Importance of Empmployment Background Screening

Bad hires continue to plague the talent acquisition services in India quite adversely. It has been seen that bad hires tend to bleed the company by costing it five times the annual salary given to them. Resume falsification is another problem that is rampant in India.

Increasing competition, along with the availability of ample job information on the various job portals has resulted in a desire to move to well paid jobs among the youth. This makes them resort to tactics such as resume buffing, exaggerating accomplishments, falsification of information etc. and that is a fundamental reason why companies in India are suffering from bad hires.

Background check in India

Most companies are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits and advantages associated with conducting a background check in India for their potential candidates. The employee screening is generally conducted to get the following information about the potential candidates:

Work history and experience: Past employer references are contacted to get information about the period of employment, the scope of employment, the performance history, salary and fringe benefits, workplace behavior etc. Drug and alcohol tests also form a part of this process.

Criminal records: Generally, law enforcement agencies are approached for getting information on any criminal records that a potential candidate might have. Sex offences are mostly taken into serious consideration and candidates booked for such offences are generally not hired.

Credit history: This shows the financial management skills of the candidate to be employed. It is also a way to correlate the employment details with instances of bad credit history if any.

Residential proof: Instances where people have been found to lie about their addresses and have provided false proofs for the same are shown as a red flag. Their candidature is dropped immediately.

Educational credentials: Fake degrees from foreign universities have become the norm of the day. Corporates get several candidates who submit forged educational documents, bogus grades etc. Thus they need to reach out to the concerned universities to get the educational records authenticated.

The whole process of conducting pre-employment screening takes about 2 to 3 weeks and can at times take longer depending upon the depth of the background check conducted. This check is generally conducted on the candidates qualifying the initial screening processes and after finding a place in the final list of selected candidates.

Best background check processes followed in India

Different types of companies have different pre-employment screening processes. Hence, for large private firms and multi-national companies, the background check in India is done by third-party agencies while the medium and small firms have their recruitment teams and talent hire agencies looking into it. But it is the PSUs or Government firms which have an extensive pre-employment verification process in place.

A rundown of the process includes:

• Proof of that residence where the period of stay has been for more than 6months in the recent past period of 4years needs to be submitted.
• The address proof of the local address the candidate is currently residing and his permanent address proof also have to be submitted.
• Based on the proofs submitted, the PSU or Government agency gets in touch with either the District magistrate or the Police commissioner to obtain the candidate’s records from the relevant places.
• These authorities then ask the relevant police stations to conduct the background check on the said candidate.
• Finally, the report generated by the police is moved up the chain and reaches the requesting PSU or Government agency.

However, this process is no longer simple. With a rise in employment frauds, even these PSUs and Government agencies have tightened up their pre-employment screening processes. Thus certain new checks have also been introduced as listed below:

Aadhar card verification: This is a storehouse of personal information right from the candidate’s biometrics to his residence and even bank accounts etc. Thus, today the Aadhar card forms a vital tool for the authentication of a candidate’s personal information.

NAD: Abbreviation for National Academics Depository, this was created by the government to be a digital storehouse of all academic records. They are also capable of issuing reliable certifications to their verified users as they plan on working closely with every University and institution having a presence in India.

NSR: National Skills Registry or NSR is officially the largest registered working professional database. Thus it is a great source of information when companies want to check information about selected candidates.

Another very relevant source of background check in India is through social media screening. It is now possible for potential employers to map affiliations, interests and activities of potential candidates for employment. Simply speaking, this means that it is easier for the recruitment firms and talent scouts to understand the personality of the potential candidate without even spending time with them.

While the above go a long way in ensuring a fool-proof process for background checks in a populous country like India, screening for medical, financial and biometric data cannot be done without the permission of the candidate. Social media screening is not governed by any such laws and can be freely done.

Parts or Component Field Agent can cover

• Address Verification
• Education Verification
• Employment Verification
• Court or Criminal Record Check