White Collar Crimes: Screening During Recruitment

Corporate is associated with images of a posh lady and dapper man, expensive suits, nice cars and a corner office. The glitz and glamour of the events, prestigious titles and the deference that comes with such positions may come to mind when you think of corporate. However, the underpinnings of these corporations are intricate and the people who hold these positions are mere mortals, who are a reflection of the wider society in which they live. A society marred by inequalities, inequity and corruption. Hence, instances of white-collar crime shouldn’t be too surprising. Yes, we put our trust in the banker and lawyer, but socio-economic realities can cause even the most righteous to buckle and collapse under pressure.

In a nutshell, a white-collar crime is an act of criminality committed by persons while carrying out their contractual duties for an organization. Some scholars argue that these crimes are committed by persons of high social status, while others claim that an individual’s status is of little importance and the criminal behaviour in the office context is more central to the definition.

Examples of white-collar crime include embezzlement, fraud or theft. There has been a lot of speculation about who is more likely to commit such crimes. Things like gender, position and social status have been called into question. However, the truth is, under the right circumstances people can do the unthinkable. Though we might not be able to eliminate fraudulent activities in the workplace, we can certainly see a significant decrease in these activities by using psychological testing during the recruitment process.

What is psychological testing?

The short answer is that psychological testing involves a series of tests that can score behavioural and cognitive abilities. These scores are then used to make predictions about the likelihood that someone may take a particular course of action. As such, it is entirely possible to screen employees and determine the likelihood that they may engage in counterproductive work behaviours such as absenteeism, bullying, theft or fraud.

Things to consider during recruitment

There are several areas that employers may want to consider when screening employees:

• Critical thinking

• Problem solving

• Verbal reasoning

• Numerical reasoning

• Following instructions

• Attention to detail

• Social Skills

• Narcissism

• Psychopathy

When recruiting, it is important to take a holistic view of the kind of candidate you want to attract to your organization. In addition to a list of tasks, duties, and responsibilities of a particular job, recruiters should consider the skills and abilities the person must have to perform the job and assimilate into the environment. While the typical qualifications have value, they give very little information about who the candidate is and their likelihood to work well with others. Therefore, psychological testing has the potential to fill this gap and create teams and departments that collaborate effectively.