No more secrets, nowhere to hide

The days of fudging your CV or trying to cover up even the most minor of legal infractions may be over, thanks to employers’ increasing use of verification checks.

However, it’s not just the bosses prying on potential employees’ records, according to CVCheck director Colin Boyd, who says job seekers are providing vetted CVs pre-empitvely as a way to stand out from a crowded field of candidates.

CVCheck is one of two Western Australian-based businesses that have seen increased demand for online verification checks of resumes and for identification cards.

Mr Boyd said CVCheck, which was established 11 years ago in Osborne Park, has been working with clients nationally and will soon lodge a prospectus on the ASX, detailing plans to raise up to $10 million in an initial public offering.

“Our business is growing at an incredible rate,” Mr Boyd said.

‘Right across Australia in every single state we’re seeing the uptake of screening services by both individuals and corporates; it’s growing at almost the same rate.”

He said companies across all industries were adopting screening as an integral part of HR practices; in part because as more companies were following the practice, those that didn’t increased their chance of unwittingly hiring people their competitors rejected because of uncovered indiscretions.

While CVCheck only carries out checks with the vetted person’s permission, it continued to uncover deceit, Mr Boyd said.

“We’re still getting, and it’s probably as prevalent now if not more prevalent than it’s ever been, people faking qualifications, claiming work experience that they just don’t have or embellishing work experience and responsibilities,” he said.

Meanwhile, CBD-based Veritas Check, a division of engineering firm Veritas Group, has recorded a 60 per cent increased turnover in the past year for its background check and security ID services.

Veritas Check managing director Stephen Inouye said the business had branched out to provide a range of background checking services after growing its core business processing maritime security identity card applications. It now holds a quarter of the national MSIC market after nine years in business.

Veritas has set up a system of online full-service and DIY services to attract a broad range of people and companies seeking its employment-based checks.

“When you look at the situation with identify fraud, the global security situation, home-grown terrorism … any time there’s incidents like that around the world it highlights the need for good security governance practices, and that’s where we are seeing a lot of the growth is coming from,” Mr Inouye said.

Veritas’s ability to quickly process applications using its own online technologies has proved so popular it is planning to partner with an aviation business to step into the market for aviation security identity cards.

“If you apply to Perth Airport (for an ASIC) it’s a paper-based process and it takes them weeks,” Mr Inouye said.

“What we do in the maritime side, for instance, because it’s all electronically collected, electronically vetted and passed to the Commonwealth government, we process our applications in seven to 10 days. We are twice as fast as any other provider.”