Hiring the right person for a position falls to human resource professionals at the bank. Human resources identifies the skills necessary to be successful, assesses the personality of coworkers and supervisors, and then begins looking for the perfect match. Through interviews and reference checks, the candidate field is narrowed until just the right person is selected. The applicant has the skills and personality to do the job. But whether he or she is a security risk remains a mystery .
Reference checks are, of course, used to ascertain an employee's work habits.
The problem with reference checks is that, fearful of lawsuits, former employers are reluctant to offer information beyond confirming dates of employment. Former employers may also give glowing references while being totally unaware that their employee was stealing. Unfortunately, that is the nature of internal theft. The first step in preventing fraud is a complete verification of the applicant's work history, education, and address. The historical perspective focuses on the applicant's past behavior.