Doctored resumes under the scanner

Post recession, the competition in a job market looking up is causing candidates to get down and dirty; forging grades and ‘up-grading’ the truth. But before you contemplate adding a fictional zero to your salary package or some glitter to your college mark-sheets you may want to consider this — detectives, once hot on the trail of straying spouses and cheating lovers, are now being hired by city companies to conduct background checks on prospective employees.

Statistics reveal that an alarming 20 per cent of all candidates furnish fraudulent information at interviews. Vishal Mehra of Secret Assignments and Investigation Bureau, has entered into an annual tie-up with over 25 city companies. He says reference numbers and personal information on interview forms are mere formalities, everything actually goes through private investigators. “We have affiliations with several universities in the country. So when it comes to freshers and their background and criminal record checks, we contact their universities to see whether their certificates are original.”

MNCs are also wary of young professionals who may doctor their resumes to suit their profiles, adds Vishal, “With recession came a barrage of ‘pink slips,’ and many want to hide the fact that they got fired, as it might look bad on paper. Hence, they delete information. That’s where we come in. We do complete pre and post employment checks on every candidate hired. Many even fake the number of years of experience they have.”

Across IT companies, the banking sector and even the hospitality industry, private eyes are keeping a watch on professionals, but fact-enhancing professionals are the least of their problems. Sandip Kumar, manager business development at First Advantage, a detective agency, has affiliations with 300 companies, including five star hotels in Hyderabad. Kumar shares his checklist, “Along with the usual background check, we even do health checks and drug tests. However, post 26/11, the stress is on finding out the criminal record of prospective employees, especially in the hospitality sector. Everyone from the top to the last waiter, driver and hired help is under the scanner.” And the fact checks speak for themselves, “Around 25 per cent have forged educational qualifications, 30 per cent have incongruous employment records and nearly 15 to 20 per cent have criminal records. In fact, there have been many times that we have started doing checks on a person only to find that he or she has disappeared, showing disinterest in the job.”

Companies who hire these detective agencies to make recruitment processes easier prefer to be discreet about it. The HR executive of a top IT company in Hyderabad admits that the good old days of “professional trust and integrity” are far behind us. “Though we’d ideally like to take our employees’ word when it comes to their credentials, it has often happened that we found out that they were not truthful to us, often at the company’s cost. It has become a norm now for us to hire detectives to do a background check on prospective employees. When it comes to hiring someone for higher posts, the investigation is much more rigorous. We also do a check on their job stability and interest levels to gauge their loyalty towards the organisation they work for.”

Eye spy

* According to statistics 20 per cent of the candidates furnish fraudulent information.
* Around 25 per cent of them forge educational qualifications, while 20 per cent of job applicants have criminal records. Another 30 per cent show incongruous employment records.
* After 26/11, criminality checks have become a top priority with most companies, especially hotels.

- Private Eye.