Screening candidates with documents and consent
How the Recruiting pack screens a candidate, from a person reading the CV to identity, qualifications and consent, and which checks stay outside it.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Recruitment businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
Screening is where a recruitment agency earns its fee. A client can post a job advert and collect CVs without help. What it pays an agency for is judgement: someone who has read the CVs properly, checked that candidates are who they say they are and hold the qualifications they claim, and put forward only people worth interviewing.
That judgement is also where agencies get caught out. A qualification that turns out to be invented, an identity document that does not match, or a candidate who never agreed to be put forward can cost a fee, a client and a reputation in one go.
The Recruiting & staffing pack in Achekam's Industry CRM gives every candidate the same screening steps. It is equally clear about what it does not do, and that matters just as much when you plan your process.
A person reads the CV against the job description
Screening starts with a person reading the candidate's CV against the job description. Not a keyword filter, not a score: a consultant who understands the role. CIPD's introduction to recruitment walks through the wider process this step sits in, from workforce planning and defining the role to attracting candidates and making the appointment.
That is deliberate, and it reflects what the pack does not do. There is no automatic CV parsing and no candidate scoring. For an agency, that means the quality of the screening depends on the consultant, which is where it should depend. A good read looks for:
- evidence of the essential skills in what the candidate actually did, not only in the job titles;
- gaps or overlaps in dates that deserve a question;
- whether the candidate's level matches the role, in both directions;
- anything the client said was a deal-breaker during the brief.
Requesting identity, qualifications and consent
Next, the pack requests the candidate's identity document, qualifications and consent. A workflow step can send the candidate a request for documents, and the candidate's answer moves the task on, so the consultant is not chasing attachments across e-mail and messaging apps.
When documents arrive, look at them properly. Compare the identity document with the name and dates on the CV, check that a qualification names the institution and the year the candidate claimed, and note anything that needs a follow-up question. A document received is not yet a document checked.
Because each candidate is a customer of their own in the pack, never filed under a client, these requests reach the candidate directly. The client is not involved in collecting a candidate's personal documents.
Consent deserves particular care. Ask for it in plain words: what you will do with the candidate's information, which clients you may share it with, and how they can withdraw. A candidate who understands what they agreed to is far less likely to be upset later.
Recording the checks the role needs
Finally, the screening step records the checks the role needs. Different roles need different checks. A bookkeeper's role may call for a qualification check and references; a role handling cash or vulnerable people may call for a criminal record check; a driver's role needs a valid licence.
Decide the checks per type of role before screening begins, and record each one against the candidate as it is completed. Tasks in the Industry CRM can have subtasks up to three levels deep, so a role with several checks can list each one, and the person responsible, under the screening task.
The checks that stay outside the pack
The pack runs no background checks. Criminal record checks, credit checks, qualification verification with the issuing institution and similar enquiries are done through the providers and channels your agency already uses, with the candidate's consent where the law requires it. What the pack gives you is a place to record that each check was requested and what the outcome was.
That division of labour is worth explaining to clients. When a client asks whether a candidate has been "fully checked", the honest answer lists exactly which checks were done, by whom and when. The record makes that answer easy to give.
No job-board feed
The pack reads no job-board feed. Candidates who apply through job boards or your website are added to the pack by people, not imported automatically.
For many agencies that is a reasonable trade-off. A person adding a candidate is a person who has at least glanced at the application, and an agency that adds every applicant to its records without looking soon has a database full of people it has never spoken to. Decide who adds candidates, from which sources, and at what point in the process.
A screening checklist
Before any candidate goes on a shortlist, confirm that:
- A consultant has read the CV against the job description and noted any questions.
- The identity document has been received and matches the candidate.
- The qualifications the role requires have been received, and verified where the role calls for it.
- The candidate's consent has been received, covering the clients and role in question.
- Every check the role needs is recorded, with its outcome.
Why candidates are kept separate from clients is explained in why each candidate is a customer of their own. Once a screened candidate is placed, following a placement after the start date covers the next stage, and temps heading for payroll are covered in loading a batch of new temps into payroll.
Write down, for each type of role you fill, the checks it needs and who carries them out. That list is the backbone of every screening that follows.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
