If school bullies destroyed many young lives during their grade and high school days, when it comes to the workplace, it would be their turn to be on the other side of the fence.

The careers of these school bullies are at risk, even before they apply for work, with the Friday launch by ClubsNSW of BullyCheck. Under the initiative, employers in New South Wales would turn down the job application of young people if the employers discover that they have engaged in bullying, cyber stalking, harassment or other threatening behavior while they were students.

The pilot phase will involve 12 major employers in the state. However, by 2013, the number of companies would expand to 1,400 which employ about 43,000 workers in NSW. The background checks would be performed on job applicants aged between 17 and 22.

They would be asked to agree to a reference check from their present of former high school. The scheme seeks to bring down bullying in school which has caused some victims to extreme behavior, including suicide.

Schools that are part of the programme agreed to provide confidential information to employers about the background of a job applicant, but to ensure privacy is protected no personal document will be released. In turn, applicants who fail the bullying check test will not be informed of the reason why they were rejected.

So as not to jeopardise the future careers of students often engaged in school mischief, anti-bullying experts will hold fora in schools to warn students of the new initiative.

"The message is simple - if you bully then you are risking your own career prospects.... Until now, anti-bullying programmes have focused on the effect on the victim. Considering bullies show a complete lack of concern for their victim, we will have a greater impact by forcing bullies to think about the effect their bullying will have on them," News.com.au quoted ClubsNSW Chief Executive Anthony Ball.

However, students with bullying history who voluntarily disclose their past behavior, show they are sorry for their juvenile conduct and have engaged in high levels of community service would be considered for the job based on their merits, Mr Ball said.

The scheme, while backed by the NSW government, was criticized by Andrew Douglas, a partner at M K lawyers, who called BullyCheck foolish.

"To say once a bully, always a bully is really foolish and a blunt instrument.... It sounds good in theory but does not seem terribly appropriate; what we do as children I would hate to have visited on me," SmartCompany quoted Mr Douglas.

Mr Douglas said instead of performing background check on applicants, NSW companies must create a positive culture to prevent bullying. He said every person bullies at some point in their life, but "the real issue is to take responsibility for your own culture."

He pushed for businesses to have workplace behavior policies to cover bullying, harassment and discrimination and require employees to sign a disclosure statement regarding their behaviour as adults, not as school children.