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Category Archives

Category Name: Counter Productive Workplace Behaviours

AGSVA Baseline vs PSPF Goldilocks Clearance – the requirements compared. Plus Five Recruitment Trends to Watch.

FIVE Recruitment Trends to Watch: 1. Australian Standards for employment screening (AS 4811-2006) will be updated, after 15 years, to include adjudication. 2. Critical Infrastructure expanded & positive security obligations (personnel vetting) tightened – covering 1.6+m employees. 3. The expanded Critical Infrastructure sector – Defence Industry – must sponsor & manage their own AGSVA security […]


Critical Infrastructure Clearance

The relentless compromising of the private sector, which remains a soft but strategic target, has diluted the conventional boundaries of conflict, forcing the government to enhance its posture. Australia is not immune and there is clear recognition that we need to do more to protect our nation against attacks on our critical infrastructure. The Parliamentary […]


How the Mining Industry’s Spy and Sex Pest Register Can Work

Australia’s multibillion-dollar mining industry has been accused of failing to protect women from predatory sexual behaviour. Sexual allegations and misconduct on mining worksites are a blight on the reputation of the whole industry. A parliamentary inquiry was shocked and appalled at the scale of the problem, saying victims had faced targeted violence, stalking, grooming and [...]

Now you know.

So what do you guys do, again? Can we ask you a question first? Did you know that employers can experience massive pain when hiring the wrong person? The cost is huge and the pre-employment & rehiring market is a multi-million dollar industry. In some industries, rehiring market it up to 40%. These are costs […]


Loss Prevention and Profit Protection strategies that work for Retail.

Emerging standards and technology can be used to mitigate people risk in the retail environment and increase the quality of your candidates by 70%. We know how devastating employee theft can be: 30% of business closures blame this.     Then there are data breaches. 1 in 4 data breaches are caused by malicious employees (not accidental […]


How Your Charity Can Strengthen Its Safety Measures With Ease

If you represent or work for a charity, then this article is for you. These types of questions are often asked by not-for-profits, about our service. Program Overview – Please give an overview of the program, including the beneficiaries the program aims to support. We are on a mission to help charities create Trusted Workforces. [...]

Critical Infrastructure entities must now hunt for spies.

Critical Infrastructure entities must now hunt for spies. Preemployment screening does not hunt for spies. The PSPF does. We do.   Meet Bruce. He works for your critical infrastructure company. He is like many workers in Australia: born in another country, studied at a great university there but then moved here to make a life […]


A Guide to Australian Standards for Employment Screening

A Guide to Australian Standards for Workforce Screening Employment screening processes are beyond the standard interview process done by HR, recruitment companies or the hiring manager. Employment screening requires extensive resources and systems designed to uncover information that the employer requires to make an informed decision about the eligibility and suitability of a candidate – […]


5 Things To Present and Position Your Company As A Trusted Third-Party Partner

5 Things To Present and Position Your Company As A Trusted Third-Party Partner Most of the B2B companies look for long term relationships with big companies. It is not an easy job to gain their trust to grab long term contract. Assume a big client of yours’ wants appropriate personnel security measures to be in […]


Adjudicative Guidelines – Secret Knowledge Revealed

The Home Affairs Adjudicative Guidelines are an important element to any suitability assessment. Here are the elements and concrete examples of each factor area and the frequency of detection. ​ 1/7 Factor area: External loyalties, influences and associations. A security risk may exist when the clearance subject or their immediate family, including cohabitants, and other [...]

How to increase the quality of your candidates by 70%.

Personnel screening isn’t just about weeding out untrustworthy individuals or high-risk workers or to reduce the likelihood of counter-productive workplace behaviours from manifesting. For both employee and employer, the goal of pre employment screening is to find a good match for both parties in order to ensure a positive, productive working relationship for everyone. With […]


What is the difference between hard data and soft data?

Primary Source Verification (PSV) is a known as a ‘hard data’ screening process that involves liaising directly with original issuing sources. Hard data are documents that include, but are not limited to, driver’s licences, education degrees, work permits, passports, employment certificates and practice licenses, bankruptcy checks, police checks, credit checks, digital footprint social media check, […]


Your Candidate Has A Criminal Record: Now What?

Your Candidate Has A Criminal Record: Now What? Court Convictions, Disclosable Court Outcomes: Individualised Risk Assessments – the new Australian Standard AS4811 way. Research has found that about most employers do not perform any type of individualised assessment when criminal convictions are present. Therefore an adverse or derogatory Police check “Result” from one of 165 […]


How to Protect Your Company From the Cost of a Bad Hire.

How to Protect Your Company From the Cost of a Bad Hire. How Much Can A Bad Hire Cost Your Company? Why do organisations hire poorly? Luckily, bad hires and the heavy financial burden associated with them can be prevented before they occur. You can: Identify the characteristics of a bad hire BEFORE it happens. […]


Preemployment ‘Best Practice Guide’ for Social Media Screening.

Preemployment ‘Best Practice Guide’ for Social Media Screening. A digital footprint is the unique pattern of electronic transactions made by an individual’s publicly accessible online presence. An assessment of an individual’s digital footprint can provide insight into their life, interactions and personal views. This information may identify behaviours of concern or provide further assurance that […]


5 Ways Technology is Changing the Face of HR

5 Ways Technology is Changing the Face of HR With ground-breaking HR technology solutions all around us, we’re seeing a tech boom that is fundamentally reshaping the way we work — and how we think about HR. Some of the most interesting — and disruptive — examples are powered by artificial intelligence and automation. AI […]


5 things every HR Professional should know about Background Checks

It is important for any organisation to conduct proper background checks on prospective employees to ensure only the right candidates are hired. Background checks of potential employees can prove to be an eye-opening and useful tool for all types and sizes of business. They can actually help HR with making the right decisions on hiring, […]


Is Ignoring a Candidate’s Digital Footprint Negligent Hiring?

Is ignoring a candidate’s digital footprint negligent hiring? Social media screening in the hiring process is now commonplace. We understand its usefulness in protecting employer brand and business reputation. But we’re also aware of its hidden dangers, potential biases, and legal traps. World governments have differing stances on the practice. Some search the internet to […]


Society demands a higher standard of personnel screening & vetting

Society demands a higher standard of personnel screening & vetting Inside the recommendations of three Royal Commissions (Sexual abuse, Banking and Aged care) that these sectors require a higher standard of personnel screening & vetting. In other words Society demands a higher level of assurances. Society now trades on trust, but we don’t overtly check […]


Five markers to identify whether a candidate is lying in a job interview.

Identifying whether interviewee is truthful is one of the biggest challenges to human resource professionals. With the experience gained from screening thousands of candidates, we have identified five markers to identify candidate’s truthfulness which will make your work easier. Observe the following markers in the interview to figure out the truthfulness of the candidate Vague […]


Propel HR and Recruitment practices forward by adopting a robust employment screening process

Rigorous Employment Screening A Must Stringent compliance obligations for the banking and finance industry mean it is imperative to implement rigorous employee background screening when hiring.  As illustrated by recent high profile cases, falsification of employment history is a growing issue across a range of industries. One solution is to use a background checking company, […]


Working with Children or Vulnerable Persons? Discover Hidden Risk with Cleard Life

We have served the Commonwealth Government for over 10 years conducting national security clearances up to the highest levels. Our vetting officers are experts in lie detection and screening out people who cannot be trusted based on their background, character and other vulnerabilities.   If you have children, we know how concerned parents can be […]


1 in 50 workers are on ICE. What can you do to safeguard your organisation?

SafeWork Laboratories* forensic toxicologist Andrew Leibie said almost a quarter of a million Australians were high on ice at work “on any given day.” The number of workers testing positive nationally increased from 1:66 in 2016 to 1:52 in 2017, equating to some 240,000 workers nationwide. In safety sensitive industries it is worse: 1:45 workers […]


Police checks during the recruitment process – to do or not to do?

​Guest #1: Our company has been discussing the necessity of obtaining a Police check for successful applicants, as part of our recruitment process. We discussed which roles a Police check should be requested for, and we concluded that whilst support roles, such as finance, HR and technology require trust and responsibility for the Company’s confidential/sensitive data, […]


Are traditional background checks enough, in our complex modern workplaces?

Background checks are essential for the trust and safety of an organisation, but is a cheap & fast criminal history check truly enough to ensure that you are doing all you can to prevent workplace risk? Australian Standards 4811 Workforce Screening says ‘no’. Consider the new wave of threats, sometimes called counter-productive workplace behaviours, and […]


Watch Out! These 3 Background Check Mistakes Will Cost You.

Many small business leaders face major issues when choosing their background check options. And the result is often costly. When you’re a small business owner, choosing the right background checking service is a more demanding and difficult task than it is for a huge corporation, which can draw upon dedicated, more expensive resources. This is […]


Sussing Out a Candidate: What is Your Definition of an Employee Background Check?

We saw an article recently about some handy tips before securing a Candidate: “Once you have advertised the position, narrowed down the field and finally identified the perfect candidate, before you make them an offer, here is a check-list of four useful tips to help you through the last important pre-employment screening phase.” 1. Check […]


Appointing A New Board Member. Why Vetting Your Board Members is an Important First-Step.

Board Member Vetting: A Search for Disqualifying Attributes? While the concept of personnel vetting is usually giving someone a more intense “going over” and is becoming the norm (more than 350,000 public sector personnel have security clearances), vetting should be the standard when it comes to board recruiting. Vetting prospective board members that originate from […]


5 Reasons Why Your NDA is not enough

  Kevin Mitnick, famed computer hacker and computer security consultant put it this way: “They may know that they shouldn’t give out certain information, but the fear of not being nice, the fear of appearing ignorant, the fear of a perceived authority figure – all these are triggers, which can be used by a social […]


Shying away from checking the background of employees? Here’s why.

The need for employee background checks is very well documented and yet 65% of Public Servants do not have an official clearance. However, we expect that most of private and non-profit organisations incorporate, at least at some level, an employee background check in their hiring process. Perhaps it is a Police check, or a credit […]


Stop: Don’t Hire that Menace!

How many times you have made the final decision to hire a Candidate for a critical role in your company? We know this is one of the hardest jobs to perfect. They say 1 in 4 companies have made a poor hiring decision in the past year and 1 in 3 small businesses fail due […]


Why does the shared economy need a background vetting standard?

It turns out that a AUD50 police check does not buy a lot of comfort or trust these days. And the sharing economy companies and governments around the world know it. For example, 1 in 9 applicants were rejected. Ouch. Under a new state background check process in Massachusetts, 8,206 people who applied to drive […]


Significant changes in Public Sector Hiring are afoot: Are you ready?

If you recruit for the public sector, then you need to be aware of changes that have just occurred. In short, you cannot just simply recommend the best candidate for job, based on merit, anymore. You now need to consider the Candidate’s ‘suitability’ before they are offered a job. Let that sink in. Recruitment needs […]


Security Expert: “In general, the greatest data security risk is posed to organizations by insiders, as they have access to sensitive information on a regular basis, and may know how that information is protected.”

Joseph Steinberg is a cybersecurity expert and entrepreneur who founded the information security companies, Green Armor Solutions and SecureMySocial. He invented several popular cybersecurity technologies in use today, writes a column on cybersecurity for Inc., and is the author of several books on information security. Q. “In general, the greatest data security risk is posed […]


The Importance of Organisational Reputation. What it is and what you can do to increase it.

The reputation of your industry and your membership organisation is essential to its survival. The trust and confidence the community (industry) will have a direct and profound effect on your organisations’ standing and longevity. Occasionally, member organisations large and small, will need to respond to varying crises to maintain the reputation and standing of the […]


What do you mean suitable?

What do you mean suitable? We mean suitable as defined by the Attorney General’s  Protective Security Policy Framework PSPF12 and PSPF13 and the related Adjudicate Guidelines & associated vetting protocols which includes the whole-of-person concept. Put simply, we look at minimum integrity requirements such as criminal/illegal activity involvement, workplace conduct and any criminal associations. Let’s […]


Manage your third party security risks.

Q. Does your internal security program integrate with your contract management process to ensure that third party risks are identified and managed? All organisations should consider supply chain risk management. If a supplier, manufacturer, distributor or retailer (i.e. businesses that constitute a supply chain) are involved in products or services used by an organisation, there […]


Job Interview Questions That You Can’t ask … But We Can.

Job Interview Questions That You Can’t ask … But We Can. It’s good to know the difference between Recruiters and the Cleard.life Advanced Background Investigation Agency. What you, as a job interviewer, cannot ask: HR Interviewer: What is your marital status? Cleard.life: We can ask, in order to assess Trustworthiness and Loyalty. HR Interviewer: Have you […]


Pushback: We don’t require your background vetting service

CLEARD.LIFE: As a leader in national security clearances, we also have a B2B pre-employment screening solution that can be incorporated into the HR and recruitment process aimed to improve, develop, maintain and create relationships with current and new clients. HR COMPANY: As a global Recruitment and HR Services organisation, we already have internal procedures and […]


How vetting can augment and supplement the way your organisation reaches membership admission determinations.

How vetting can augment and supplement the way your organisation reaches membership admission determinations. Membership has its privileges. And members have responsibilities – like ensuring they do not throw the entire organisation (and sometimes the industry) into disrepute. So logically, whoever allows members into the organisation have an even greater responsibility to ensure that the […]


​The research is in: Criminal History Checks are “Futile”:

  The research is in: Criminal History Checks are Futile. A Response to the “Scoping Review: Evaluations of Pre-employment Screening Practices.” by the University of Melbourne. Summary: Basic Screening practices which include basic referee checks and “black mark” database checks are futile.  Enhanced Screening must now be the new normal. Research: The effectiveness of criminal background checks, as […]


How #regtech + suitability clearance = PERSEC compliance.

How #regtech + suitability clearance = PERSEC1 compliance. We are a team suitability experts, engineers and data scientists passionate about building better solutions to stop trusted insiders and counter-productive workplace behaviours from disrupting your workplace, operations and reputation. In this instance, we focus our attention on the #regtech trend and how our solution can apply […]


91% are doing background checks. This is why.

In an Ohio-based Employers Resource Association* survey… 91 percent are using background checks. That seems high. But what s.p.e.c.i.f.i.c.a.l.l.y. does that mean? A Google search? Police check? Facebook search? LinkedIn page view? A 2 minute call to the a previous boss? But more importantly, what do you do when you receive an adverse result? To […]


1 in 4 potential employees admit to behaviours that most employers consider high-risk. HR Managers and Risk Managers need to get onto the same page.

1 in 4 potential employees admit to behaviours that most employers consider high-risk. HR Managers and Risk Managers need to get onto the same page. Independent university studies have demonstrated the value of integrity tests that screen for hostility, drug and alcohol abuse, theft and lying in the pre-employment phase. But these tests have yet […]


Security Expert: An insider with malicious intent who works for your organisation has already bypassed the majority of your security features without having to do anything other than log on to their desktop.

Marc Weaver Databasable is an IT consultancy firm that provides database administration support and specializes in moving your databases and applications into the cloud. Founded by Marc Weaver in 2015, databasable uses his vast employment experience from large financial institutions in London, Sydney, and New York. “Obviously a data security breach from an outsider will result […]


What to consider when selecting a pre-employment screening vendor

    ​What to consider when selecting a pre-employment screening vendor. Choosing a background screening provider is an important decision that affects your entire organisation, from human resources and security to everyday employee relationships. It is great to have an expert on your side, helping inform important hiring decisions – decisions which affect your organisation’s […]


A Response to the “NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework.”

  Our Response to the “NDIS Quality and Safeguarding Framework”. NDIS: How it will work: A nationally consistent screening process will be developed: the results of the screening process for an applicant will be valid throughout Australia, regardless of the state or territory in which it was issued. Cleard.life response: As a national security vetting […]


Security Expert. Insiders can also face external circumstances which make them feel desperate. Inside threat monitoring is usually shared with HR.

  GREG MANCUSI-UNGARO ​@BrandProtect Greg Mancusi-Ungaro is responsible for developing and executing the BrandProtect market, marketing, and go-to-market strategy. A passionate evangelist for emerging technologies, business practices, and customer-centricity, Greg has been leading and advising world-class marketing initiatives, teams, and organizations for more than twenty-five years. Prior to joining BrandProtect, Greg served in marketing leadership roles at […]


Are You Vigilant in your Vetting? Types of Background Checks before your Hire.

Troubling research is coming to light concerning the disparity between personnel security ideas and reality. For example (notice the slippery slope as what constitutes good proactive screening): 85% cent have convictions that ‘some’ things should bar employment in their organisation. 1 in 2 (61%) thought police checks ‘essential’ for prudent pre-employment screening 1 in 6 […]


Extreme Referencing: It’s a tough pitfall to avoid…

You invest great effort to get your people to interview several Candidates. You laboriously negotiate with your team to pick your favourite — only to then ask the Candidate for a few references to call. After all this time and effort (which you feel is some type of distraction), you call those references with a […]


Security Expert: The malevolent insider is the greatest threat to any company as these individuals are operating from a position of trust.

CHRISTOPHER BURGESS ​@burgessct Christopher Burgess is the CEO, President and co-founder of Prevendra. He is an author, speaker, advisor, consultant, and advocate for effective security strategies, be they for your company, home, or family. “The most serious threat to a company’s data security is the…” Insider threat, which comes in two forms: The malevolent insider is […]


Criminal History and Background checks should be done for all short-listed applicants.

When to ask for a criminal record check ​For most jobs, a criminal record check should be requested only from short-listed applicants or from those invited to interview. This minimises: unnecessary and time-consuming administration involved with processing many consent to disclosure forms the expense, as police services charge for the police checking service the risk […]


Security Expert: Efforts to mitigate the insider threat, such as additional security controls and improved vetting of new employees.

STEVE DURBIN @stevedurbin Steve Durbin is Managing Director of the Information Security Forum (ISF). His main areas of focus include the emerging security threat landscape, cyber security, BYOD, the cloud, and social media across both the corporate and personal environments. Previously, he was Senior Vice President at Gartner. “As data breaches increase, many will be the […]


How to keep your next event safe. 

  Pre-employment screening service  We are delighted to have the opportunity to outline a recruitment solution that will dramatically reduce hiring risks, while not interrupting your recruitment processes, and complete the vetting assessments in the fastest time possible. Although we have not yet been able to customise our response to your specific hiring needs and requirements. […]