Document verification is the process of ensuring that documents presented by prospective employees are genuine and that the holder is the rightful owner. It is an integral part of the pre-employment screening process. Back Checks philosophy for safe hiring is to Trust, But Verify. Unsavory candidates will often conceal their past criminal or employment histories, which can lead companies to make poor hiring decisions.
Why documents verification is so much important in a current scenario? Because hiring new employees is a costly as well as time consuming process in such fast pace business and corporate environment. As the recession in past five years have taken all the opportunities far away from the job seeking applicants, the inflation in document forgery and exaggeration has increased.
Every day we hear about companies employing staff who turn out NOT to be whom they say they are. A comprehensive research shows that around 1 in 5 job applicants falsify their resume or documents to some degree. Estimates show that the cost of a bad hire and replacement is around 150% of the salary. Percentage of forged academic documents has increased over the years creating a huge gap of trust between employers and the candidates.
Document Verification Is Effective
Documentation serves as a basis for pinpointing areas where employees are performing well and those that need improvement, communicating specific feedback to employees, reaching more accurate decisions, and defending actions if litigation or other challenges arise. There is an expectation by employees, other management, hearing officers, investigators, judges, and juries that the employer will have documentation in place to support employment decisions.
Primary source documents verification of the educational documents is very necessary as it will let you know that the documents are forged or not. It inquires about the dates of degree started and completion, attendance during the educational period, performance and character etc.
Checking criminal records is also important as part of the process of document verification. You’ll need to protect your business from liability by doing criminal background checks on applicants who will be your prospective employees in future to avoid employee fraud/theft.
It is important that pre-employment document verification processes are integrated within every employers wider pre-employment screening strategy. The fastest, reliable and yet economical source for document verification is independent background check companies. As they are well conversant with all the procedures regarding background screening procedures and they have all the strong links to make sure the investigation is true, targeted and accurate.
Due to security concerns and the high cost of recruiting, many companies are using pre-employment screeners to background prospective hires which minimize the huge risks of business/customer loss. In addition to checking for previous criminal activity, these firms also verify your educational and employment information. The majority of these screening companies use your job application, not your resume, to check your credentials.