This section shows you how you can make pre-employment and misconduct screening part of your recruitment process.
Your whole pre-employment screening policy should align with your recruitment practices and comply with:
Before you write a position description, conduct a role-based risk assessment to help you decide what screening checks are needed. All executive roles will require screening checks.
Once you've determined what checks you'll need, include them in the position description. Make sure to add that they’ll need to complete a declaration and consent form (DOCX 153KB) to screen for misconduct.
Or if a candidate can’t use the statutory declaration, they can use the misconduct declaration form (DOCX 137KB).
This helps discourage candidates from:
In the position description, you must tell candidates:
In the case of executive roles, you should make clear that all misconduct declarations (whether or not anything is declared) will be validated. Where a candidate has not declared any form of misconduct, employers should validate with:
Where a candidate has declared some form of misconduct, employers are expected to validate an applicant’s declaration with:
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Officer-level roles
Pre-employment and misconduct screening requirements
This position has the following inherent requirements, which we’ve assessed as having a higher level of risk:
As part of our recruitment process, preferred candidates must complete a pre-employment misconduct screening declaration and consent form.
Read more about pre-employment misconduct screening at [link] or by calling [XXXX XXXX].
Executive roles
Pre-employment and misconduct screening requirements
This position has the following inherent requirements, which we’ve assessed as having a higher level of risk:
As part of our recruitment process, preferred candidates must complete a pre-employment misconduct screening declaration and consent form. All declarations forms, including where no misconduct has been declared, will be validated.
Read more about pre-employment misconduct screening at [link] or by calling [XXXX XXXX].
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General requirements
You must base your job advertisements on the inherent requirements of the role.
Your advertisement must have a statement that tells preferred candidates:
If you want to screen more than the preferred candidate, write this in your advertisement and position description. But seek legal advice on how to word this.
Refer to your local recruitment policy and procedure for general guidance on advertising roles.
Non-executive roles
Advise that candidates that they may undergo pre-employment screening. If a non-executive candidate is applying for a role judged to be higher risk, it is advisable to tell candidates of the importance of verifying their declaration with their previous employers.
Executive roles
For executive roles, you should make it clear that preferred candidates will:
The VPSC strongly recommends implementing a higher level of scrutiny in pre-employment checks when recruiting executives in the Victorian public service. This includes validation where the candidate’s declaration has been that there has been no misconduct.
Strengthened misconduct validation checks
Tightened referee checks
For further information, see executive reference checks.
Tell each candidate you interview that you'll screen the preferred candidate for misconduct and any other checks required.
If you plan to screen more than the preferred candidate, let everyone you interview know.
In the interview, advise candidates of their rights to informed consent.
Give them a link to this policy so they can read more.
Pre-employment screening can be done by your recruitment team, hiring manager or a trusted third-party provider.
However, misconduct screening should be done by an independent consideration panel. They'll review and assess misconduct declarations.
The independent consideration panel can be set up by your recruitment team. It can be a person or persons with seniority, in addition to strong investigative skills.
The panel:
You may want to develop a process to record the validation outcomes and the impact these have on the employment offer.
Your process must comply with the Information Privacy Principles and best practice records management.
The benefits of this are to:
Throughout your process, think about how you can protect the candidate’s sensitive and private information.
If you use the phone to validate information, try to verify the identity of the caller or stop the call from being overheard by a third party.
Have a way to verify the identity of anyone who needs to release information to you. This includes the preferred candidate, current and former employers.
Always explain the process and confirm the person you’re contacting has the authority to validate the candidate’s information.
Take notes of the conversation and have the written record signed by both parties. This could be through an email confirmation of your notes.
Always remind the person you’re speaking with that their comments need to:
A candidate is generally entitled to access any information you collect about them.
If anything concerning comes up through screening:
Read more about how to respond to negative or incomplete screening checks.
If a candidate knowingly makes a false statement in recruitment, this may be against the public sector values.
This means your organisation may:
You can offer a candidate a role if there are no misconduct issues that would:
For an executive role, the contract should have a clause that states:
Treat all information you send or receive as personal information, in line with the Information Privacy Principles and good records management.
This includes:
Never store any of this information in your personal files, such as OneDrive.
You must develop a secure and restricted file storage location that only the people who pre-screen candidates can use.
Read the Public Records Office of Victoria guide on what you need to do.