These days, verifying employment candidates is especially important. The reason why? On a global scale, 53% of the resumes an employer receives are fraudulent or contain false information.  Finding a job in such a competitive world is turning into a very hard task, and since this is a basic human need people are willing to do anything. From a tiny little white lie to a completely fake resume. But regardless of the intentions someone had to lie on their resume, the important thing to have in mind is that performing background checks on employment candidates in the Philippines –or anywhere else-  is a must that no company should avoid.  Get clear evidence before you make the hiring decision!

But how can you make sure you verify your candidates in a thorough way, and without violating their privacy?  How can you be sure your provide is conduct a real background check investigation, and not just checking criminal records (which can be of no value)?  Before you bring in a person to your company, you need to know if the candidate is who he or she claims to be, not just whether or not the person has criminal records.  Even Osama bin Laden did not have a criminal record.

Validating education

Especially for those who are hiring professionals, the first step is to verify if the candidate´s education claims are in fact true. Some companies require candidates to present copies of their certificates, but the truth is that recruitment staff may not know well how to identify a forged document from an original. In a country like the Philippines forging documents is easier than finding a job. In fact, if the forgery job was well done no one but a professional will be able to distinguish.

Many employers rely on the past experience of their candidates to validate education claims. After all, they did work for X or Y company, and they must have been checked before, right? Wrong! There have been cases of people who have made it to the top, from one company to another one without anyone ever confirming if this person had the qualifications required to take the role.

Validating experience

Anyone can make up stories in their resume, but that doesn´t mean they are true. With social media and database sites employers often rely on information that can be easily modified or manipulated. For example, employment screening in the Philippines often see that employers fall short with their checks because they only care to search for Linkedin profiles and massive database sites. This is a big mistake! Information contained on the Internet can be easily created, modified and it could contain errors. Not to mention that this is not enough information.  Searching the Internet is not an investigation, and relying on database searches alone is a high risk gamble, and is not a way to verify a person.

Checking references

Not necessarily should a recruiter ignore the references a candidate provides, but it is important to be careful with them. Someone who is willing to write lies on a resume or forge a certificate, will most likely be willing to give false references. The people you call may not even exist! So it is very important to do the reference checking in another way. Professional investigators in the Philippines recommend discrete investigations to make sure the candidate has a past that makes you confident you´re taking the right decision. Having a professional investigate what are the opinions of old employers, co-workers or other people who had to deal on a wok level with your candidate is a good investment.

Employment screenings are not as easy as they may seem! It takes a true professional to uncover any fraud situations or other important issues that may greatly affect your company and the rest of the people that work for it.  Don’t be fooled by a database search website or criminal records search service claiming to offer “background checks”.  Speak to a professional private investigator today about how to properly verify a new candidate, and get clear evidence before you hire!

C. Wright
© 2015 Philippine PI

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