What is employee vetting? How long does the vetting process take? Are there employee vetting services? These are great questions to ask if you have a job opening but don’t know how to vet someone.
Knowing how to vet someone allows you to weed out unqualified applicants, leaving only the best prospective employees. That way, employers aren’t wasting their time interviewing hundreds of candidates that don’t fit the job criteria.
By the end of this blog, you’ll have answers to questions like “What is employee vetting?” and “How long does the vetting process take?” along with a framework for how to vet a potential employee.
What Is Employee Vetting?
What does it mean to be vetted for a job? Vetting is the process of thoroughly evaluating an individual before deciding to approve or accept them – in this case, for a job.
When a person is “vetted,” it means they were investigated to determine their level of competence.
The vetting process for employment includes a series of tasks, such as:
- Confirming employment history
- Authenticating credentials/certifications
- Screening social media profiles
- Reviewing credit reports
- Searching for criminal records or jail time
- Checking references
The vetting process should be the same for all candidates. This process isn’t something that can be cherry-picked; all steps should be followed to ensure consistency and fairness across the board.
Keep in mind that certain steps in the vetting process for employment require the candidate’s permission. For instance, before a company can run a background check, the applicant must sign a consent form.
Additionally, federal laws prevent you from asking specific questions because it violates that person’s right to privacy. So avoid requesting information that isn’t pertinent to the job.
Does employee vetting sound too cumbersome for your company to handle internally?
Read on to learn about employee vetting services you can use instead.
How Long Does the Vetting Process Take?
The vetting process for employment can take anywhere from six seconds to a few months (or longer). Ultimately, it depends on variables such as the position you’re hiring for, if you’re using employee vetting services, what information you’re checking, and what you find.
For instance, let’s say you require applicants to submit a copy of their valid passport. If an applicant’s passport has expired, it can take upwards of 12 weeks for a new one to process, let alone arrive in the mail.
Vetting may also be prolonged if questionable information is discovered during the process. You may need to follow up with additional questions, request more documentation, or perform another interview to clarify facts and findings.
How to Vet Someone for a Job
Vetting will look different for every company.
There are many factors to consider when it comes to hiring, especially the job itself. Keep in mind that this section gives a general overview of how to vet someone. You’ll want to use professional employee vetting services or develop your own vetting process before you can confidently begin hiring people.
1. Write the job description.
Write up a thorough, clear job description with a list of qualifications and responsibilities for the open position. Consider including characteristics and soft skills that you’d like the ideal candidate to embody.2. Advertise a job opening.
Next, post the open position on a job board like LinkedIn and begin promoting it. Depending on the work, you may consider asking technical questions before candidates can submit their resumes to begin vetting early on.
3. Screen resumes.
Sift through resumes to remove the unqualified candidates from cluttering up the list. Then, review the resumes of qualified candidates, keeping the strongest ones for the next phase.
4. Interview qualified candidates.
Begin scheduling interviews with the strongest, most qualified candidates based on their resumes. You may want to hold the first interview virtually to save time and effort.
5. Interview top candidates.
After the first interview, you should be able to determine who will be a good fit for the job. Out of that first group, select your top three candidates to bring back for a second interview.
6. Run background checks.
You don’t want to perform a background check too early because it can be a waste of resources. Background checks are one of the final steps to verify an employee appears to be a good hire.
7. Send job offer.
Once the vetting process is complete, send an offer to the best candidate. Keep an alternative in mind just in case your first pick declines due to a better offer, etc.
Some employee vetting purposes include protecting your workplace and setting up candidates for success. The goal isn’t to dig up dirt on a potential employee—it’s to hire people who provide value to your company and fit the shoes they’re intended to fill.
No one wants a job they aren’t qualified for; do your best to hire someone who was professionally vetted for a job opening you posted.
What Is the Vetting Process of Skillwork?
Here at Skillwork, we perform employee vetting services for the trades.
We’ve created a thorough multi-level vetting process that works like a funnel to ensure we hire the right person for the job. We may start with hundreds of candidates, but by the end of our process, we end up with the top 3 candidates for a client to choose from.
Our 8-Step Vetting Process
-
Publish Job Opening
-
Sift Through Resumes
-
Pre-screen Candidates Via an Experienced Recruiter
-
Test Candidates’ Personality & Aptitude
-
Assess Candidates’ Unique Skill Level
-
Subject-matter Expert Interviews Candidates
-
Skillwork Interviews Qualified Candidates
-
Facilitate Virtual Interview With Client & Best Candidate
The skilled labor shortage is impacting the economy and employers alike.
Companies are hiring unqualified employees out of desperation for skilled workers, ignoring the repercussions. The decision to hire without a vetting process backfires, causing numerous inefficiencies, which results in a loss of time and money.
Fortunately, Skillwork knows how to vet someone in the trades because we’re a skilled labor recruiting agency. Our proprietary, multi-level vetting process allows us to source the best tradesmen from across the United States for your company.
We do the vetting so you can stay focused on your day-to-day operations.
Contact us today to see how we can help you get the skilled workers you need, when you need them.
