The Business Times
Biz IT
Published May 21, 2007

New online tool can help nab resume cheats
By Winston Chai

IF you're thinking of glorifying your CV to land a dream job, a new Web-based tool from US firm First Advantage might just call your bluff.

Mr Tollemache: ‘Now, more and more companies. . . are seeing the benefits of doing background checks.’

The company, which specialises in providing pre-employment background checks for employers, has launched its Hiring Management System (HMS) in Singapore.

Unlike conventional human resources applications from business software giants like Oracle and SAP, First Advantage's offering focuses solely on ‘talent acquisition’, according to Wayne Tollemache, the firm's regional managing director for the Asia-Pacific region.

Once installed, HMS enables companies to track the candidate through every step in the hiring process, from the submission of resumes right through to the progress of interviews to the confirmation of the hire.

Online applications for a job opening can also be automatically channelled into the HMS and human resource managers can use the Web-based tool to reply to unsuccessful candidates.

More importantly, the system is linked to First Advantage's proprietary backend database which has been built up through a combination of field, phone and Internet research.

Depending on client needs and with prior authorisation from the candidate, First Advantage will proceed to amass a sea of information like the prospective employee's educational background, employment history and whether he has been convicted of any criminal violations. To facilitate such research, the company has already developed a database that is capable of accessing records from thousands of universities around the world, Mr Tollemache told BizIT.

Companies can use HMS to request for background checks on short-listed candidates and First Advantage will then submit its findings directly into the system.

Discrepancies in the resume are automatically highlighted to the customer. ‘However, we do not make any recommendations to the client,’ he stressed.

In Singapore, the financial industry has typically been an early user of such background screening services but that is slowly changing.

‘It (background checking) was predominantly popular in the financial services and insurance sector. Now, more and more companies across different vertical sectors are seeing the benefits of doing background checks,’ he said.

With Singapore looking overseas to expand its scarce talent pool, cases of employment fraud among foreign workers have also spiked in tandem, a possible reason why services from First Advantage are increasingly finding favour.

Last year, 374 people were found with fraudulently-obtained employment passes, a jump from 97 cases in 2005.

Falsified educational qualifications were the most common offences among the group.

Singaporeans on the other hand, tend to commit ‘minor discrepancies’, such as inflating their current salary range and job responsibilities, said Mr Tollemache.