A Day in The Life: Olivia

OK, Olivia, can you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your role at Deploi? 

Of course. I'm a compliance executive at Deploi and I essentially focus on the BS7858 background screening for frontline workers. I've been here for coming up to 3 months now, and my role is basically ensuring the candidates meet the strict  security and compliance standards required for the roles that they will be undertaking in the security sector. 

My whole role is to encompass that support and accuracy throughout the process, to make sure that it's as smooth as possible for the candidates, it's up to standard for the clients and we can get them through as quickly as possible so they can begin working safely.

That sounds like quite a lot! With that in mind, what does a typical day look like for you, and what kind of things tend to keep you on your toes?

So, a typical day is a mix of reviewing documentation, verifying employment history, and like I mentioned in my previous answer, just ensuring that all our checks meet the regulations and the standards required. 

What keeps me on my toes is the unpredictability, I suppose. No two applications are ever the same. Sometimes it's tracking down that one reference that you just really need to get your hands on. Other times it's helping a candidate understand what you need from them. But I think what makes it difficult is that the details really do matter. You have to stay sharp. 

I don't think there's ever a time that you can't be on your toes in a job that requires such attention to detail.

That's a great point. And I guess sort of with that in mind as a screener, what skills do you find that you rely on most?

Attention to detail. Of course, I think that's a pretty obvious one with the nature of the role. 

Communication is massive as well, and time management. You're working with a lot of candidates at one time across different standards of needs. You need to be able to spot any inconsistencies quickly. You need to be able to communicate that with the candidates, and any clients that might need to help and assist with that. But like I mentioned, you're juggling multiple checks and timelines at once, and because no two candidates are the same, you need to be able to manage your time effectively so every candidate is getting the same time put into them, the same attention and nothing's kind of slipping through the cracks. 

I think that outside of that, empathy is really important as well. It's a stressful process for everybody that's going through it. You make it as quick as possible as you can for them, because these people are just trying to get into work, so you need to be able to empathise with them and help them through that process in a caring and nice way. If you're nice to people, they're more likely to work with you than against you.

They’re great points, and I think your clearance numbers prove that you’ve got those skills in absolute bags! So you’ve recently joined Deploi, and while we do have screeners and manual processes in place, we’re becoming a much more AI-powered background checking company. With that in mind, what’s it like working in a company that’s building AI into its processes? How does that affect how you think about your own role?

I think working at Deploi is exciting. It's forward thinking, and I think AI is going to massively change the landscape. I had previous experience in vetting, and there are definitely areas that need improving, and there is obviously that touch of human error.

I think what's great about Deploi and how it seeps into our role is that we're not using AI to replace people. We're using it to remove the repetitive manual parts of the job so we can focus more on that quality and that human judgment. 

I think it's made me more conscious as to where I can add that value; providing that problem solving, and providing that human touch and how can I work smarter with tech rather than harder without it. 

Especially in the screening department, it enables you to be able to give your best self because you've got a little bit more flexibility on where you can put your focus more than anything. It makes you a better screener because you're not being pulled in too many places and you're not trying to overstretch yourself. 

If anything, it's going to make it even quicker, which is what you want.

That’s a really insightful answer, thank you. A bit more of a generic question: If a genie came up to you and allowed you to change one thing about background checks, what would it be?

I'd streamline the access to reliable employment data. I think that takes up a lot of time, it's the biggest part of anybody's check. Once you've kind of ticked off everything else that you need to do, their ID checks, their credit checks and everything, you're then left with the biggest task of their activity history, which obviously spans five years. It's a lot of time to cover and I think that makes it the most stressful for candidates because some people can't remember what they had for tea, let alone exactly what they were doing 5 years to the day. Streamlining it can remove a lot of time chasing information that could just be easily verified and and securely done through centralised systems. I think that would just speed things up while maintaining accuracy, and limiting frustrations.

What keeps the job exciting for you? 

I think it is the pace. With it being a fast-paced company, it's the pace that keeps you on your toes. It keeps you moving. There is no time to sit still and get comfortable in what you're doing day-to-day, and I also think the impact that we can have in background screening is exciting, how that can move across different sectors and improve the way that these are carried out. We're not just ticking boxes, I think that's important. 

We're helping companies build trustworthy teams and we're also helping candidates get through that process as quickly as possible with the least frustration. There's always something to learn as well  and I think with Deploi, we're such a close team that you're learning things outside of your core role as well, which helps you understand what you're doing. I'm not a techie by any means, but if you can work in a company where you understand what's actually happening, you're going to be able to one take it on board quicker, but two, truly implement that into what you're doing and work with whatever changes are being brought in rather than having it thrown at you and you just muddle through without really understanding what what you actually need to do to make it work.

Absolutely! Out of interest, how do you see AI shaping the future of background checks and frontline hiring based on what you've seen here?

As I’ve mentioned, it's going to make it faster and less frustrating for candidates, but I also think it's going to make background screening more consistent, which I think is  massive in the industry at the moment. There needs to be that level of consistency across what's expected from background screening and from compliance as a whole.
I think personally it's going to shift the focus of screeners from data collection to analyzing that data. We're going to be able to spend more time on actually looking at what's in front of us rather than chasing down information which can take up a large percent of your role. 

AI handling more of the admin and the repetitive tasks means that everybody's hands are more free for problem solving and being able to put your brain power into figuring out the more complex candidates.

It's not black and white in compliance, so being able to be more consistent and having more time to focus on that detail is the most important thing. We can't be missing any details, so if AI can assist in that and give us time to fully review what's being put in front of us, then it's going to create a whole different world for screening.

What’s one piece of advice you'd give to someone trying to get through their background check?

I would say be proactive and transparent. I think the best advice is that the people that are screening you are trying to work with you, and they want to clear you as soon as possible. The more clear you are, and the quicker you are to provide the accurate information, the smoother the process will be. 

If you're worried about anything, just communicate with us, because we're specialists so there's not going to be much that we're not going to be able to assist with. 

Finally, describe your day in three words!

I would say detailed, dynamic, and rewarding.