Checking application details and references

As an employer you need to be vigilant to whether a job applicant is lying on their application form and CV.

What do you need to check?

Qualifications

Ask to see the candidate’s original qualification certificates. Check that the certificates are genuine and haven’t been tampered with in any way, and ensure that the dates tally with their education history. If you have any reason for concern contact the institution where the qualifications were awarded and verify with them that the candidate completed the course.

Previous employment

Confirm the candidate’s dates of employment, position held and, the type of work they carried out.  Look for any discrepancies in the information and check there are no unexplained gaps or breaks in employment, and if you have concerns check with the employer that the candidate worked for them during the dates given and in the role they were employed in.

References

An offer of employment should always be made conditional on receipt of satisfactory references.  A very elementary starting point would be to check that the company providing the reference actually exists - a quick search on Google should do this. At a minimum any reference you get should confirm the dates of employment, the position held, the type of work the individual carried out, and where available, the reason the candidate left.