How Randstad, the world’s biggest recruiter uses online identity verification to support their applicant on-boarding
Randstad started in 1960 and have grown to become the world’s largest recruitment and HR services company, active in 38 markets globally. Within the UK, Randstad employs over a thousand staff in over 40 UK offices, providing outsourcing in a number of different areas including staffing, consulting and workforce solutions.
Randstad’s ‘tech and touch’ ambition is to combine genuine human interest and expertise with the best digital solutions, to transform the way people and jobs connect. By using the right technology, combined with human expertise, this leading recruiter are often at the forefront of significant projects, including placing thousands of temps over Covid-19 testing sites and becoming the lead supplier to the high-speed railway project HS2.
Since 2017, Randstad have been using online identity verification services to help check identity documents from the thousands of applicants that they work with on a daily basis. Soraya Horseman is a Senior Compliance Officer at Randstad and for ten years has been part of the team dedicated to ensuring Randstad meets the highest levels of compliance. In this blog, I talk to her about protecting the Randstad business and how technology has helped:
Sarah Croft: Can you please start by explaining how Randstad make identity document checks on candidates?
Soraya Horseman: “We run all our identity documents through the TrustID online verification service. The software makes our process for checking documents really quick – it’s easy to use, fast, efficient and keeps our business protected. And we know that if we have any doubts about a document, we’ll get a fast response from the TrustID team.
Compliance is a really critical issue for us. Our business is all about people. We want to ensure that the data we receive and share with our clients is fully trustworthy, secure and in line with all relevant regulations. With the added benefit of an automated check in place via the online verification service, we know that we’ve minimised our risk of receiving false or inaccurate information.
The process starts with our team of specialist recruiters ‘on the ground’ who are in contact with the candidates and request the relevant identity documents from them. Every document is passed through the system by the compliance team as part of our stringent checks. No-one can get through our processes and be placed into a new role without passing the check and it just gives us a water-tight safeguard.”
SC: Why did you decide to introduce technology to make identity checks?
SH: “At Randstad, we’re very much a technology business, it’s ingrained within our overall strategy and allows us to keep that competitive edge in an industry which is becoming predominantly digital and data driven. So, it’s only right that we work with reliable and secure partners to allow us to introduce secure technology as part of our compliance process.
Secondly, it was to help take away an element of uncertainty with our checks. We always had robust checking processes on candidates, but before TrustID we relied heavily on manual approvals. The compliance team here are well trained and well-practiced, however there are so many different documents in circulation, it’s impossible to be familiar with them all. Also, sometimes fraudulent documents can be really good quality. Using the right technology means our team have that added layer of security to reassure them that they are making consistent checks on every document.”
SC: Has remote recruitment during Covid had an impact on your processes?
SH: “We have implemented a Coronavirus Guidance Policy which covers the period of restrictions during this outbreak and will work in alignment with government guidance on social distancing. Fortunately, because we are already using online technology to verify candidate documents, we didn’t have to make too many major adjustments to our compliance processes which would have resulted in significant disruption in light of the pandemic.”
SC: What do you do if you have suspicions about a candidate?
SH: “Well, the technology means that if we do ever have suspicions, they can be backed up or we can get the reassurance we need. It takes away the human element of bias. If we do ever have a fraudulent or suspicious document, our process means that we stop that candidate from progressing.”
SC: What would you say are the main advantages you’ve seen by using technology?
SH: “It helps us with our compliance checks and means that we have the same process for everyone.
It can be a useful tool when we’re audited by our clients as we can show them a clear audit trail and show them the reports with the ‘pass’ result for candidates. We can provide reassurance that we’re conducting thorough checks.
It’s also useful when we’re looking to win new business – we can tell people that we use TrustID online services to verify ID documents and it reassures them about how seriously we take compliance.”
TrustID work with over 295 recruitment agencies of all sizes, from the biggest such as Randstad, to those just making a few candidate checks a month. Our services are available through an App or web browser and accessible from anywhere. We don’t charge any set up fees or additional user costs and document checks are sold on a credit basis with bundles available to suit your requirements. You can find out more here about how our identity checks help recruiters.
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If you would like to find out more about our online identity validation services, please get in touch.
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