Background screening for high-level hires should be a priority for all organisations

LEADERSHIP is more than a position or title; it is action and example. When companies rely on their senior executives to set strategic direction, galvanise employees and steer them towards success, appointing the right captain becomes mission-critical. This process begins with acquiring an accurate and in-depth understanding of the candidate's background.

It is a common misconception that candidates for a senior executive position would not stoop to falsifying or hiding information. In a perfect world, we could perhaps accept everything provided by a candidate at face value. In reality, however, discrepancies do exist.

According to First Advantage's 2016 Asia Pacific Annual Trends, discrepancies relating to employment history are most common (57.7 per cent), followed by education (19.3 per cent) and database (18.9 per cent). Database checks refer to a name check against a collection of various databases that include media, addresses, passport identification, company registry and more.