Feature

Look before you hire

Vinita Gupta analyses the significance of pre-employment screening for the Indian IT industry.

Background screening of employees is crucial for Indian IT companies servicing North American and European clients. More than 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have a formal policy of doing background screening of their employees. Pre-employment screening is necessary in IT companies because most of their employees have access to personal information of clients and companies want to verify the credentials before employing them. Also most companies think of their staff as assets and hence invest their time and money to ensure that these people are highly productive and also competent.

It is common for people to provide false information on their CVs to make it look good and impressive. The wrong information is sometimes harmless—for instance they might mention some recreational hobbies such as football or cricket to demonstrate their ability to be a “team player”, but there can also be serious falsification crossing legal or ethical boundaries. Typical examples of these are increase in compensation, stating higher designations, fake employment, making up job responsibilities and false qualifications, etc.

"The percentage of candidates misrepresenting facts on their CVs is higher with those organisations that do not conduct background screening" - Ashish Dehade Managing Director First Advantage Quest Research

As employees become more deceitful in their CVs and job applications, companies have become more rigorous in checking the facts. Today there are many organisations specialising in pre-employment screening of employees like the Globe Detective Agency and First Advantage Quest Research. “Background screening has become a part of the standard outsourcing contract and therefore Indian IT companies have proactively adopted it as a part of their business process,” says Ashish Dehade, MD, First Advantage Quest Research.

Misrepresentation of facts

Background screening is a relatively new practice in India. The high growth in the Indian IT sector is compounded by limited availability of talent. Vivek Kumar, MD, Globe Detective Agency says, “The boom in the Indian IT industry has led to the rise in employment in IT companies hence people tend to fake information, including educational qualifications, so that they can get a job faster and in a better company with higher salary.” Dehade adds that fake resumes are not IT sector specific but a universal problem spanning across sectors and geographies, including mature markets like the US.

“It has been noticed that the percentage of candidates misrepresenting facts on their CVs has been significantly higher with those organisations that do not conduct background screening or do relatively less intensive background checks,” points out Dehade.

"We also reach out to our own network within the industry to assess the perception of the individual with his current and past employer" - Kalyani Shastry Senior Consultant StantonChase International

Kalyani Shastry, Senior Consultant with StantonChase International believes that as a result of accelerated growth experienced by IT companies and stringent client demands, performance is measured and competition is fierce, a thorough background check for any hire is the need of the hour to maintain the competitive advantage in this environment. “However the challenge for the HR department of the company in identifying these people lies in the sheer numbers, time constraints and the mushrooming of lesser known firms across the country that are difficult to track,” she avers.

Extent of false information

The extent of false information ranges from 20 percent to 25 percent and in most of the cases this misinformation is regarding their education, family background, and details of present and past employment. “Through the verifications that we have done over a few years, we have found that one out of six candidates misrepresent facts on their resumes. These misrepresentations can be of different types. For instance if we look at the education side, fake qualifications are shown or pass percentage/class is changed to show better results or year of passing is changed,” informs Dehade.

According to Shastry less than one percent of the applicants to any company will have provided fraudulent information. She says, “The most common falsifications are educational qualifications, duration of employment in the past with a previous employer, naming a non-existent firm as a previous employer and fudging the projects/technologies worked upon.”

Types of verification

Pre-employment verification is tailor-made and depends on a company’s requirement. In most cases it is verification of present residential address, last educational, past employment and certain checks like the reference checks, criminal record checks, credit checks, etc.

There are specialised background checking agencies that provide entire verification of the candidate’s resume. For instance, for educational qualification verification the background checks agency will go to the university / institution directly and get the details/documents verified.

The screening process

Applications of selected candidates is provided by companies to the pre-employment screening agency to verify their details. “Once the application of the candidate is received by us, it is scrutinised and our team of investigators carry out various investigations required to be done,” says Kumar. He informs that people who carry out pre-employment screening are trained investigators who are very polite and courteous and have knowledge of the local language.

“We ensure complete transparency by ensuring that the candidates have furnished their authorisation for this process. Also we do not recommend our clients to get into the private details of the candidates and advice them to structure a programme which focusses on their professional credential verifications,” says Dehade.

At StantonChase, there is a fully secure reference check process incorporated. At the first level, they reach out to the referees provided by the individual. “We also reach out to our own network within the industry to assess the perception of the individual with his current and past employer,” adds Shastry.

Growing significance

Most IT companies are doing pre-employment screening of their employees. This can be proved by certain figures provided by agencies like the Globe Detective Agency which has handled more than 100 clients and over the last two years have done verification of about 50,000 people all over India.

First Advantage Quest Research deals with most major IT organisations in the country and almost one fifth of all its verifications have been for the IT industry. Dehade says, “We have been in this industry for over five years and have invested in people, technology, infrastructure and have evolved processes and networks with the concerned institutions that help us to manage this very complex business efficiently.”

"Our background verification process does not just centre on calling up the applicant’s previous employer and asking for his/her details" - Ruvina Singh Sr VP, HR, Training and Admin CFC International

Background screening of candidates is becoming crucial for the well-being of the BPO industry in India. CFC International has hired a pre-employment screening agency to conduct full background verification of applicants like police verification and checking educational certificates. “Our background verification process does not just centre on calling up the applicant’s previous employer and asking for his/her details,” says Ruvina Singh, Senior VP, HR, Training and Administration, CFC International. She points out that one of the areas where people fake is usually in their certificates and documents.

Role of recruitment agency

When employees are hired through a recruitment agency it is not responsible for carrying out pre-employment screening. “The responsibility of verification is with the company which is finally recruiting them and the recruitment agency does not carry out pre-employment verification,” asserts Kumar. Dehade points out, “Most clients we work with do not allow their recruitment agencies to conduct background screening of candidates due to the obvious conflict of interest.” According to him some recent revelations of a few recruitment agencies helping candidates to misrepresent facts on their resumes have made the concerned organisations more diligent in this respect.

Verification process differs

The verification process for some pre-employment screening agencies vary for the entry level, mid-level and the top level staff hiring. Shastry informs that at the entry/mid-level, there are a scattered lot of individuals who give false documents to gain employment. Most top IT companies have hired specialised firms who work with the HR department to conduct background checks for individuals, more specifically at the middle and senior level.

“At the entry level the focus is on educational qualifications, at the mid-level it is the projects/technologies and record with the previous employer. At the management level, we clearly focus on track record of success, ability to envision and operationalise strategic initiatives and management style,” adds Shastry.

The verification process varies with the type of check that is required to be done. “However, it does not depend on the levels for which these checks are conducted. But we do ensure that relatively senior people from our organisation verify credentials of senior candidates whose background we may be checking,” states Dehade.

Market in India

The background screening market has been growing over the last two to three years but it is difficult to estimate its exact size. “There is no organised and credible industry data available but we conduct close to a million checks per annum. And we are confident that due to the increased economic activity and security concerns, this number would increase rapidly,” acknowledges Dehade.

The demand for specialised agencies to conduct detailed background checks on candidates is higher than the supply. “In the frenetic pace of the Indian economic environment, we visibly see a market for such players,” says Shastry.

So whether you represent a Fortune 500 or small business organisation, hiring qualified honest employees is critical to your success. Hence a pre-employment screening check can help you get them onboard quickly and easily.

With inputs from Aishwarya Ramani

ec@expresscomputeronline.com