Recruitment police checks in Australia

Recruitment work in Australia involves identifying and attracting qualified candidates for job openings at companies and organisations. Recruitment professionals, also known as recruiters or staffing specialists, typically use various methods to find candidates, such as advertising job openings, networking, and searching resumes on job boards. They also conduct initial screenings of candidates and may conduct interviews or reference checks. Recruitment firms typically focus on specific industries, such as IT, healthcare, or finance, and may work on a retained or contingency basis.

Without recruitment professionals, companies would have to spend more time and resources finding and screening candidates, which could slow down the hiring process and result in a less qualified workforce.

Because recruitment work involves constant interactions with different kinds of people, you need proper education, good work experience, and a vast network to get started. However, in recent years, police checks have become a crucial part of recruitment work to ensure the safety of all parties involved. This post explores police checks for recruitment work in Australia.

A police check is a background check conducted by a law enforcement agency, typically the police, to verify an individual's criminal history. The purpose of a police check is to provide employers, organisations and decision makers with information about an individual's criminal background and to help them make informed decisions about that person's suitability for specific roles or activities. The police check provided by ANCC is referred to as a nationally coordinated criminal history check (NCCHC).

Recruitment workers may undergo police checks to ensure that they do not have a criminal history that would make them unfit for the job. This can help to protect vulnerable individuals, such as children or the elderly, who may be in the care of the recruitment agency’s personnel.

Moreover, many organisations are legally obligated to conduct background checks on their employees, particularly those working in healthcare, education and child care. This is because these industries have a legal responsibility to protect vulnerable populations and background checks are one of the ways that organisations can demonstrate their commitment to this responsibility.

In short, recruitment workers undergo police checks to ensure the safety and well-being of the clients they serve and that they provide a safe and trustworthy service to their clients.

The ACIC works with accredited bodies and police agencies to provide police checking services to people in Australia. For instance, Australian National Character Check (ANCC) is one of ACIC's accredited bodies.

Follow these steps to get a police check for recruitment work in Australia:

You can submit an application for the police check through an accredited body like ANCC. You can also apply through a police agency. The application process involves filling out an online form with your name, date of birth, address, and other details. You'll also have to upload four identification documents, including:

• ✔ One commencement of ID document
• ✔ One primary use in the community document
• ✔ Two secondary use in the community documents
• ✔ A biometric link which links the applicant to the claimed identity

After paying the fee, you need to upload the above documents. ANCC's base cost for a police check is $52.90 + GST.

Once you apply, the accredited body or police agency verifies your identity and identification documents. After that, they send your application to the National Police Checking Service Support System (NSS).

This system runs a name-matching algorithm to pull out a potential match based on the applicant's details. The IT system returns a 'no disclosable court outcome (NDCO)' if it doesn't find one. If the system does find one, it sends the criminal record details to the relevant police agency(s) for manual processing. These police agencies confirm if those criminal records rightfully belong to the applicant. After that is established, the police agency(s) applies the spent conviction scheme to determine which criminal records are releasable before sending back the final police check result.

Once the accredited body or police agency gets the result, they notify the applicant.

Approximately 70% of police check applications are processed in less than a day because the system doesn't find a criminal record. However, for the other 30% have a potential match that must be manually verified and this process can take longer than 10 business days.

The frequency of police checks for recruitment workers can vary depending on the industry and specific job requirements. Some organisations may require police checks to be conducted annually or upon rehire, while others may only need them every few years or when a worker changes positions.

ANCC offers a streamlined police check service for recruitment work. Our services are ideally suited to meet the needs of individuals and businesses in the recruitment sphere.

Check out our portals for:

Are you looking for recruitment work and need a police check? ANCC allows you to seamlessly order and track your police check application and even get your result in the shortest possible time. Give us a try today!

Recruitment agencies can harness ANCC's business portal to conduct police checks for job seekers. ANCC's business portal enables you to order, monitor, and compare the results of bulk police checks, ensuring you make the best hiring decisions.