But businesses shouldn’t take this surplus of talent for granted; they need to make considered recruitment decisions because some will do whatever it takes to secure employment.
Unemployment in the UK currently stands at 2.46 million, but this may just be the tip of the iceberg. One economist recently predicted that due to the imminent large number of public-sector job cuts and a slowdown in economic recovery, unemployment could rise to as much as three million by the end of 2012.
University applications have risen for the fourth year in a row, up 11% on last year to 660,000. It is estimated there could be as many as 200,000 students not getting into university this year and the majority will be actively seeking employment.
For those who do get into university there is huge competition for jobs once they've graduated. There are roughly 69 applications per job and figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show that almost one in 10 of 2008's graduates are unemployed.
Add all these factors together and a picture emerges: the market is awash with individuals seeking jobs and many candidates will be desperate for employment. Some are desperate enough to falsify CV information or even to secure a fake visa if they are coming to the UK from abroad. And the number of jobseekers could rise significantly over the next two to three years. This poses great risks for employers who need to be more vigilant than ever when recruiting candidates.
Every industry and business is at serious risk if they don’t do thorough checks when hiring. For example, the media recently highlighted a case where a trainee midwife working for an NHS trust falsified elements of her training. The implications for the NHS trust of employing such an individual are significant; lives put at risk, legal fights, compensation claims and negative publicity.
Another example is the case of Baroness Scotland who was found to have employed an illegal Tongan immigrant, believed to have been living in Britain illegally for five years after overstaying a student visa. This problem is widespread, so much so the Home Office estimates that between March 2009-2010, more than 310,0000 foreign students were granted visas – but as many of these have not been tracked and could easily be working in organisations illegally.
Getting caught for hiring illegal immigrants is extremely expensive – on-the-spot fines are currently £10,000 per worker if thorough checks haven't been conducted. Aside from illegal working, hiring the wrong candidate who may have exaggerated or lied about their skills is also costly. According to the CIPD, in 2007 50% of UK employers lost money by withdrawing job offers or dismissing someone for misrepresenting themselves.
There are many checks available on the market – from basic through to comprehensive – to make sure that the people you are hiring are who they say they are. For example, criminal record checks are crucial for those working with children or the elderly as are academic qualification checks to verify that a candidate does have a full MBA rather than a three-day course certificate from a business school may also be important. Checking tools can help organisations weed out candidates who are lying about their experience or ability to work in a job, yet, despite the ease of checking, many organisations – particularly those with high staff turnover – still fail to check eligibility.
The plethora of available talent is tempting organisations into a false sense of security that they will only attract the best. Given that the CIPD has just reported that the number of employers planning to make redundancies has increased for the second quarter in succession, and even more candidates will be seeking employment, taking on an employee without performing background checks is not a risk that any employer can afford to take.
Mat Armstrong is business development manager at PeopleChecking (part of NorthgateArinso)
