BPOs run CV checks on candidates
The Economic Times - March 7, 2004

A spurt in employment opportunities generated by the booming IT-enabled services and business process outsourcing (ITES/BPO) sector has spun off an ancillary industry - companies screening the background of prospective employees.

Between 5% and 10% of the candidates for a BPO/ITES job make false claims in their applications, according to industry sources. Overstatement of credentials and previous background by applicants has led to BPO firms seeking help from external professional service screening agencies to conduct identity verification, pre-employment status, past criminal records, and other background checks.

The availability of fake qualifications/certificates and its rampant usage is resulting in BPO firms putting in place stringent procedures while hiring prospective employees. A large part of the demand for screening services, some firms state, has been driven by the regulatory requirements of customers in the US.

There are close to 10,000 accredited universities in India. However, there is no estimate of the number of fake universities. The most popular names commonly used, according to screening agencies, include The Commercial University, Andhra University or the All India Commercial Association. The cottage industry supporting production and printing of fake certificates is said to be enormous, considering that printing quality fake certificates is not a cheap exercise, experts state.

One of the reasons firms use screening services has also been to avoid organised crime in sectors where employees at the medium and junior level have access to sensitive information. The risk of hiring the wrong person is far more expensive than conducting a pre-recruitment screening check.

One such firm is Quest Research, a firm that undertakes verification of educational and professional qualification, employment history of job applicants and conducts a search on their public records. Common human resource risks such as lawsuits initiated by employees, disruptive staff members, fraud and dishonesty by employees and professional negligence lawsuits are also covered.

According to Quest Research's managing director (compliance), Scott Graham, the firm conducts between 5,000 and 10,000 background checks a month which are generally concentrated around cities with a huge volume of recruitment. "BPO firms providing financial services find themselves far more vulnerable when it comes to recruiting the wrong candidates," Mr Graham said.

Quest Research screens unfamiliar universities against its own database of fake degrees to ensure they are bonafide institutions. Details of employment are verified with the HR department of the previous employer and the past supervisors are interviewed.

Though the market for professional screening services is still nascent, it includes scanning of public records, searches for criminal records, credit, civil litigation and bankruptcy details. Most US companies have a mandatory pre-employment screening programme in place. Surprisingly, not many have extended it to their offshore facilities in India, a senior official from a screening agency said.

"Not all customers demand that agents representing them be screened," said ICICI OneSource, vice president (human resource), Aashu Calapa. ICICI-OneSource conducts reference checks on its applicants to avoid fraud and ensure that they have left their previous employer on the right note. Only one or two candidates out of 100 applicants have discrepancies in their background.

Lot depends on how a BPO firm advertises its manpower requirements. "When the minimum requirement is for graduates, it isn't usual to expect non-graduates faking their academic background," Mr Calapa said.

Warburg Pincus-funded BPO firm WNS Global services says that close to 3% of its total applicants use fake or overstated resumes. "Employees have a tendency to overstate details in their bio-data or extend past work experience," said WNS Global services head (HR), Gautam Chainani. The firm subscribes to an external screening agency since it has been witnessing growth in a number of fraud cases despite candidates being warned of pre-employment verification.

For Wipro-Spectramind, conducting a background check is the norm and considered a basic hygiene measure. According to president and managing director Raman Roy: "We ask for a relieving certificate from applicants and perform at least two reference checks through consultants and internal HR departments." The firm has a mutual non-hire agreement with Daksh that prevents us from hiring from within the industry to avoid pitfalls like this, Mr Roy said.