By Polly Archer, EmInfo.com Contributor
Today’s competitive global marketplace requires corporations to build a professional labor force that is multicultural, multilingual, and multinational. But when resumes flow in from all corners of the world, it’s not easy to identify the best and the brightest. Combine that challenge with the pressure to fill open positions and the result can be quick hiring decisions that later turn out to be mistakes. That’s why resume verification and pre-employment screening should be a standard part of the international recruiting process.
What you see on the surface can be misleading
Some employers rely on a resume alone to ascertain candidate suitability, but the resume is simply a selling document designed to attract interest. In reality, there is always much more to be learned about an individual. The key is to capture a complete history of the candidate’s education, employment and other relevant activities, with the aid of an application form. This, of course, makes the screening process much easier but it also sends out a warning to fraudulent applicants. In some cases, the response from such people is to withdraw their application, saving the employer from a potential bad hire but also from wasting unnecessary time and effort at the recruitment stage.
Inconsistencies on resumes are often result of error, but the regularity with which stated qualifications and previous employment details differ from those verified by institutions and employers is surprising. Our candidate screening experience has indicated that approximately 80 percent of resumes contain discrepancies that may influence the hiring decision. Unfortunately, many of these discrepancies are intentional, perpetrated by individuals who think their chances of getting a great job outweigh their chances of getting caught in a lie.
Looking for the employment edge - some individuals take it too far
There are an increasing number of unscrupulous organizations that use sophisticated technology to produce and sell fabricated resumes and educational or professional certificates via the web. Two such examples include a Liverpool-based company selling fake degree certificates to customers worldwide for anything between £70 to £100, and a Californian ‘University’ that has been running for 40 years, although it has never received authority to operate or grant degrees. Research suggests that thousands seek work using degrees from these ‘Diploma Mills,’ which sell their “esteem boosting” diplomas on the Internet.
This sort of activity is global and you’ll find similar services in most countries, including Australia, South Africa, France, Germany, Switzerland, South America, India and China.
While falsified qualifications raise questions about general honesty and integrity, there is a range of searches that may reveal other potential areas for concern. In addition to routine checks by HR departments to confirm the validity of work permits and visas, other checks might include registration regulatory bodies, credit and bankruptcy checks, company appointments, directorships and disqualifications and police/criminal records checks, to name just a few.
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