How to handle the difficult issue of Criminal Checks

The candidate is perfect, well presented, well-spoken and they already have an outstanding grasp on what the position entails - they will be an asset to any company, especially yours because you want to hire them. Yet due to the nature of the job, there is a fear that should this person have a criminal record what should be done and how should it be handled. Further questions revolve around:- at what point is it justified to conduct that criminal record check? When can a recruiter or employer deny a position to a candidate because he or she has a criminal record?

Prevalence of fraud and crime as a daily function within our country makes it of the utmost importance for employers to constantly be aware of the potential, that candidates might have a criminal record or in some way, have some untruths within their CV's.

The facts speak for themselves, when a positions warrants it, all recruiters and employers should be conducting criminal checks, to guard against employing a potential hazard. But at times it may not be as simple as this. We come back to that perfect candidate, with the perfect credentials; the questions and focus should rather be centred more around a solution on how recruiters and employers deal with this candidate, who has a criminal record against their name.

A partial solution here is fair practice; there is no need to persecute a candidate for eternity for a crime they might be rehabilitated from. As far as the recruitment process goes there are rules and regulations that need to be followed, but in this case. It will take some good hard understanding and true fair practice. Through criminal checking, this is in no way a procedure aimed at keeping rehabilitated individuals from the opportunity to support themselves and at having a potential career. It is important that you assess the candidates risk profile, not only will you have followed protocol, you will have all the facts at hand as to whether the candidate is a risk to bring on board.

As a Recruiter or Employer you know that there are rules and regulations that need to be followed as part of the recruitment process, however there is some element of fair practices that needs to be followed.
Here are some guidelines to follow:

Step 1: Ascertained the type of conviction against the candidate - You need to take into consideration the position that candidate has applied to , what criminal record he or she has against them and whether the position is in any way related what they were convicted for.

You would not hire a candidate, within the financial field that has been blacklisted as they obviously do not know the fundamental basics of handling finances.

Step 2: When did the offence occur? - We come right back to what was previously said, there is no fair practice in making a candidate with a criminal record feel persecuted for eternity - everyone should get a second chance.

Keep in mind, that there are confines a recruiter or employer must keep to as they cannot inquire about arrests that do not have a conviction attached, or about cases that may be pending. As the saying goes, any person is innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. But ultimately it is of the upmost importance that any employer needs to complete all the relevant checks, as a preventative measure to prevent against workplace fraud, theft, harassment and violence.

The Online Recruitment landscape continues to evolve and change and there are always going to be new technologies in the market to help streamline the process. The recruitment criminal checks procedure will change with the emergence of new technology. So out with the old and in with the new. Previous practices utilised the Name Clearance database, which is a manual system where the South African police checked the name and ID number of the individual against Criminal Records Centre database - a time consuming and mundane process, with these criminal record checks taking weeks to complete.

Previously, if there was ever a hint of suspicion about a potential candidate, they were asked to have their fingerprints taken on paper at a police station - hence why one could understand why a candidate could potentially deny having a criminal record - the thought of being made to feel like a criminal all over again is somewhat daunting. This then in turn has a negative effect on whether or not they should be hired based on the fact that they were not forthcoming regarding their criminal record.
With the emergence of the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, recruiters and employers will see a change in their day-to-day procedures when having to perform and handle criminal checks for potential candidates who've applied for positions. This is how quick and easy the process will now be:

- Recruiters and Employers will need to ensure the new Automated Fingerprint Identification System is onsite
- As per the current process, candidates will need to give signed consent to have checks performed on their personal details
- A candidate, along with their personal information, will scan their fingerprints into the Automated Fingerprint Identification System
- A full electronic report will be emailed to the relevant recruiter/employer within 48 hours

Never the less, when it comes down to proceeding with a criminal record check, there is no easy way around it even with the emergence of new technology. Candidates still need to give their consent to being checked for a record, and a good dose of fair practice and intuition is needed here.