Half of employers carry out background checks for senior roles

Nearly half (46%) of organisations gather background information on potential candidates for senior management roles using methods including criminal record disclosures and the use of candidate-checking agencies.

This is according to XpertHR's survey on recruiting senior managers, which found that, of those that carried out background checks for senior management positions, 38% obtained Criminal Record Bureau disclosures and 17% paid for candidate-checking agencies to confirm details on applications.

However, the majority of employers carrying out background checks did so through references, with nine in 10 (92%) gathering work-related references and seven in 10 (72%) collecting personal references from referees.

Personality questionnaires were also a popular selection method and were used by 50% of the 139 employers that took part in the survey.

The survey found that, on average, senior management vacancies took 10.5 weeks and cost £9,921 to fill. Those employers that used agencies faced fees of between 15% and 24% of the vacancy's annual salary.

Rachel Suff, XpertHR author of the report, commented: "The main reason why senior management recruitment costs more than filling other kinds of vacancies is that many employers pay fees to external specialist agencies.

"The most costly type of agency is one that employers in our survey make the heaviest use of - search and selection agencies, or headhunters as they are more commonly known."

View the full XpertHR survey on recruiting senior managers.