FAQ
How can we help you?
- All
- What Cleard Life Does
- What Cleard Life Doesn’t do
- Organisation FAQ
- Candidate FAQ
- Qualifications FAQ
- Pricing FAQ
Yes – if it is used for prevetting prior to a security clearance application (details here). Yes – if we are also your Security Officer and sponsoring AGSVA security clearances on behalf of the company (details here). No, if it is used as part of our Critical Infrastructure clearance and No – if used as a standalone, private sector, suitability assessment. Good to know: The interview aide memoir and the analysis are never passed on to the AGSVA without written consent.
1. AGSVA doesn’t share risk info with new sponsors. The AGSVA keeps personnel risk details confidential, so we need a sponsor-level / employer-level process to understand your risk profile.
2. It’s part of employer-level compliance. Employers must follow specific compliance of suitability standards, including our interview process.
3. It’s a DISP Requirement. The Defense Industry Security Program (DISP) mandates this step for security assurance before initiating an action with AGSVA.
4. It’s an AS 4811 requirement. Adhering to Australian Standards AS811 Workforce Screening necessitates our interview process.
5. Having an AGSVA clearance doesn’t eliminate risk. A clearance doesn’t guarantee there are no risks in your background – especially if it has been a while since the granting of it.
6. It’s required for ongoing clearance risk management (PSPF21) & maintenance. Continuous risk management and clearance maintenance, as per PSPF21 & DISP PERSEC Entry Level & above, requires this step as it forms an essential understanding of risk and the delta of a Change of Circumstance and the subsequent Security Officer PERSEC advice to the organisation.
Yes we do. (AFP & 200+ countries) However our approach to criminal history screening is positively different. In many ways, it is more comprehensive and more effective as we open the aperture to cover police issues, interactions, arrests and charges – not just ‘convictions’ – in Australia and overseas.
There is a futility of conducting police checks for criminal background information when no such information exists. The research also shows serious concerns of recruiters as to the efficacy of police checks as a safeguard measure (explored in Davis & Wells (1994–1995) and Hanly (2010)). Other research also expresses reservations concerning low conviction rates (see, for example, Beyer, Higgins, & Bromfield, 2005; Department of Health and Human Services, 1985; Moriarty, 1990; Williams, 1991). Even court decisions have also reflected the opinion that pre-employment police checks are futile to assess an individual’s suitability to work when no recorded criminal background history exists.
You Can Bring Your Own Police Check Result. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can supply ‘additional information’ which can include any external check result that you choose to do – including disclosable court outcomes. Our Vetting Officers professionally get to the bottom of the adverse information and criminal history and then provide a defendable Risk Assessment.
Alot. Lots can go wrong with a NPC. They are known to produce ‘false negative’ or ‘false positive’ results. Evidence: Some agencies require written approval by the candidate to share the result with the employer. Other examples include the NPC application being incomplete or incorrect. Anytime you allow the candidate to DIY and self-declare their address history – 50-60% will get it wrong, seriously. The sad thing is that no-one checks – not the employer, not the agency. Was it accidental, rushed, ADHD or was it intentional? Other examples include not adding all names (eg middle or maiden or alias names) – 20-30% get it wrong. There are other application & processing administrative errors, sometimes jurisdictional issues and of course spent conviction schemes (not showing you a conviction, even though there was one). The big point of difference is that the Police check result is not a risk assessment. With the Cleard Life process – everything is checked properly. Plus the candidate is afforded an opportunity to explain the ‘who, what, when where, why’ of their criminal history – be it in Australia or overseas – including arrests and charges that did not result in a conviction. So, yes we process NPCs but our background screening process is inherently more comprehensive than a DIY stand alone national police certificate. We provide the necessary human risk assessment. Read more about how we are different.
You must be 16 years of age or older.
Yes. An independent auditor, who also contributed to rewriting of the AS 4811:2022 standard, recently completed our audit. We are fully compliant with all 19 mandatory “must” requirements and have implemented all 73 “should” guidance clauses, achieving the highest maturity level. We are the first in Australia to do so.
We do not duplicate what you do internally or have a supplier do for you already. Your organisation may have done a lot work to get to the short-list stage – including selection criteria analysis and candidate ranking. Your own organisation’s processes, you might consider:
- Verify Nationality
- Verify Identity
- Verify Claimed Qualifications
- Conduct a National Police Check
- Arrange a Vulnerable People (WWVP) Check / Working With Children Check (WWCC) / AusCheck / ASIC / MSIC / NDIS Clearance
- Conduct/Arrange/Verify Medical Checks
- Conduct Bankruptcy / Equifax check
- Conduct Referee checks
- Conduct a Digital Footprint check
- And potentially many others.
The Cleard Life Interview meets 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 & 10 for you.
Contact us about what what you really need – we should be able to help.
But we also augment (enhance) and/or supplement (improve) the way you reach your background screening suitability determinations – not by database checks after database checks after database checks – but by speaking 1:1 with your candidate and then creating a comprehensive risk assessment (both required in Australian Standards 4811 -2022 Workforce Screening).
Our VAAS platform is located Amazon’s Data Centre, Sydney, Australia. Data is recorded, processed and stored on the ASD-certified PROTECTED level servers in Sydney. Also note that our system automatically de-identifies (personally identifiable information) PII after the result has been communicated.
Other IT systems we use have these certifications. SOC 1 Type II compliant as per AICPA’s SSAE18 standard and IAASB’s ISAE 3402 standards, SOC 2 Type II compliant, SOC 2 + HIPAA ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 20000, ISO 22301:2019, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG), Payment card industry (PCI), 21 CFR Part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11.
It is a little technical – so bear with us. What we mean when we say ‘suitable’ is defined by the Australian Government, specifically in the Home Affairs’ Protective Security Policy Framework PSPF12 and PSPF13 and the related Adjudicative Guidelines & associated vetting protocols which includes the whole-of-person concept. Simply put, we look at minimum integrity requirements such as criminal/illegal activity involvement, workplace conduct and any criminal associations and other aspects. For the types of questions that we ask read more here.
It’s easy, we think it is too easy.
Identity – Sight some form of photo identification
Identity – Verify address history
(a driver’s licence meets this)
Integrity – CV should be checked
Integrity – Referees should be checked to establish a history of strong moral principles, honesty and decency.
Integrity – Police check should be conducted
(none of these are mandatory)
Credentials – Verify qualifications and professional memberships
Credentials – Professional Referee should be sought to verify positions and dates of employment
(‘should’ indicates a recommendation)
As an employer or HR department, lets say you sight the candidate’s driver’s licence and they did not have any claimed qualifications & professional memberships. Congratulations, you have essentially met the Australian Standards for employment screening – specifically identity, integrity and credentials. But on the other hand, you know that you cannot really determine whether your candidate is suitable or unsuitable given this minimum amount of information.
Are you ready for Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening? It has been updated to now require an interview and risk assessment. More info here.
Lots. There are more than a dozen dimensions of a person’s life and background – personal and professional – that is covered. In addition, each Assessment level is uniquely different in terms of length, scope, depth and the scrutiny covered. You can find a summary of the coverage here. More than 400,000 people in Australia have been screened using the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and the Australian Government Personnel Security Protocols. It is by far Australia’s most widely used, comprehensive and consistently applied integrity standard. Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening is now mandatory in some sectors and we help you meet it.
No. Our suitability assessments do not replace the full AGSVA national security clearance process – ie. we do not issue national security clearances. Yes. As they relate to meeting AS4811-2022 Workforce Screening (eg. Commonwealth or Defence Industry Security Members mandatory obligations). Yes. as it relates to industry solutions eg. Critical Infrastructure Clearance.
Usually within 1 to 2 business days after the candidate interview is complete. There might be times, especially in the CL0 Assessments, where a human vetting officer needs to clarify or obtain further information in a second phone interview. In these cases, human risk assessment results are normally ready the same day or next, after the final interview is complete.
We are here to make your every interaction with Cleard Life easy and happy. We will refund 80% of the price of the VAAS CL0 AI Assessment if you cancel the assessment before the candidate starts the interview. If the candidate leaves the interview not to return to complete it, we will refund 20%. Other products and services (Cleard Plus etc) have different time and effort and external fees associated. For any further queries you can contact our Customer Success Team.
Yes. Inside the VAAS AI CL0 Pay As You Go Plan, there is a option offering discounts if you buy three or more assessments in advance. For example, buying 50 CL0 Assessments in advance qualifies your business for a 20% discount from $169 to an effective rate of $135.20 each. The Large Plan also offers $135.20 CL0 Assessments.
A set-up fee only applies to VAAS Channel Partner and White Label plans. Your sales representative will walk through the process.
Sponsors: when an organisation signs up for an account, there are terms and conditions that need to be agreed before a candidate interview request is activated.
Candidates: may be required to sign a Declaration (informed consent) prior to the sponsor initiating a CL1, CL2, CL3 Suitability Assessment. (The CL0 is agreed to verbally.)
After the end of the 90 day free trial of the VAAS, you will be able to move to the $5/m Pay-As-You-Go Plan, Large or Dedicated Plan and your profile will remain active on our system. During the trial, you can will be able to order all levels of assessments. You can also upgrade to other plans at any time before the 90 day trial expires. If you wish to cancel, please contact customer support.
No. The free CL0 AI Assessment is exactly the same product you would receive when you purchase a CL0 AI Assessment.
Depending on the VAAS plan, payments can be made by credit card and/or direct transfer. The Dedicated Plan allows for invoicing in arrears.
No. The candidate agrees they will not have access to the Cleard Life result, so therefore you would not be able to appeal. Also, more importantly, the character assessment forms only one part of the recruitment decision. If you were not offered the position, it might just mean there was another person more suitable for the job, that’s all. What you can be assured of is that we use anti-discriminatory decision making processes to reach our conclusions.
No. Your answers and our analysis of your responses are never disclosed to your employer or sponsoring organisation (without your written consent). This is confirmed at the start of the CL0 interview or in the Declaration that you will sign before the commencement of the CL1, 2,3 Assessments. We also de-identify any personally identifiable information (PII) after the conclusion of the stand alone assessment. We do, however, provide a high-level summary result (eg. “Favourable,” “Caution” and “Adverse”). We also may provide them a character ranking relating to your honesty, trustworthiness, tolerance, maturity, loyalty, and resilience. Our Vetting Officers are trustworthy and hold some of the highest national security clearances in Australia – your secrets are safe with us.
Yes. We are are the only vetting organisation approved to sponsor, facilitate and manage AGSVA security clearances – through our Cleard Plus program. No – if we have not been retained by your company, then unfortunately, we are unable to assist individuals concerning specific official clearance policies & processes. However, you can contact the AGSVA directly.
It depends. What are your expectations? If you knew that 1 in 6 of your staff or volunteers had criminal convictions, do you think your community of interest or the parents/care-givers of those you serve would feel that you have applied adequate duty of care or safeguard measures into your background screening program? 1 in 6: it’s true – here is the Government audit.
The Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse in it’s Final Report also indicated that it is not enough.
The WWCC and other similar cards look for a narrow and specific category of criminal activity. For example serious crimes against children and convictions for violent crimes such as murder or manslaughter. However, anyone with an extensive criminal record such as fraud, stealing or maybe a string of DUIs, drug possession etc would not be flagged and the card would be granted without hesitation. Unfortunately, the state government’s WWCC vetting systems do not use the whole-of-person protocol.
If your organisation works with children, or the aged, or the vulnerable, then our background screening solution will meet your community’s expectations.
69% of companies were adversely affected by a bad hire last year.
41% surveyed put the cost of a bad hire at over $25,000
24% put the cost of a bad hire at over $50,000
Cleard life is the missing piece. We speak directly with candidates in a one-on-one interview setting and cover many dimensions of a person’s life. We get to know more about the candidate’s background and their character than any other pre-employment check on the market. ‘Black mark’ database checks and verification checks are naturally limited in scope and can only go ‘so far’ to confirm that a person is trustworthy. However, we encourage any red flags (questionable, doubtful or adverse information) discovered during the external check process (eg. Police checks) or the hiring process (eg. Ref checks), be sent to us so we can get to the bottom of any issue that is raised. In this way, our whole-of-person risk assessment helps you to standardise your determinations, reduces negligent hiring risks and allows you to stay in control of the process.
Yes. Although referee checking is a core responsibility of employers, we can create an extremely robust referee program for you in two ways:
Bring Your Own Referee Comments. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can provide ‘additional information’ which can include adverse or dubious comments or accusations that you have obtained from your referees. Our Vetting Officers will professionally and delicately get to the bottom of the allegation or the issue that was raised, from a suitability perspective.
Let us do it. We offer a “Referee Addon” option which means, for a fee, you provide a person’s name & the number of a (nominated) referee. Our Vetting Officer will interview that person and also unearth a ‘developed’ or ‘un-nominated’ referee. We tell all our referees that the conversation is confidential, that we protect our sources and never disclose or identify who we have talked to with the candidate. This allows the referee a safe place to speak freely. As the situation requires, we can get to the bottom of any issues or red flags that came up during this discover phase.
Likely. Based on Australian National Audit Office 2018 publication, covering a sample size of tens of thousands, an adverse decision comes up quite regularly:
Baseline complex case is 1:1131. (Our CL0 adverse or caution result is around 1:500.)
NV1 complex complex case is 1:491. (Our CL1 adverse or caution result is around 1:100.)
NV2 complex case is 1:220. (Our CL2 adverse or caution result is around 1:50.)
PV complex case is 1:22. (Our CL3 adverse or caution result is around 1:20.)
Note the pattern: the higher the assessment level, the more likely the person is to be considered unsuitable.
This is because there are more data points to be covered and also because the role-based risk model increases for each level.
If you already have trouble filling positions and you have to add a background screening to your shortlisting process, you may feel like these rejection levels are too high. But security and risk control analysts say that you are simply eliminating the riskiest people: the same type of people who may have created disruptions in your service or damaged your reputation in the past.
Other external (US) research is higher (1 in 4) and candidate’s even admit to bad behaviour that should disqualify themselves (1:4).
Cleard life discovers hidden risk. Better to know now before a contract is signed.
Candidate questions will cover most areas of your personal and professional life and are used to build as complete a picture of you as possible. We need to establish whether you are suitable and whether you can be relied upon to safeguard the sensitive information/resources you will have access to.
We assess your loyalty, honesty and reliability, and whether you could be particularly vulnerable to manipulation, blackmail or coercion. You will be asked questions on wide ranging topics such as your relationships, finances, substance use, overseas travel and connections, employment history or political views.
Some of the questions will be intrusive. If you have any doubts about the relevance of a question please ask the interviewing officer for clarification. You should be completely honest. Sometimes people have aspects of their lives that they are ashamed of or embarrassed to tell us about. Usually these are of little or no suitability significance.
Our vetting officers are qualified, trained and experienced professionals and are unlikely to be shocked or surprised by anything you say. Please ensure your responses are truthful and do not seek to withhold information. The consequences are likely to be more significant if it is identified that you have been untruthful or withheld information. More info here.
That’s fine! Your organisation does not need to be involved in government-related work to benefit from knowing your people are demonstrably trustworthy. Most personnel strive to conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner. However, it would be negligent to ignore the risk of someone deliberately causing harm or exploiting their position of trust. Some of the most damaging incidents in recent history include insiders selling access to databases containing sensitive data and harming those most vulnerable in our society. By using the same character standards that the government uses when it puts people into positions of trust, you are signalling to your staff, clients and other stakeholders that your internal personnel controls are robust and that you take these things seriously. You also create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by vetting your personnel properly to demonstrate trust and confidence.
Background screening can also assist with compliance with internal policies & procedures as well as government laws, association regulations or specific authority’s guidelines. These requirements can relate to general employment, admission, membership, due diligence and individual licensing and/or organisational licensing. Critical Infrastructure sectors and the ISM also have vetting obligations.
For whatever reason, if you as a candidate are unwilling or unable to consent to the following and undergo the suitability assessment, please let your employer/sponsor know immediately.
You need to provide truthful and candid answers at the interview. The candidate also needs to agree not to deliberately omit, conceal, or falsify relevant facts or provide misleading information. The activation code given to the candidate must not be disclosed to anyone but the employer/sponsor and Cleard life. The candidate acknowledges, consents and understands that the employer may gather and then provide other relevant information to Cleard life. The candidate understands that the employer will not have access to any information or answers that the candidate provides to Cleard life. The candidate agrees that they will not have access to the results that Cleard life sends to the employer and recognises that the Cleard life recommendation forms only one part of the sponsor’s human resource / procurement / admission determination process. What does it feel like?
Risk Mitigation. Protect your clients. Bonus: Increase the quality of your recommendations by 70%. Employers are now expecting and demanding improvements to ‘de-risk’ their talent recruitment and ‘people-risk’ management processes. People are the weak link. Think of security & ICT breaches, workplace violence, fraud, theft, drug use, adverse mental health, financial issues, illegal conduct, Resume misrepresentation — and more — they are done by humans! All these scenarios can risk derailing your recruitment recommendation and in turn your client’s reputation. Adding a super fast suitability/character/integrity/background screening interview and assessment inside your shortlist stage adds value and you can offer it as a unique value proposition option for your clients.
No. Your credit card payment is handled by a third party (Stripe). We do not receive or store your credit card details.
The free trial has two parts. The first is a free, no obligation 90 days (3 months) on our Pay-As-You-Go plan, so you can check out our portal, process and other reference material, without being rushed. The second part is when you are ready, you submit your first candidate to be assessed – that first CL0 Assessment is on us. That’s right: Free. Complimentary.
We would love to partner with you in developing either a white-label plan or a channel partner plan that exactly matches your needs, including premium APIs. A dedicated customer success team will be allocated to your account to give your business the flexibility that it needs to work effectively.
Our Pay-As-You-Go plan is the best option if you are looking for flexibility. Our Large and Dedicated CL0 plans run from year to year, but we will make arrangements if a plan needs to be downgraded. Our customer success team will be able to assist with upgrading or adjusting your plan.
Depending on the plan you are on, the number and level of assessments you are ordering, you might not need to upgrade. However, our customer success team would love to meet with you by chat, telephone or in person. They will be able to suggest the best plan for your needs and will walk you through the process.
Please contact our customer success team; they will assist you with downgrading, cancelling or pausing your plan membership.
Individuals cannot not pay for the assessment. Sponsoring organisations pay for the Cleard.life check.
There are three costs: the plan, the product and optional extras. The plan can be as low as free through to $895 per month. Product (Assessments) range from the lowest CL0 to the highest CL3. There are also several “add-ons” or options the sponsor can chose at the time of order.
Crown Vetting, a Defence Prime contractor. Since 2010, it has delivered thousands of national security assessments to the Australian Government error free and on time. From Baselines, NV1, NV2 and TSPV, Crown Vetting has become a leader in the vetting industry. Cleard Life Vetting Agency is a sister company and a wholly owned business unit of Crown Vetting.
It affords the sponsoring organisation confidence in their personnel determination decisions without needing to know or be aware of (or have the skill-set to process) adverse findings in a person’s background. It mimics the same comprehensive dimensions that are covered in government security clearances. It’s special because the process is fast, effective, affordable and can be applied to any number of government and non-government contexts and applications: compliance, insider threat programs, workplace safety assurance programs, data breach remediation action plans, prevention of counter-productive workplace behaviours.
The Cleard.life background check is also known as a Suitability Assessment, Suitability Screen or a Suitability Clearance. It is the process whereby an individual is interviewed, and an assessment is made as to their honesty, trustworthiness, tolerance, maturity, loyalty, and resilience (HTTMLR) – using the character standards set by the Attorney General’s department. With more than 400,000 suitability assessments completed using these same government standards, it is by far the most popular suitability standard in Australia today.
Not at this stage. Because the organisation ‘owns’ the result, they would be the ones to release it with the individual’s consent.
After the result has been sent, we de-identify personal information from the interview. In certain instances sponsoring organisations require that the interview notes to be destroyed 14 days after the result, other times the sponsoring organisation needs a third-party audit to verify contractual compliance, which takes longer for destruction. Either way, your details are de-identified / reacted from the record.
Depending on the level of assessment, between 1, 2 and 4 hours.
None. As your sponsoring organisation is paying for the Assessment, they should have already verified or at least been satisfied with your identity.
To obtain a Cleard.life Suitability check, it involves the following.
- Sponsor decides on the level of assessment
- Candidate completes a pre-filled Statutory Declaration (obtained from the Sponsor for the CL1,2,3 Assessments) or for the CL0, the candidate listens and agrees to the consent statements during the interview.
- Candidate is interviewed
- Result is sent to the Sponsor
• Fraud risk: a person without entitlement receiving a financial payment or other non-financial benefit as a result of a transaction (e.g. payment of a benefit or grant)
• Security risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to information, facilities, goods or services, particularly those of a sensitive nature
• Privacy risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to someone else’s personal information
• Downstream risks: a person using an identity credential or record issued or created by one organisation to commit identity crime against other organisations.
Yes. That’s what government does. Government departments are encouraged to procure some verification check services to meet role risk profiles but then use a ‘more intense suite of tools to complement their employment screening practices’ in order to satisfy a suitability determination. This is in harmony with the 2018 ICAC NSW publication on employment screening best-practice which notes there are ‘better practice’ resources available than just black mark database or straight-forward verification checks.
At the time of ordering a Cleard Life Suitability Assessment, employers/sponsors are encouraged to notify us any result from these types of checks (below) which may require additional one-on-one questioning and analysis:
• Identity check
• Entitlement to work (visa) check
• Probity check
• Directorship check
• Qualification check
• Employment reference check
• Employment history check
• Bankruptcy check
• Professional membership check
• Financial responsibility check
• Licence check
• Other checks
Key motivators for malicious insider activity include:
• financial gain
• ideology
• desire for recognition
• divided loyalties
• revenge
• adventure/thrill
• ego/self-image
• vulnerability to blackmail
• compulsive or destructive behaviour
• family problems
• negligence
• disgruntlement.
Trust, but verify. The candidate has a burden of persuasion to obtain a favourable suitability decision. A person who seeks access to sensitive organisation information enters the relationship with the employer predicated upon trust and confidence. This relationship transcends normal duty hours and endures throughout off-duty hours. The employer therefore reposes a high degree of trust and confidence in individuals to whom it employs. Decisions include, by necessity, consideration of the possible risk the candidate may deliberately or inadvertently fail to protect or safeguard people, assets, resources, information and reputation. Such decisions often entail a certain degree of extrapolation as to potential, rather than actual, risk of compromise.
OK – we’re here to help. If you are a candidate needing help to start, continue or complete your AI interview, these questions (and more) are answered in the link below:
What web browser is most compatible to work with Stephanie?
What devices or platforms can I use for running Stephanie?
Why can I hear Stephanie speaking, but she cannot hear me?
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/cleardlife-public/pdf/InterviewFAQ.pdf
5 things. Suitability Assessments are designed to give you confidence that prospective employees are who they say they are, and have the skills and experience they say they do. This will provide you with the requisite level of trust in a prospective employee to offer them a job and give them access to your business and its resources.
As early as possible in the recruitment process, advise all applicants about:
• the business’s requirements for pre-employment checking
• why these checks are conducted
• what your business will do with the information collected
• to whom the information might be disclosed
• what subsequent decisions might be made about an applicant’s suitability for work.
Be sure of the criteria for checking before you start. Identify the requisite level of checking for each position. The more sensitive the position, the more checks you will probably want to make.
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
There is no standard time frame for which the result is valid. A Cleard.life Assessment is a ‘point in time’ check, meaning the results only reflect the result on the date that the check is released. The sponsoring organisation typically determines the acceptable length of time, and it may vary from company to company. However, security clearances can range from 5 to 15 years before being re-validated.
The result is delivered only to specific and specified need-to-know personnel at the sponsoring organisation – either via email, API or portal.
It is a little technical – so bear with us. What we mean when we say ‘suitable’ is defined by the Australian Government, specifically in the Home Affairs’ Protective Security Policy Framework PSPF12 and PSPF13 and the related Adjudicative Guidelines & associated vetting protocols which includes the whole-of-person concept. Simply put, we look at minimum integrity requirements such as criminal/illegal activity involvement, workplace conduct and any criminal associations and other aspects. For the types of questions that we ask read more here.
Lots. There are more than a dozen dimensions of a person’s life and background – personal and professional – that is covered. In addition, each Assessment level is uniquely different in terms of length, scope, depth and the scrutiny covered. You can find a summary of the coverage here. More than 400,000 people in Australia have been screened using the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and the Australian Government Personnel Security Protocols. It is by far Australia’s most widely used, comprehensive and consistently applied integrity standard. Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening is now mandatory in some sectors and we help you meet it.
Cleard life is the missing piece. We speak directly with candidates in a one-on-one interview setting and cover many dimensions of a person’s life. We get to know more about the candidate’s background and their character than any other pre-employment check on the market. ‘Black mark’ database checks and verification checks are naturally limited in scope and can only go ‘so far’ to confirm that a person is trustworthy. However, we encourage any red flags (questionable, doubtful or adverse information) discovered during the external check process (eg. Police checks) or the hiring process (eg. Ref checks), be sent to us so we can get to the bottom of any issue that is raised. In this way, our whole-of-person risk assessment helps you to standardise your determinations, reduces negligent hiring risks and allows you to stay in control of the process.
Yes. Although referee checking is a core responsibility of employers, we can create an extremely robust referee program for you in two ways:
Bring Your Own Referee Comments. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can provide ‘additional information’ which can include adverse or dubious comments or accusations that you have obtained from your referees. Our Vetting Officers will professionally and delicately get to the bottom of the allegation or the issue that was raised, from a suitability perspective.
Let us do it. We offer a “Referee Addon” option which means, for a fee, you provide a person’s name & the number of a (nominated) referee. Our Vetting Officer will interview that person and also unearth a ‘developed’ or ‘un-nominated’ referee. We tell all our referees that the conversation is confidential, that we protect our sources and never disclose or identify who we have talked to with the candidate. This allows the referee a safe place to speak freely. As the situation requires, we can get to the bottom of any issues or red flags that came up during this discover phase.
Risk Mitigation. Protect your clients. Bonus: Increase the quality of your recommendations by 70%. Employers are now expecting and demanding improvements to ‘de-risk’ their talent recruitment and ‘people-risk’ management processes. People are the weak link. Think of security & ICT breaches, workplace violence, fraud, theft, drug use, adverse mental health, financial issues, illegal conduct, Resume misrepresentation — and more — they are done by humans! All these scenarios can risk derailing your recruitment recommendation and in turn your client’s reputation. Adding a super fast suitability/character/integrity/background screening interview and assessment inside your shortlist stage adds value and you can offer it as a unique value proposition option for your clients.
It affords the sponsoring organisation confidence in their personnel determination decisions without needing to know or be aware of (or have the skill-set to process) adverse findings in a person’s background. It mimics the same comprehensive dimensions that are covered in government security clearances. It’s special because the process is fast, effective, affordable and can be applied to any number of government and non-government contexts and applications: compliance, insider threat programs, workplace safety assurance programs, data breach remediation action plans, prevention of counter-productive workplace behaviours.
The Cleard.life background check is also known as a Suitability Assessment, Suitability Screen or a Suitability Clearance. It is the process whereby an individual is interviewed, and an assessment is made as to their honesty, trustworthiness, tolerance, maturity, loyalty, and resilience (HTTMLR) – using the character standards set by the Attorney General’s department. With more than 400,000 suitability assessments completed using these same government standards, it is by far the most popular suitability standard in Australia today.
Yes. That’s what government does. Government departments are encouraged to procure some verification check services to meet role risk profiles but then use a ‘more intense suite of tools to complement their employment screening practices’ in order to satisfy a suitability determination. This is in harmony with the 2018 ICAC NSW publication on employment screening best-practice which notes there are ‘better practice’ resources available than just black mark database or straight-forward verification checks.
At the time of ordering a Cleard Life Suitability Assessment, employers/sponsors are encouraged to notify us any result from these types of checks (below) which may require additional one-on-one questioning and analysis:
• Identity check
• Entitlement to work (visa) check
• Probity check
• Directorship check
• Qualification check
• Employment reference check
• Employment history check
• Bankruptcy check
• Professional membership check
• Financial responsibility check
• Licence check
• Other checks
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
Yes we do. (AFP & 200+ countries) However our approach to criminal history screening is positively different. In many ways, it is more comprehensive and more effective as we open the aperture to cover police issues, interactions, arrests and charges – not just ‘convictions’ – in Australia and overseas.
There is a futility of conducting police checks for criminal background information when no such information exists. The research also shows serious concerns of recruiters as to the efficacy of police checks as a safeguard measure (explored in Davis & Wells (1994–1995) and Hanly (2010)). Other research also expresses reservations concerning low conviction rates (see, for example, Beyer, Higgins, & Bromfield, 2005; Department of Health and Human Services, 1985; Moriarty, 1990; Williams, 1991). Even court decisions have also reflected the opinion that pre-employment police checks are futile to assess an individual’s suitability to work when no recorded criminal background history exists.
You Can Bring Your Own Police Check Result. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can supply ‘additional information’ which can include any external check result that you choose to do – including disclosable court outcomes. Our Vetting Officers professionally get to the bottom of the adverse information and criminal history and then provide a defendable Risk Assessment.
We do not duplicate what you do internally or have a supplier do for you already. Your organisation may have done a lot work to get to the short-list stage – including selection criteria analysis and candidate ranking. Your own organisation’s processes, you might consider:
- Verify Nationality
- Verify Identity
- Verify Claimed Qualifications
- Conduct a National Police Check
- Arrange a Vulnerable People (WWVP) Check / Working With Children Check (WWCC) / AusCheck / ASIC / MSIC / NDIS Clearance
- Conduct/Arrange/Verify Medical Checks
- Conduct Bankruptcy / Equifax check
- Conduct Referee checks
- Conduct a Digital Footprint check
- And potentially many others.
The Cleard Life Interview meets 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 & 10 for you.
Contact us about what what you really need – we should be able to help.
But we also augment (enhance) and/or supplement (improve) the way you reach your background screening suitability determinations – not by database checks after database checks after database checks – but by speaking 1:1 with your candidate and then creating a comprehensive risk assessment (both required in Australian Standards 4811 -2022 Workforce Screening).
It’s easy, we think it is too easy.
Identity – Sight some form of photo identification
Identity – Verify address history
(a driver’s licence meets this)
Integrity – CV should be checked
Integrity – Referees should be checked to establish a history of strong moral principles, honesty and decency.
Integrity – Police check should be conducted
(none of these are mandatory)
Credentials – Verify qualifications and professional memberships
Credentials – Professional Referee should be sought to verify positions and dates of employment
(‘should’ indicates a recommendation)
As an employer or HR department, lets say you sight the candidate’s driver’s licence and they did not have any claimed qualifications & professional memberships. Congratulations, you have essentially met the Australian Standards for employment screening – specifically identity, integrity and credentials. But on the other hand, you know that you cannot really determine whether your candidate is suitable or unsuitable given this minimum amount of information.
Are you ready for Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening? It has been updated to now require an interview and risk assessment. More info here.
No. Our suitability assessments do not replace the full AGSVA national security clearance process – ie. we do not issue national security clearances. Yes. As they relate to meeting AS4811-2022 Workforce Screening (eg. Commonwealth or Defence Industry Security Members mandatory obligations). Yes. as it relates to industry solutions eg. Critical Infrastructure Clearance.
It depends. What are your expectations? If you knew that 1 in 6 of your staff or volunteers had criminal convictions, do you think your community of interest or the parents/care-givers of those you serve would feel that you have applied adequate duty of care or safeguard measures into your background screening program? 1 in 6: it’s true – here is the Government audit.
The Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse in it’s Final Report also indicated that it is not enough.
The WWCC and other similar cards look for a narrow and specific category of criminal activity. For example serious crimes against children and convictions for violent crimes such as murder or manslaughter. However, anyone with an extensive criminal record such as fraud, stealing or maybe a string of DUIs, drug possession etc would not be flagged and the card would be granted without hesitation. Unfortunately, the state government’s WWCC vetting systems do not use the whole-of-person protocol.
If your organisation works with children, or the aged, or the vulnerable, then our background screening solution will meet your community’s expectations.
• Fraud risk: a person without entitlement receiving a financial payment or other non-financial benefit as a result of a transaction (e.g. payment of a benefit or grant)
• Security risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to information, facilities, goods or services, particularly those of a sensitive nature
• Privacy risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to someone else’s personal information
• Downstream risks: a person using an identity credential or record issued or created by one organisation to commit identity crime against other organisations.
Yes. That’s what government does. Government departments are encouraged to procure some verification check services to meet role risk profiles but then use a ‘more intense suite of tools to complement their employment screening practices’ in order to satisfy a suitability determination. This is in harmony with the 2018 ICAC NSW publication on employment screening best-practice which notes there are ‘better practice’ resources available than just black mark database or straight-forward verification checks.
At the time of ordering a Cleard Life Suitability Assessment, employers/sponsors are encouraged to notify us any result from these types of checks (below) which may require additional one-on-one questioning and analysis:
• Identity check
• Entitlement to work (visa) check
• Probity check
• Directorship check
• Qualification check
• Employment reference check
• Employment history check
• Bankruptcy check
• Professional membership check
• Financial responsibility check
• Licence check
• Other checks
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
Yes. An independent auditor, who also contributed to rewriting of the AS 4811:2022 standard, recently completed our audit. We are fully compliant with all 19 mandatory “must” requirements and have implemented all 73 “should” guidance clauses, achieving the highest maturity level. We are the first in Australia to do so.
Our VAAS platform is located Amazon’s Data Centre, Sydney, Australia. Data is recorded, processed and stored on the ASD-certified PROTECTED level servers in Sydney. Also note that our system automatically de-identifies (personally identifiable information) PII after the result has been communicated.
Other IT systems we use have these certifications. SOC 1 Type II compliant as per AICPA’s SSAE18 standard and IAASB’s ISAE 3402 standards, SOC 2 Type II compliant, SOC 2 + HIPAA ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27701, ISO/IEC 27017, ISO/IEC 27018, ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 20000, ISO 22301:2019, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG), Web Content Accessibility Guidelines(WCAG), Payment card industry (PCI), 21 CFR Part 11 and EudraLex Annex 11.
Lots. There are more than a dozen dimensions of a person’s life and background – personal and professional – that is covered. In addition, each Assessment level is uniquely different in terms of length, scope, depth and the scrutiny covered. You can find a summary of the coverage here. More than 400,000 people in Australia have been screened using the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and the Australian Government Personnel Security Protocols. It is by far Australia’s most widely used, comprehensive and consistently applied integrity standard. Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening is now mandatory in some sectors and we help you meet it.
No. Our suitability assessments do not replace the full AGSVA national security clearance process – ie. we do not issue national security clearances. Yes. As they relate to meeting AS4811-2022 Workforce Screening (eg. Commonwealth or Defence Industry Security Members mandatory obligations). Yes. as it relates to industry solutions eg. Critical Infrastructure Clearance.
Sponsors: when an organisation signs up for an account, there are terms and conditions that need to be agreed before a candidate interview request is activated.
Candidates: may be required to sign a Declaration (informed consent) prior to the sponsor initiating a CL1, CL2, CL3 Suitability Assessment. (The CL0 is agreed to verbally.)
That’s fine! Your organisation does not need to be involved in government-related work to benefit from knowing your people are demonstrably trustworthy. Most personnel strive to conduct themselves in an ethical and professional manner. However, it would be negligent to ignore the risk of someone deliberately causing harm or exploiting their position of trust. Some of the most damaging incidents in recent history include insiders selling access to databases containing sensitive data and harming those most vulnerable in our society. By using the same character standards that the government uses when it puts people into positions of trust, you are signalling to your staff, clients and other stakeholders that your internal personnel controls are robust and that you take these things seriously. You also create a competitive advantage in the marketplace by vetting your personnel properly to demonstrate trust and confidence.
Background screening can also assist with compliance with internal policies & procedures as well as government laws, association regulations or specific authority’s guidelines. These requirements can relate to general employment, admission, membership, due diligence and individual licensing and/or organisational licensing. Critical Infrastructure sectors and the ISM also have vetting obligations.
No. Your credit card payment is handled by a third party (Stripe). We do not receive or store your credit card details.
Crown Vetting, a Defence Prime contractor. Since 2010, it has delivered thousands of national security assessments to the Australian Government error free and on time. From Baselines, NV1, NV2 and TSPV, Crown Vetting has become a leader in the vetting industry. Cleard Life Vetting Agency is a sister company and a wholly owned business unit of Crown Vetting.
To obtain a Cleard.life Suitability check, it involves the following.
- Sponsor decides on the level of assessment
- Candidate completes a pre-filled Statutory Declaration (obtained from the Sponsor for the CL1,2,3 Assessments) or for the CL0, the candidate listens and agrees to the consent statements during the interview.
- Candidate is interviewed
- Result is sent to the Sponsor
Yes. That’s what government does. Government departments are encouraged to procure some verification check services to meet role risk profiles but then use a ‘more intense suite of tools to complement their employment screening practices’ in order to satisfy a suitability determination. This is in harmony with the 2018 ICAC NSW publication on employment screening best-practice which notes there are ‘better practice’ resources available than just black mark database or straight-forward verification checks.
At the time of ordering a Cleard Life Suitability Assessment, employers/sponsors are encouraged to notify us any result from these types of checks (below) which may require additional one-on-one questioning and analysis:
• Identity check
• Entitlement to work (visa) check
• Probity check
• Directorship check
• Qualification check
• Employment reference check
• Employment history check
• Bankruptcy check
• Professional membership check
• Financial responsibility check
• Licence check
• Other checks
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
The result is delivered only to specific and specified need-to-know personnel at the sponsoring organisation – either via email, API or portal.
Yes – if it is used for prevetting prior to a security clearance application (details here). Yes – if we are also your Security Officer and sponsoring AGSVA security clearances on behalf of the company (details here). No, if it is used as part of our Critical Infrastructure clearance and No – if used as a standalone, private sector, suitability assessment. Good to know: The interview aide memoir and the analysis are never passed on to the AGSVA without written consent.
1. AGSVA doesn’t share risk info with new sponsors. The AGSVA keeps personnel risk details confidential, so we need a sponsor-level / employer-level process to understand your risk profile.
2. It’s part of employer-level compliance. Employers must follow specific compliance of suitability standards, including our interview process.
3. It’s a DISP Requirement. The Defense Industry Security Program (DISP) mandates this step for security assurance before initiating an action with AGSVA.
4. It’s an AS 4811 requirement. Adhering to Australian Standards AS811 Workforce Screening necessitates our interview process.
5. Having an AGSVA clearance doesn’t eliminate risk. A clearance doesn’t guarantee there are no risks in your background – especially if it has been a while since the granting of it.
6. It’s required for ongoing clearance risk management (PSPF21) & maintenance. Continuous risk management and clearance maintenance, as per PSPF21 & DISP PERSEC Entry Level & above, requires this step as it forms an essential understanding of risk and the delta of a Change of Circumstance and the subsequent Security Officer PERSEC advice to the organisation.
You must be 16 years of age or older.
It is a little technical – so bear with us. What we mean when we say ‘suitable’ is defined by the Australian Government, specifically in the Home Affairs’ Protective Security Policy Framework PSPF12 and PSPF13 and the related Adjudicative Guidelines & associated vetting protocols which includes the whole-of-person concept. Simply put, we look at minimum integrity requirements such as criminal/illegal activity involvement, workplace conduct and any criminal associations and other aspects. For the types of questions that we ask read more here.
Sponsors: when an organisation signs up for an account, there are terms and conditions that need to be agreed before a candidate interview request is activated.
Candidates: may be required to sign a Declaration (informed consent) prior to the sponsor initiating a CL1, CL2, CL3 Suitability Assessment. (The CL0 is agreed to verbally.)
No. The candidate agrees they will not have access to the Cleard Life result, so therefore you would not be able to appeal. Also, more importantly, the character assessment forms only one part of the recruitment decision. If you were not offered the position, it might just mean there was another person more suitable for the job, that’s all. What you can be assured of is that we use anti-discriminatory decision making processes to reach our conclusions.
No. Your answers and our analysis of your responses are never disclosed to your employer or sponsoring organisation (without your written consent). This is confirmed at the start of the CL0 interview or in the Declaration that you will sign before the commencement of the CL1, 2,3 Assessments. We also de-identify any personally identifiable information (PII) after the conclusion of the stand alone assessment. We do, however, provide a high-level summary result (eg. “Favourable,” “Caution” and “Adverse”). We also may provide them a character ranking relating to your honesty, trustworthiness, tolerance, maturity, loyalty, and resilience. Our Vetting Officers are trustworthy and hold some of the highest national security clearances in Australia – your secrets are safe with us.
Yes. We are are the only vetting organisation approved to sponsor, facilitate and manage AGSVA security clearances – through our Cleard Plus program. No – if we have not been retained by your company, then unfortunately, we are unable to assist individuals concerning specific official clearance policies & processes. However, you can contact the AGSVA directly.
Candidate questions will cover most areas of your personal and professional life and are used to build as complete a picture of you as possible. We need to establish whether you are suitable and whether you can be relied upon to safeguard the sensitive information/resources you will have access to.
We assess your loyalty, honesty and reliability, and whether you could be particularly vulnerable to manipulation, blackmail or coercion. You will be asked questions on wide ranging topics such as your relationships, finances, substance use, overseas travel and connections, employment history or political views.
Some of the questions will be intrusive. If you have any doubts about the relevance of a question please ask the interviewing officer for clarification. You should be completely honest. Sometimes people have aspects of their lives that they are ashamed of or embarrassed to tell us about. Usually these are of little or no suitability significance.
Our vetting officers are qualified, trained and experienced professionals and are unlikely to be shocked or surprised by anything you say. Please ensure your responses are truthful and do not seek to withhold information. The consequences are likely to be more significant if it is identified that you have been untruthful or withheld information. More info here.
For whatever reason, if you as a candidate are unwilling or unable to consent to the following and undergo the suitability assessment, please let your employer/sponsor know immediately.
You need to provide truthful and candid answers at the interview. The candidate also needs to agree not to deliberately omit, conceal, or falsify relevant facts or provide misleading information. The activation code given to the candidate must not be disclosed to anyone but the employer/sponsor and Cleard life. The candidate acknowledges, consents and understands that the employer may gather and then provide other relevant information to Cleard life. The candidate understands that the employer will not have access to any information or answers that the candidate provides to Cleard life. The candidate agrees that they will not have access to the results that Cleard life sends to the employer and recognises that the Cleard life recommendation forms only one part of the sponsor’s human resource / procurement / admission determination process. What does it feel like?
Not at this stage. Because the organisation ‘owns’ the result, they would be the ones to release it with the individual’s consent.
After the result has been sent, we de-identify personal information from the interview. In certain instances sponsoring organisations require that the interview notes to be destroyed 14 days after the result, other times the sponsoring organisation needs a third-party audit to verify contractual compliance, which takes longer for destruction. Either way, your details are de-identified / reacted from the record.
Depending on the level of assessment, between 1, 2 and 4 hours.
None. As your sponsoring organisation is paying for the Assessment, they should have already verified or at least been satisfied with your identity.
Trust, but verify. The candidate has a burden of persuasion to obtain a favourable suitability decision. A person who seeks access to sensitive organisation information enters the relationship with the employer predicated upon trust and confidence. This relationship transcends normal duty hours and endures throughout off-duty hours. The employer therefore reposes a high degree of trust and confidence in individuals to whom it employs. Decisions include, by necessity, consideration of the possible risk the candidate may deliberately or inadvertently fail to protect or safeguard people, assets, resources, information and reputation. Such decisions often entail a certain degree of extrapolation as to potential, rather than actual, risk of compromise.
OK – we’re here to help. If you are a candidate needing help to start, continue or complete your AI interview, these questions (and more) are answered in the link below:
What web browser is most compatible to work with Stephanie?
What devices or platforms can I use for running Stephanie?
Why can I hear Stephanie speaking, but she cannot hear me?
https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/cleardlife-public/pdf/InterviewFAQ.pdf
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
Yes – if it is used for prevetting prior to a security clearance application (details here). Yes – if we are also your Security Officer and sponsoring AGSVA security clearances on behalf of the company (details here). No, if it is used as part of our Critical Infrastructure clearance and No – if used as a standalone, private sector, suitability assessment. Good to know: The interview aide memoir and the analysis are never passed on to the AGSVA without written consent.
Yes we do. (AFP & 200+ countries) However our approach to criminal history screening is positively different. In many ways, it is more comprehensive and more effective as we open the aperture to cover police issues, interactions, arrests and charges – not just ‘convictions’ – in Australia and overseas.
There is a futility of conducting police checks for criminal background information when no such information exists. The research also shows serious concerns of recruiters as to the efficacy of police checks as a safeguard measure (explored in Davis & Wells (1994–1995) and Hanly (2010)). Other research also expresses reservations concerning low conviction rates (see, for example, Beyer, Higgins, & Bromfield, 2005; Department of Health and Human Services, 1985; Moriarty, 1990; Williams, 1991). Even court decisions have also reflected the opinion that pre-employment police checks are futile to assess an individual’s suitability to work when no recorded criminal background history exists.
You Can Bring Your Own Police Check Result. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can supply ‘additional information’ which can include any external check result that you choose to do – including disclosable court outcomes. Our Vetting Officers professionally get to the bottom of the adverse information and criminal history and then provide a defendable Risk Assessment.
Alot. Lots can go wrong with a NPC. They are known to produce ‘false negative’ or ‘false positive’ results. Evidence: Some agencies require written approval by the candidate to share the result with the employer. Other examples include the NPC application being incomplete or incorrect. Anytime you allow the candidate to DIY and self-declare their address history – 50-60% will get it wrong, seriously. The sad thing is that no-one checks – not the employer, not the agency. Was it accidental, rushed, ADHD or was it intentional? Other examples include not adding all names (eg middle or maiden or alias names) – 20-30% get it wrong. There are other application & processing administrative errors, sometimes jurisdictional issues and of course spent conviction schemes (not showing you a conviction, even though there was one). The big point of difference is that the Police check result is not a risk assessment. With the Cleard Life process – everything is checked properly. Plus the candidate is afforded an opportunity to explain the ‘who, what, when where, why’ of their criminal history – be it in Australia or overseas – including arrests and charges that did not result in a conviction. So, yes we process NPCs but our background screening process is inherently more comprehensive than a DIY stand alone national police certificate. We provide the necessary human risk assessment. Read more about how we are different.
Yes. An independent auditor, who also contributed to rewriting of the AS 4811:2022 standard, recently completed our audit. We are fully compliant with all 19 mandatory “must” requirements and have implemented all 73 “should” guidance clauses, achieving the highest maturity level. We are the first in Australia to do so.
It’s easy, we think it is too easy.
Identity – Sight some form of photo identification
Identity – Verify address history
(a driver’s licence meets this)
Integrity – CV should be checked
Integrity – Referees should be checked to establish a history of strong moral principles, honesty and decency.
Integrity – Police check should be conducted
(none of these are mandatory)
Credentials – Verify qualifications and professional memberships
Credentials – Professional Referee should be sought to verify positions and dates of employment
(‘should’ indicates a recommendation)
As an employer or HR department, lets say you sight the candidate’s driver’s licence and they did not have any claimed qualifications & professional memberships. Congratulations, you have essentially met the Australian Standards for employment screening – specifically identity, integrity and credentials. But on the other hand, you know that you cannot really determine whether your candidate is suitable or unsuitable given this minimum amount of information.
Are you ready for Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening? It has been updated to now require an interview and risk assessment. More info here.
Lots. There are more than a dozen dimensions of a person’s life and background – personal and professional – that is covered. In addition, each Assessment level is uniquely different in terms of length, scope, depth and the scrutiny covered. You can find a summary of the coverage here. More than 400,000 people in Australia have been screened using the Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) and the Australian Government Personnel Security Protocols. It is by far Australia’s most widely used, comprehensive and consistently applied integrity standard. Australian Standards 4811-2022 Workforce Screening is now mandatory in some sectors and we help you meet it.
No. Our suitability assessments do not replace the full AGSVA national security clearance process – ie. we do not issue national security clearances. Yes. As they relate to meeting AS4811-2022 Workforce Screening (eg. Commonwealth or Defence Industry Security Members mandatory obligations). Yes. as it relates to industry solutions eg. Critical Infrastructure Clearance.
Usually within 1 to 2 business days after the candidate interview is complete. There might be times, especially in the CL0 Assessments, where a human vetting officer needs to clarify or obtain further information in a second phone interview. In these cases, human risk assessment results are normally ready the same day or next, after the final interview is complete.
No. The free CL0 AI Assessment is exactly the same product you would receive when you purchase a CL0 AI Assessment.
No. The candidate agrees they will not have access to the Cleard Life result, so therefore you would not be able to appeal. Also, more importantly, the character assessment forms only one part of the recruitment decision. If you were not offered the position, it might just mean there was another person more suitable for the job, that’s all. What you can be assured of is that we use anti-discriminatory decision making processes to reach our conclusions.
It depends. What are your expectations? If you knew that 1 in 6 of your staff or volunteers had criminal convictions, do you think your community of interest or the parents/care-givers of those you serve would feel that you have applied adequate duty of care or safeguard measures into your background screening program? 1 in 6: it’s true – here is the Government audit.
The Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse in it’s Final Report also indicated that it is not enough.
The WWCC and other similar cards look for a narrow and specific category of criminal activity. For example serious crimes against children and convictions for violent crimes such as murder or manslaughter. However, anyone with an extensive criminal record such as fraud, stealing or maybe a string of DUIs, drug possession etc would not be flagged and the card would be granted without hesitation. Unfortunately, the state government’s WWCC vetting systems do not use the whole-of-person protocol.
If your organisation works with children, or the aged, or the vulnerable, then our background screening solution will meet your community’s expectations.
69% of companies were adversely affected by a bad hire last year.
41% surveyed put the cost of a bad hire at over $25,000
24% put the cost of a bad hire at over $50,000
Yes. Although referee checking is a core responsibility of employers, we can create an extremely robust referee program for you in two ways:
Bring Your Own Referee Comments. As part of ordering one of our Assessments, at no extra charge, you can provide ‘additional information’ which can include adverse or dubious comments or accusations that you have obtained from your referees. Our Vetting Officers will professionally and delicately get to the bottom of the allegation or the issue that was raised, from a suitability perspective.
Let us do it. We offer a “Referee Addon” option which means, for a fee, you provide a person’s name & the number of a (nominated) referee. Our Vetting Officer will interview that person and also unearth a ‘developed’ or ‘un-nominated’ referee. We tell all our referees that the conversation is confidential, that we protect our sources and never disclose or identify who we have talked to with the candidate. This allows the referee a safe place to speak freely. As the situation requires, we can get to the bottom of any issues or red flags that came up during this discover phase.
Likely. Based on Australian National Audit Office 2018 publication, covering a sample size of tens of thousands, an adverse decision comes up quite regularly:
Baseline complex case is 1:1131. (Our CL0 adverse or caution result is around 1:500.)
NV1 complex complex case is 1:491. (Our CL1 adverse or caution result is around 1:100.)
NV2 complex case is 1:220. (Our CL2 adverse or caution result is around 1:50.)
PV complex case is 1:22. (Our CL3 adverse or caution result is around 1:20.)
Note the pattern: the higher the assessment level, the more likely the person is to be considered unsuitable.
This is because there are more data points to be covered and also because the role-based risk model increases for each level.
If you already have trouble filling positions and you have to add a background screening to your shortlisting process, you may feel like these rejection levels are too high. But security and risk control analysts say that you are simply eliminating the riskiest people: the same type of people who may have created disruptions in your service or damaged your reputation in the past.
Other external (US) research is higher (1 in 4) and candidate’s even admit to bad behaviour that should disqualify themselves (1:4).
Cleard life discovers hidden risk. Better to know now before a contract is signed.
It affords the sponsoring organisation confidence in their personnel determination decisions without needing to know or be aware of (or have the skill-set to process) adverse findings in a person’s background. It mimics the same comprehensive dimensions that are covered in government security clearances. It’s special because the process is fast, effective, affordable and can be applied to any number of government and non-government contexts and applications: compliance, insider threat programs, workplace safety assurance programs, data breach remediation action plans, prevention of counter-productive workplace behaviours.
The Cleard.life background check is also known as a Suitability Assessment, Suitability Screen or a Suitability Clearance. It is the process whereby an individual is interviewed, and an assessment is made as to their honesty, trustworthiness, tolerance, maturity, loyalty, and resilience (HTTMLR) – using the character standards set by the Attorney General’s department. With more than 400,000 suitability assessments completed using these same government standards, it is by far the most popular suitability standard in Australia today.
Not at this stage. Because the organisation ‘owns’ the result, they would be the ones to release it with the individual’s consent.
• Fraud risk: a person without entitlement receiving a financial payment or other non-financial benefit as a result of a transaction (e.g. payment of a benefit or grant)
• Security risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to information, facilities, goods or services, particularly those of a sensitive nature
• Privacy risk: a person gaining unauthorised access to someone else’s personal information
• Downstream risks: a person using an identity credential or record issued or created by one organisation to commit identity crime against other organisations.
Yes. That’s what government does. Government departments are encouraged to procure some verification check services to meet role risk profiles but then use a ‘more intense suite of tools to complement their employment screening practices’ in order to satisfy a suitability determination. This is in harmony with the 2018 ICAC NSW publication on employment screening best-practice which notes there are ‘better practice’ resources available than just black mark database or straight-forward verification checks.
At the time of ordering a Cleard Life Suitability Assessment, employers/sponsors are encouraged to notify us any result from these types of checks (below) which may require additional one-on-one questioning and analysis:
• Identity check
• Entitlement to work (visa) check
• Probity check
• Directorship check
• Qualification check
• Employment reference check
• Employment history check
• Bankruptcy check
• Professional membership check
• Financial responsibility check
• Licence check
• Other checks
Key motivators for malicious insider activity include:
• financial gain
• ideology
• desire for recognition
• divided loyalties
• revenge
• adventure/thrill
• ego/self-image
• vulnerability to blackmail
• compulsive or destructive behaviour
• family problems
• negligence
• disgruntlement.
Trust, but verify. The candidate has a burden of persuasion to obtain a favourable suitability decision. A person who seeks access to sensitive organisation information enters the relationship with the employer predicated upon trust and confidence. This relationship transcends normal duty hours and endures throughout off-duty hours. The employer therefore reposes a high degree of trust and confidence in individuals to whom it employs. Decisions include, by necessity, consideration of the possible risk the candidate may deliberately or inadvertently fail to protect or safeguard people, assets, resources, information and reputation. Such decisions often entail a certain degree of extrapolation as to potential, rather than actual, risk of compromise.
5 things. Suitability Assessments are designed to give you confidence that prospective employees are who they say they are, and have the skills and experience they say they do. This will provide you with the requisite level of trust in a prospective employee to offer them a job and give them access to your business and its resources.
As early as possible in the recruitment process, advise all applicants about:
• the business’s requirements for pre-employment checking
• why these checks are conducted
• what your business will do with the information collected
• to whom the information might be disclosed
• what subsequent decisions might be made about an applicant’s suitability for work.
Be sure of the criteria for checking before you start. Identify the requisite level of checking for each position. The more sensitive the position, the more checks you will probably want to make.
Understood. We don’t like the idea of being subjected to an all powerful, artificially intelligent system that solely determines employment outcomes. That is why we use the phrase Augmented Intelligence not Artificial Intelligence as our software generates explainable recommendations for a vetting expert to make the final decision.
1. We always have humans review the interview & the analysis.
2. Any ambiguity, or unfavourable initial result will always result in a second interview by a human vetting officer.
3. A third party auditor can check the assessment: the interview, analysis & result to confirm the process and decision was followed through and made appropriately.
There is no standard time frame for which the result is valid. A Cleard.life Assessment is a ‘point in time’ check, meaning the results only reflect the result on the date that the check is released. The sponsoring organisation typically determines the acceptable length of time, and it may vary from company to company. However, security clearances can range from 5 to 15 years before being re-validated.
We are here to make your every interaction with Cleard Life easy and happy. We will refund 80% of the price of the VAAS CL0 AI Assessment if you cancel the assessment before the candidate starts the interview. If the candidate leaves the interview not to return to complete it, we will refund 20%. Other products and services (Cleard Plus etc) have different time and effort and external fees associated. For any further queries you can contact our Customer Success Team.
Yes. Inside the VAAS AI CL0 Pay As You Go Plan, there is a option offering discounts if you buy three or more assessments in advance. For example, buying 50 CL0 Assessments in advance qualifies your business for a 20% discount from $169 to an effective rate of $135.20 each. The Large Plan also offers $135.20 CL0 Assessments.
A set-up fee only applies to VAAS Channel Partner and White Label plans. Your sales representative will walk through the process.
Sponsors: when an organisation signs up for an account, there are terms and conditions that need to be agreed before a candidate interview request is activated.
Candidates: may be required to sign a Declaration (informed consent) prior to the sponsor initiating a CL1, CL2, CL3 Suitability Assessment. (The CL0 is agreed to verbally.)
After the end of the 90 day free trial of the VAAS, you will be able to move to the $5/m Pay-As-You-Go Plan, Large or Dedicated Plan and your profile will remain active on our system. During the trial, you can will be able to order all levels of assessments. You can also upgrade to other plans at any time before the 90 day trial expires. If you wish to cancel, please contact customer support.
No. The free CL0 AI Assessment is exactly the same product you would receive when you purchase a CL0 AI Assessment.
Depending on the VAAS plan, payments can be made by credit card and/or direct transfer. The Dedicated Plan allows for invoicing in arrears.
69% of companies were adversely affected by a bad hire last year.
41% surveyed put the cost of a bad hire at over $25,000
24% put the cost of a bad hire at over $50,000
No. Your credit card payment is handled by a third party (Stripe). We do not receive or store your credit card details.
The free trial has two parts. The first is a free, no obligation 90 days (3 months) on our Pay-As-You-Go plan, so you can check out our portal, process and other reference material, without being rushed. The second part is when you are ready, you submit your first candidate to be assessed – that first CL0 Assessment is on us. That’s right: Free. Complimentary.
We would love to partner with you in developing either a white-label plan or a channel partner plan that exactly matches your needs, including premium APIs. A dedicated customer success team will be allocated to your account to give your business the flexibility that it needs to work effectively.
Our Pay-As-You-Go plan is the best option if you are looking for flexibility. Our Large and Dedicated CL0 plans run from year to year, but we will make arrangements if a plan needs to be downgraded. Our customer success team will be able to assist with upgrading or adjusting your plan.
Depending on the plan you are on, the number and level of assessments you are ordering, you might not need to upgrade. However, our customer success team would love to meet with you by chat, telephone or in person. They will be able to suggest the best plan for your needs and will walk you through the process.
Please contact our customer success team; they will assist you with downgrading, cancelling or pausing your plan membership.
Individuals cannot not pay for the assessment. Sponsoring organisations pay for the Cleard.life check.
There are three costs: the plan, the product and optional extras. The plan can be as low as free through to $895 per month. Product (Assessments) range from the lowest CL0 to the highest CL3. There are also several “add-ons” or options the sponsor can chose at the time of order.