Recruitment and vetting

Find out how adopting a safeguarding mindset throughout recruitment and vetting processes helps deter and identify candidates who may not be suitable for a role in care.

Going beyond compliance as you gather information about candidates is important so that you can:

• deter and prevent those who may be unsuitable from securing a role working with people drawing on care and support
• identify applicants who share your workplace values and commitment to safeguarding, reducing the time and resources wasted on recruiting the wrong people
• understand people’s values, behaviour and mindset through a range of different lenses, increasing both the inclusivity and safeguarding focus of your recruitment process.

Ways to apply a safeguarding mindset

Here's some tips on how to apply a safeguarding mindset to recruitment and vetting.

1. Ensure all staff involved in recruitment have had training in safer recruitment, including how to apply a curious, safeguarding mindset to the assessment of recruitment and vetting information.
2. Utilise Skills for Care’s ‘Safe and fair recruitment guide’ to ensure processes meet statutory and regulatory requirements.
   
3. Encourage candidates to self-disclose any relevant information about their criminal record, past conduct and suitability for the post during the recruitment process and give candidates the opportunity to discuss and share their perspective on any information shared.
   
4. Apply the referencing best practice standards contained within the Better Hiring Institute ‘Sharing effective references and conduct information’ toolkit.
5. Use a range of values-based recruitment and selection tools to gather relevant information about the candidate’s values, behaviours, conduct and attitude to safeguarding to assess if they are suitable for the role.
6. Actively encourage a culture of curiosity about information gathered as part of the recruitment process. Use information gathered to further explore any concerns with candidates before they join your workforce.
7. Carry out a risk assessment where any negative or adverse information is shared within the recruitment and vetting process and give candidates the opportunity to share their perspective on any information shared.
8. Record and store recruitment and vetting information on successful and unsuccessful candidates in a format that can be shared if appropriate.
9. Regularly review the effectiveness of recruitment and vetting policies, processes, and decisions to identify learning and opportunities to change and improve practice.

Resources 

Here are some resources to help you apply curiosity and a safeguarding mindset as you carry out all required pre-employment checks and gather relevant information about candidates.

DBS checks

It’s vital employers complete required Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks. They’re an essential tool when recruiting safely and fairly. 

Sharing effective references and conduct information – A Better Hiring toolkit

This toolkit provides simple guidance to support you to obtain effective references and conduct information. 

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