UK, India and Australia are fastest growing resume verification markets, says HireRight APAC MD

Global background verification major HireRight that is one of the leading players offering background screening services to companies sees India to be among the fastest growing ones in the Asia Pacific, though time taken for verification of resumes is high. In an interaction with Moneycontrol, Steve Girdler, Managing Director of EMEA and APAC, HireRight talks about the background screening trends and the challenges involved. Excerpts:

Q. When you compare India to the world, do companies take background screening seriously?

A. Globally, the United States is the top-most market for employment verification and the rest of the world is catching up. However, UK, India and Australia are three markets where it is seeing a there is a faster market. In the Asia Pacific region, India is among the fastest growing and holds the leading position.

This is primarily because multinational organisations have driven the practice in India. With the prevalence of the practice, people are aware of that this process exists so the likelihood of lying is also lower.

Q. Is it a challenge to get accurate background data in India?

A. It is a challenge in India and is a rapidly emerging market. But it is still quite fragmented in terms of infrastructure and information. For instance, it is very difficult to get a criminal check done because there is no central government database.

Similarly, there is significant fraud even in the education space. Due to this, we are required to do a physical verification of the educational institution of the candidate and also visit the admissions office to verify if the person actually studied there and the educational qualification that they have received. But, we don’t have to do this in other markets.

Q. How much time does it take for you to complete a single verification process in India versus the US?

A. In the US, it takes to 2-3 days to do a verification. This is because are fewer components and they usually do an education check, employment check and maybe a court records check. Everything is automated and it takes lesser time.

In India on the other hand, it takes about 20 days. However, India is not the only place where the process takes time. Even in Australia for example, it takes time for criminal checks done.

Q. Is there a higher degree of checks done for senior management positions?

A. Surprisingly for senior management, we have found that there are lower levels of screening than junior employees. This is partially because they are more well-known in the industry. Further, the human resource officials are well aware that if any adverse information about a senior management personnel is leaked out, it could cause damage to the company’s reputation.

However, we have found instances of high-profile candidates having inaccuracies in their background verification and it can be damaging if the due diligence is not done.

Q. What is the most common resume discrepancy found in the Indian market? Could we see more elements like drug tests also being done during the initial screening process?

A. In India, employment, education, professional qualification and criminal data are the ones that are most commonly verified during appointing people. However, in the US, systematic drug tests are done.

In India, employment-related discrepancies are the number one issue. Because previous employment details are most commonly sought during interviews, candidates are more susceptible to exaggerating information. Even if people make honest mistakes, that also counts as a discrepancy.

Q. With the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) being implemented, will employment screening process also see a change?

A. Now that GDPR is in force, there is a lot of emphasis on data protection and data privacy. Because of this, we have re-written our consent forms. This will include what sources of data can be taken for verification and how it will be used.

People may not give their consent to accessing social media. So, if their social media is being verified, we will have to explicitly state that. Nothing can be implicit.