Pre-employment Vero Screening Frustrations

[buerheibai]

Hi, all
I'm wondering what information Vero Screening need for background checks.

I used to work for a huge tech company with 110k+ current employees. So it is difficult to locate individual ex-employees. I gave Vero Screening my ex-manager's business email since all the HRs who worked with me have already left the company. However, instead of asking my ex-manager to provide a reference, Vero Screening asked my ex-manager to give them an HR contact, so they can ask HR for a reference instead. Is it a common practice that pre-employment checks require references from HR, rather than ex-managers who have worked with the candidate? Thanks all!

 

[George Maxwell]

Hi, all
I'm wondering what information Vero Screening need for background checks.

I used to work for a huge tech company with 110k+ current employees. So it is difficult to locate individual ex-employees. I gave Vero Screening my ex-manager's business email since all the HRs who worked with me have already left the company. However, instead of asking my ex-manager to provide a reference, Vero Screening asked my ex-manager to give them an HR contact, so they can ask HR for a reference instead. Is it a common practice that pre-employment checks require references from HR, rather than ex-managers who have worked with the candidate? Thanks all!

Hi @buerheibai,

I will tag @Jessica Booker as she is more qualified than me to answer this question!

My understanding is that Vero Screening is more a check of your reliability/trustworthiness and is mainly to verify that you worked at the company when you said you did, rather than being a substantive check of the quality of your work. So I would say that it shouldn't be an issue that they will communicate with someone that has not worked with you directly. If this HR contact currently works at the company, they will both have access to, and be able to provide, information showing that you did actually work there etc. and I think that's all that matters.

I might well be wrong though, so I look forward to hearing what Jess says 💪

 

[Jessica Booker]

Agree with what @George Maxwell has said above. The employer will just confirm your employment dates and job title.

If it’s a large company they have established processes for these type of references and will be sending them out on a daily basis can, so I really wouldn’t worry about your manager or HR leaving.

 

[mountainandsea]

Hi, I have a problem with the screening too.

Half of my team were laid off a few month ago, including me. Now I find a new opportunity. In both my CV and my interview, I did not mentioned that I was fired, and said that I just finishes working with them. That was a mistake I know! I should not have said that.

They are going to do a background check now, what should I do then? I stay in good terms with my previous teammates, so I think they might be able to help me. But if they go to the HR, I am not so sure. Should I tell the truth when I fill in the background check form, but that will be different from my CV, would that be a problem?

Any advice from anyone is deeply appreciated!

@Jessica Booker @George Maxwell

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi, I have a problem with the screening too.

Half of my team were laid off a few month ago, including me. Now I find a new opportunity. In both my CV and my interview, I did not mentioned that I was fired, and said that I just finishes working with them. That was a mistake I know! I should not have said that.

They are going to do a background check now, what should I do then? I stay in good terms with my previous teammates, so I think they might be able to help me. But if they go to the HR, I am not so sure. Should I tell the truth when I fill in the background check form, but that will be different from my CV, would that be a problem?

Any advice from anyone is deeply appreciated!

@Jessica Booker @George Maxwell

For clarity, were your team made redundant or were you terminated for bad performance?

 

[mountainandsea]

Hi Jessica, thank you for your reply.

I was made redundant. My manager said no issue with my performance. I guess it is more because of cost saving. Quite a lot of my colleagues were laid off over last year. Mine was 5 months ago.

However in my CV, I say I am still at the job 'present', and did not mention that I was made redundant during the interview.
Do you know if they check against CV during background checking?

Over these 5 months, I am actually working for a small business on a project similar to the one at my last employer. But this is not shown on my CV.

What do you suggest in this situation?

Thanks for the help!

@Jessica Booker @George Maxwell

 

[Jessica Booker]

It is not an issue about how you lost your job then - you were made redundant. That is with your employer not down to you and your performance.

However, you should not be lying about your employment status though. If you are no longer employed by the company that needs to be reflected in the conversations you have with recruiters/interviewers or in the dates on your CV.

They will check your employment dates through reference checking and if this does not match up to your CV, this will be raised as falsely presented information. I have seen job offers retracted on this basis.

What is the period between you actually leaving your job and when you applied for this role? The saving grace here is if that is a very short period of time or you were still employed at the point you applied, this won’t be an issue. My concern is that you say your role ended 5 months ago, which is going to cause a very big concern if you only applied in the last 3 months for this role. It will be worse if you have applied to this role a matter of weeks ago.

The fact there is another role not included in your CV too is also concerning.

If you apply to any further roles, make sure your employment history is accurate with dates and jobs done.

If based on what I have said is going to be an issue, you need to speak to the person who has been conducting your offer process and flag these discrepancies to them immediately. Dont let the reference check agency do this for you. You’ll need a pretty good excuse as to why this happened too - but to be frank I can’t see any legitimate excuse as to why you would present yourself to be in a role many months after you have left it.

You need to be prepared that they may retract the job offer where you have presented false information - if this is for a law firm or any other regulated profession/sector, they won’t give a lot of leeway on this as it will be seen as deception.

 

[mountainandsea]

Thanks Jessica for your response.

It was about a 4 months gap between me leaving and applying. Do you think it is OK to ask them not to contact this employer?

For the role that is not included in my CV, it is not an employment per se: I am working on it for free now, only get money when the product is released. Can I use this to fill in the 4 months gap, even though it is not on my CV?

Thank you for your suggestions.

 

[Jessica Booker]

They will need to contact your previous employer. The only reason they won’t contact the employer is if you are still in employment and haven’t given your notice in. However, at the point that happened, they will still seek a reference from that employer and before you joined their organisation.

You need to take ownership of this, because it is your mistake. You should contact the person who sent your offer details immediately (and call them, this is something no to rely on emails on given its severity) and explain the discrepancy.

If you want to provide the alternative employment details you can, although it doesn’t sound like this is formal employment at the same time given you are not being paid for the work. If that is the case, whether you disclose it is up to you.

 

[mountainandsea]

Thanks Jessica.

On the other hand, I was actually not an employee of the company, I was a contractor there without a fixed term. I did not have employee benefits there or anything. They simply just ended my contract with no notice. Would this make a difference?

 

[Jessica Booker]

Thanks Jessica.

On the other hand, I was actually not an employee of the company, I was a contractor there without a fixed term. I did not have employee benefits there or anything. They simply just ended my contract with no notice. Would this make a difference?

No - unfortunately not, as you have presented it that you were working with them for 4-5 months longer than you actually were. That is the crux of the issue here - you have presented false information.

If you weren’t an employee it might be that the company won’t provide the potential next employer with a reference anyway. However, the reference agency will seek alternative proof of the work from you instead. For instance, if you were self employed, you may need to provide proof of invoices/payments/agreements from the company you worked for. As someone self employed, that is what I have had to provide to reference agencies to prove the work I did.

 

[mountainandsea]

OK thanks Jessica for your help!
I definitely learn a lesson.

 

[luis]

Hi, I have a problem with the screening too.

I made a mistake because I was confused I was working in one building but from a contractor and I put the name of the building what should I do ?

Thanks you

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi, I have a problem with the screening too.

I made a mistake because I was confused I was working in one building but from a contractor and I put the name of the building what should I do ?

Thanks you

It is not an issue if the contractor can provide you with a reference instead.

 

[luis]

Hi

Jessica​

,
so will be not a problem I email and I said that I make a mistake and I exaplin the situation to the company I will work is this good ?

@Jessica Booker @George Maxwell

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi

Jessica​

,
so will be not a problem I email and I said that I make a mistake and I exaplin the situation to the company I will work is this good ?

@Jessica Booker @George Maxwell

If the dates and job title match up, I doubt this will be an issue if the actual employer can verify your employment. It is often the case that people work for subcontracted companies which can make things confusing on occasion, so I don't think this would be a deal breaker.

 

[luis]

Hi

@Jessica thank you,​

My main issue is that in the first point, I made the mistake and I put the wrong information in the first point. I emailed them and also I provided them with the document that proud that I was working there.

I am really worried, to be honest.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Hi

@Jessica thank you,​

My main issue is that in the first point, I made the mistake and I put the wrong information in the first point. I emailed them and also I provided them with the document that proud that I was working there.

I am really worried, to be honest.

Is it only the name of the company/employer that is wrong?

 

[luis]

Yes @Jessica Booker

 

[Jessica Booker]

Yes @Jessica Booker

As I said, I don't think this is necessarily going to be an issue if everything else matches up and there is some kind of connection to why the name of the employer was incorrect (e.g. building name rather than company name).