Organisations are now providing tools to both employees and recruiters to ensure more informed background checks are being carried out. Two U.S. companies – eKnowID and Acertiv – are taking different approaches to ensuring the validity and usefulness of background checks and CVs. Through eKnowID, candidates can obtain background checks on themselves, giving them foresight into what a prospective employer could obtain. In contrast, Acertiv’s service allows job seekers to add validity to their CV, by allowing job seekers to upload documents to support their claims, such as licenses, degrees or other qualifications. For employers, Acertiv allows them to skip the validation process and increase their faith in the reliability of a candidate’s claims. Greg Newton, general manager an Australian organization offering a similar service, expresses skepticism as to the uptake of this approach in Australia. He suggests these checks can create some of their own problems such as documents dating too quickly and fraudulent documents being too easy to obtain.
