Employment History checks 3 January at 4:32PM in Employment, jobseeking & training 10 replies 489 views

Dilbert_Investor

Does anyone have recent experience of employment history checks performed by outsourced companies and how far back they go?

Some of my previous employers no longer exist so will be difficult to verify - particularly given they were many years ago.

Thanks

TELLIT01

No personal recent experience, but they clearly can't confirm or deny employment history with a company which no longer exists.  Many employers are only interested in the past 5 or 10 years of employment.  Anything prior to that is likely to have limited relevance.

Brie

5 to 10 years depending on the industry is standard.  HMRC could provide proof of when you were employed or you might need to provide proof via payslips or correspondence.

I was having employment screening where they were checking my educational qualifications as well as employment.  Two weeks into the job I was told that there was a problem as 2 unis hadn't replied to queries and unless I could prove I was a grad I was out.  They had quite literally written a letter addressed to the name of each uni with the country (not in the UK) and nothing else waited a total of 6 days (less than a week) for a reply.  I know the country where the unis are can't deliver a letter in under 2 weeks at the best of times and only if it has a full address on it and for these the street address, city and post codes were missing.  Fortunately I had a copy of my transcripts and fancy certificate as proof which they were willing to accept.  It all seemed a bit daft in all sorts of ways including the fact that neither degree was relevant to the job and both were more than 30 years previous and were lesser degrees to the third one I had subsequently from the UK.

Dilbert_Investor

Thanks.  That makes sense and should be fine as I’ve been the same place for well over 10 years now.

I’ve also kept my educational qualification somewhere safe - its just a question of where!

Marcon

Dilbert_Investor said:

Does anyone have recent experience of employment history checks performed by outsourced companies and how far back they go?

Some of my previous employers no longer exist so will be difficult to verify - particularly given they were many years ago.

Thanks

It may be simpler than you think, assuming these are all UK employers - and having the proof to hand might help to impress!

If you ask for a subject access request (free):  https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/shortforms/form/DPU_SAR_NI?_ga=2.230026460.1544670040.1621021753-1315656139.1609178084

you will get a complete history of your employment going back to age 16, when you were first issued with an NI number.

Dilbert_Investor

Thanks Marcon.  

I’m not sure I will have kept much paperwork / evidence as it many years ago.

The screening company website also mentions something called CV comparison checking.  Is this different from employment history checks?

GiantTCR

I've never experienced any company asking for more than 5 years of employment history.

Some companies, mainly for security clearance purposes, may ask for more than 5 but I personally have no experience of that.

lincroft1710

Brie said:

5 to 10 years depending on the industry is standard.  HMRC could provide proof of when you were employed or you might need to provide proof via payslips or correspondence.

I was having employment screening where they were checking my educational qualifications as well as employment.  Two weeks into the job I was told that there was a problem as 2 unis hadn't replied to queries and unless I could prove I was a grad I was out.  They had quite literally written a letter addressed to the name of each uni with the country (not in the UK) and nothing else waited a total of 6 days (less than a week) for a reply.  I know the country where the unis are can't deliver a letter in under 2 weeks at the best of times and only if it has a full address on it and for these the street address, city and post codes were missing.  Fortunately I had a copy of my transcripts and fancy certificate as proof which they were willing to accept.  It all seemed a bit daft in all sorts of ways including the fact that neither degree was relevant to the job and both were more than 30 years previous and were lesser degrees to the third one I had subsequently from the UK.

There are still people who are clearly unsuited to the jobs they are trying to do!


PS I still have my "O" and "A" level certs from the mid/late 1960s. Haven't needed them since 1970!

Marcon

Dilbert_Investor said:

Thanks Marcon.  

I’m not sure I will have kept much paperwork / evidence as it many years ago.

The screening company website also mentions something called CV comparison checking.  Is this different from employment history checks?

You don't need any paperwork to apply for a SAR - that's the beauty of it. Evidence with no effort on your part other than a few clicks of keyboard and mouse to ask for a SAR.

CV comparison checking is just that: a check to see if any cv you uploaded as part of your application tallies with any information you give during the screening process, especially if you are asked to complete an online application form of any description.

DullGreyGuy

Dilbert_Investor said:

Does anyone have recent experience of employment history checks performed by outsourced companies and how far back they go?

Some of my previous employers no longer exist so will be difficult to verify - particularly given they were many years ago.

Thanks

Outsourced or insourced makes no difference, unless the outsourcer is providing some form of warranty then they will follow the clients instructions. 

In Financial Services employment history is normally checked back 3-6 years. What does become painful is extra checks have to be done on any gaps between employments of more than 28 days

born_again

Rather than a SAR
https://www.gov.uk/get-proof-employment-history

Daughter has just had to get one. Despite calling just before Christmas it arrived before New Year. Just simply lists who you worked for & when & how much you earned in the last 5 years.