Across a wide range of industries and business types, verification checks are used to confirm the accuracy of an applicant’s employment history, educational credentials, professional reference(s), professional licenses, and more. In sum, these checks not only validate an applicant’s claims within a resume, but increase the likelihood of onboarding a high-performing and productive employee for your business. Verification checks also protect your organization from liability and reputational damage, greatly reducing the likelihood of workplace incidents that could compromise the health and safety of your existing employees.
In this article, we’ll explore the major verification checks your business can use to improve hiring, productivity, and workplace safety.
The Value of Verifications
Verification checks safeguard your organization by detecting false claims made by applicants during the hiring process. Whether an applicant or new hire has wholly fabricated information regarding an advanced degree or embellished information regarding their former job responsibilities at a past position, these issues can be detected through verification checks.
Most hiring managers and employers aspire to use verification checks to quickly validate claims made by applicants, but these processes are increasingly necessary in a hiring environment where 55% of employees admit to lying at least once on a resume in the course of their careers, while 78% of job seekers admit to lying (or considering it) in the course of their ongoing search for employment.
Uncovering inconsistencies in an applicant’s resume can be an even greater challenge as more employers are attempting to manually validate international employment and educational credentials. Without qualified support from experts, everything from job title embellishments to outright fabrications regarding professional licenses could put your organization at risk.
Employment Verification
There are a number of major benefits to implementing an employment verification check as one aspect of your background screening process. In addition to confirming the accuracy of an applicant’s claimed credentials, employment verification also verifies past job titles and offers critical insights regarding an applicant’s past job responsibilities. Without evidence of an applicant’s ability to fulfill similar (or even more demanding) responsibilities within the open role at your organization, it’s impossible to hire confidently. Similarly, employment verification confirms an applicant’s length of employment with former organizations, granting you a clearer sense of their likelihood to stay with your organization for a sustained period of time.
Employment verification can also provide clear information regarding the cause(s) of separation from former employers, whether it was resignation to pursue a better position, a workplace dispute, or otherwise. Using employment verification can also have a long-term impact on preventing workplace incidents. Whether departmental productivity is reduced by an unqualified employee, or an act of workplace violence results from a less-than-thorough screening process, employment verification reduces the likelihood of these issues occurring post-hire.
Education Verification and Professional License Verification
In the United States alone, over 100,000 fake degrees are sold per year, with over 50,000 fraudulent PhD’s and other advanced degrees sold within that figure. This doesn’t account for degrees sold outside of the United States, which can be even more difficult to authenticate without professional support.
In addition to ensuring that an applicant has acquired the necessary knowledge and skills required to fulfill key job responsibilities, education verification protects you from hiring an employee whose lack of education and training could lead to a workplace incident, the loss of clients, or liability issues for your organization.
Fortunately, education and professional license verifications are capable of confirming all of the following information and more:
- GED or high school diploma
- Undergraduate and Associates degrees
- Advanced degrees (Graduate or Doctoral)
- Professional licenses and certifications (including any outstanding training required, expirations, or other issues)
- Legitimacy of institutions attended
- Attendance dates
Professional Reference Verification
In conjunction with employment verification, education verification and professional license verification, verifying one or multiple professional references can provide you with deeper insights into an applicant’s past job performance, temperament, character traits, potential for development, and strengths as an employee. A qualified background screening provider can conduct an interview with each professional referrer and use information gathered from the interview to help you make a more informed and confident hiring decision.
Expert Verification Support with the Orsus Group
Manually running multiple verification checks for new applicants can be a time-consuming and inexact process without professional support. That’s why Cello HR’s partner company, the Orsus Group, offers extensive verification services that can be modified to meet your organization’s needs. In addition to employment verification, education verification, professional license verification, and professional reference verification, Orsus offers background screening, occupational health screening, international services, and other screening options designed to help you vet and hire high-performing employees for your organization.
Ready to simplify verification checks and hire the best possible candidates for your company? Contact us today to let us know how we can support your work.