[Originally published July 31, 2019 Last Updated April 25, 2022]
This story involves an employee who furnished a fake work experience letter, a lot of calls from SpringVerify to the candidate and the employer, and a surprising email from the candidate demanding we get a search warrant.
[Note: We are not naming names here, for obvious reasons. And, we want to portray the story as it occurred to let organizations know that no one is immune to such a scenario, no matter how big or small you are.]
One of our partner companies, who has been using our background verification (BGV) services — SpringVerify, to verify their employees, came across a case of one of their recent hires with a fake work experience. The previous workex shared by this employee didn’t even last a month while what he had claimed an experience of over 18 months. This was unearthed during the BGV process by the SpringVerify team.
To make matters worse, the candidate, even after providing consent for a background verification to SpringVerify on behalf of the company, was adamant about not allowing an address check to happen.
This is what the candidate had to say when we reached out multiple times over phone and email for assistance to do address check.
The candidate wanted us to get a search warrant for what is a routine industry-wide process of address verification.
Note that confirming an address doesn’t require entering the property/premises. Also, as a private firm we don’t have the authority to get search warrants. We reached out to communicate this to the HR team and shared our findings, including the email.
At this point, because of the nature of the reply that we got from the candidate, we knew that something was amiss!
Post this, the HR team communicated to the candidate about the experience mismatch and enquired why the candidate wouldn’t allow the address check.
The conversation never happened as the candidate absconded on realizing that there is a background check initiated and knew what the outcome could look like.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t initiate a dialogue between the recruiter and the candidate. We will never know how severe the case was.
We can’t say if it was a case of espionage or just an example of a desperate candidate manipulating the experience to get a job.
The result of all of this?
Every implication and judgment apart, the candidate will now have to look for another job. The employer would have to search for another candidate to fill in the position.
On the employer’s part though, there is a huge sigh of relief for having found this discrepancy earlier rather than later.
The employer now knows that there could be such cases and would be cautious going forward. They’ve reached out to us saying they’d now like to have background checks done even before a candidate joins their team. It is a significant step forward for them towards building a great team.
But, that is not the only thing we want to talk about here!
We want to understand why this happened and would like to help the employment community as a whole. We want to showcase how this could be avoided.
For the candidates
State your true experience and past. More than half of the employers would understand any scenario you might have faced in your previous employment. They would look at it with empathy and would make substantial efforts to see if you could fit in. The hiring team of any company puts in great effort to find candidates, and it is in their best interest to fill in any position, fast! And, more often than not, the employer will take your showcasing of truth as the first step towards trust.
For the employer
It is always good to conduct a background check for everyone in your organization. Once you have and find that there is a discrepancy with any of the information provided by a candidate, there should be a conversation about it. The discussion should entail efforts to understand the situation from an empathetic and economic standpoint.
More often than not, the discrepancy is not so severe as to attract termination of employment. Understanding the circumstance of the candidate could be the start of a great relationship between the organization and the same candidate.
We believe that except for a very handful of cases like espionage, false degree, etc., most other examples could be overlooked and discussed over a table for a candidate who wants to be in a position.
Background verification is a crucial step while hiring someone to ensure zero risks and complications in the future. Organizations need to check past records, credit score, work experience, criminal records, and more.
Why is employee background verification important?
This helps employers understand the effectiveness of their decision as well. If your hiring decision goes wrong, it can impact the company’s growth and performance. It is probable that some information mentioned in the resume is inaccurate. Hence, companies need ways to identify these roadblocks.
Why should you use automated tools for background verification?
When you automate your BGV process, you have the option to significantly reduce the time and efforts required. All you have to do is add the necessary details and documents, and the rest of the job is done by your verification software. And moreover, the results offered by the tool are more accurate than the manual process.
Hence, it is best to go for a software or a tool that helps automate your BGV process and increase its efficiency.
For us at SpringVerify
We would like to talk to the candidate and the employer and moderate a dialogue between the two. We ideally want a single verification process for a working individual. And we want to reduce the effort for the recruiting community.
In the future, we’d ideally help the candidate and the employer understand the severity of any discrepancy and would encourage a healthy dialogue before any decisions are made.
About SpringVerify
SpringVerify is the modern take on the age-old problem of employee verification being costly, tedious, and out of reach of small businesses. We are trying to build a platform where the employee verification process happens seamlessly and with minimal effort required from both the company and the employee.
We believe that employee verification is a must for any business. It is a critical process in ensuring that every employee working with you is faithful and could be trusted. CareerBuilder survey shows that a company stands to lose on average $15000 on one wrong hire.
We have built the platform with blockchain and believe that it will change virtually everything it comes in contact with. Blockchain helps us in building a decentralized system which keeps all our data secure and immutable.
Doing background verification yourself is complicated and time-consuming. Try our employee background verification platform, SpringVerify – where employee verifications happen seamlessly and with minimal effort required from both the company.
FAQ
How far do most background checks go?
- Background check goes upto criminal records upto past 7 years.
- Same goes for the credit check of the individual, but sometimes can extend upto 10 years as well, depending on their salary.
- Education and employment history can be verified throughout their lifetime.
- Driving records can be between 3 to 10 years.
2. Does a background check mean you got the job?
No, background checks don’t always indicate a 100% confirmation of the job. But it shows that the candidate is in the radar. If the candidate passes the screening test, chances are they might get an offer letter.
3. Is background check compared to the resume?
It is not necessary but not uncommon as well. Often the details provided by you are also cross-referenced with your resume.
4. How long does it take to hear back from the employer after the BGV process?
A candidate does not immediately hear back after the process is complete. A review of the results is done first, this might take up to a week. That’s when the decision is made.
5. Why is my BGV process taking so long?
The most common reason can be a delay in receiving the information. The employer has to rely on other parties to get the information and records and it might take a while.
[Originally published July 31, 2019 Last Updated April 25, 2022]
