Hiring your Senior Mgmt and you've decided not to Screen them? er..
When you are hiring someone for these high profile roles, they are generally someone really Senior in the industry, had really good reputation. Everyone seems to know them, and you think you do as well? BUT, are you sure you know them?
Read an article yesterday on how little we are screening these crowd who we think we know, the fact was we are screening a lot more on Fresh Graduates than Corporate Leaders. [UK Business Leaders Undergo Fewer Checks than Graduates]
Few reasons why was that, the Background screening process had been deemed as tedious, and possibly invading privacy and most HR Managements would prefer not to go through this with their Prospective Executive Hire.
Why Tedious?- The New Hires would be asked to complete additional forms, providing information and documents at times. The more countries you have worked or lived in the more information would be required. There could be times where documents had been provided to the recruiting agencies/ headhunters, the HR division, their relocation vendor. And so, the candidate goes, "I've provided this multiple times, to various people from your organization".
Invading their Privacy? - First and foremost, I need to clarify on this, Background checks are done with consent from the subject themselves, and we do not look up Facebook or Twitter or even Instagram accounts to check who you hang out with. All checks were done through proper channel and the candidates would be informed.
These are the best examples.
5 big-shots who lied on their resumes
Andrew Flanagan was fired on his first day in a senior role at Myer
Ex-NUS professor in resume fraud scandal in US
So what happened next?
Your company's name goes right on top of the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Consumers/clients start questioning on what kind of due diligence you have put in place.
Is my kid getting the right kind of education if his Professor was having a fake degree?
Am I safe to shop?
If they cannot hire the right candidate, can they ensure the quality of merchandise or goods that I'm getting from their shop?
"Let's weigh it, would the cost of getting a background checks done be higher than the cost of putting your reputations at risk?"
The Cost that you would have to spend to recover your reputation is going to cost the organization a lot more time and money than to conduct Background checks.
I'll say, screening your new hire is a MUST, but do within your means. If you're engaging a third party, have a discussion with them on your budget and what would they recommend.
Screening providers are well verse, and they should have sufficient knowledge to guide you if this is the first time you're attempting to do screening.