South Africa is a crazy place right now with the run up to the ANC elections. South Africa is in the midst of an energy crisis, facing a spate of violent crimes, struggling with poverty and unemployment and corruption appears to have eaten away the nation’s soul after the release of the recent Zondo commission.
With the high levels of unemployment many wonder what, if any, jobs are in demand. Jobs portal CareerJunction has recently published its Employment Insights for June 2022 and takes a more detailed look at the job sectors in the country that are currently hiring, and which positions are most sought after.
According to the index, job offerings continued to show a positive trajectory over the past month, with online hiring activity increasing by 6% between May 2022 and June 2022.
In-demand job skills
Finance, business & management, as well as admin, office & support, have seen the biggest increase in hiring activity in the last month.
In each sector, several roles have been advertised more frequently.
When asked how this was impacting the employee screening and vetting environment, Sonya Skipp, General Manager of iFacts, stressed that there was definitely an upturn in the number of checks being requested by clients but very often employers continue to believe that a criminal record check will ensure that the organisation is safe from insider crime. Sadly, we know the conviction rate in South Africa is incredibly low and a mere criminal record check will not ensure you are safe from an individual with criminal intentions. There has to be a plan regarding the risk profile of the position for who the recruiting is taking place and Skipp recommended that employers consider the following checks in this environment.
Finance
The image of the accountant has probably changed but generally people in the financial environment will be introverts with a very specific skill set.
The following background checks should be included when hiring employees in the financial environment
- ID Verification
- Criminal Record Check
- Credit
- Association Verification – SICA
- Qualification Verification
- Social Media Check
- Integrity Test
- Independent Verification of CV References
Admin
There is more to this role than filing! A great administrative assistant can make all the difference.
The following background checks are recommended when hiring employees in the administrative fields.
- ID Verification
- Criminal Record Check
- Qualification Verification
- Person Contact Trace
- Social Media Check
- Integrity Test
- Independent Verification of CV References
Common crimes committed by employees in the financial services field include:
- Skimming funds from inactive accounts.
- Monitoring activity of customer accounts, then skimming funds from those perceived as unmonitored.
- Creating fraudulent accounts using stolen personal information from customers, then using these accounts as repositories for skimming operations.
- Artificially inflating or adjusting sales figures to collect sales rewards.
- Reversing the fees from non-sufficient funds charges, then redirecting those refunds to personally created fraudulent accounts for access by the employee.
- Selling personal identities, including bank account and credit card numbers, to criminals for profit.
- Counterfeiting documents to create or access accounts.
Employee theft and crime do not only result in financial losses. The reputational damage to financial institutions can be staggering, resulting in loss of business continuity and potentially billions of Rand in penalties and lost sales, not to mention a severe loss of customer confidence.
Contact iFacts for more information info@ifacts.co.za