This way the candidate can give an explanation.

Targeted advice for appropriate employment screening

Pre-employment screening and the GDPR

During a pre-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

Validata 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

Validata is ISO certified (2700 & 9001). This guarantees high quality management and information security.

The combination of pre- and in-employnent screening

After an employee has been recruited, changes can occur and situations can arise that an employee, but certainly also the employer, did not foresee. However, these situations can increase the risk for an organisation. How do you manage risks resulting from changes or unexpected situations?

After a period of time, certain pre-employment screening results are no longer valid. It is therefore smart to combine pre- and in-employment screening. If your organisation already uses pre-employment screening, the subsequent in-employment screening will automatically consist of fewer background checks.

More about in-employment screening

 

Supporting a colleague with the screening process

Frequently Asked Questions
about pre-employment screening

What does a screening entail?

A pre-employment screening involves verifying certain information about a potential employee before they actually start working for you. The data screened must relate to the applicant’s job performance. For example, the BIG registration of a health care provider must be checked when hiring.

How long does a PES screening with Validata take?

After the candidate has provided the required data, the average turnaround time of a screening at Validata is 5 working days. Elements that have a longer turnaround time are the certificate of conduct (VOG) and the verification of foreign diplomas.

How to get a PES statement?

When you as a candidate have completed a screening, you will receive your screening report with the results. This contains the objective findings per screening check.

We also offer the option for freelancers to request a screening report for themselves. Does your new employer request that you be screened?

More about screening yourself

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