World of Education Verification

Verifying education qualifications is one of the most crucial aspects of a background check. Individuals seeking to build a professional career must be qualified for the role they are applying for. To ensure proper hiring, employers check the educational background of employees by law. 

For an employer, it is very imperative to verify the educational background due to the following reasons: 

• Qualification-based hiring refers to hiring candidates based on their specific skills 
• To avoid scams, ensure that a candidate's academic records are authentic - making sure they do not have fake degrees/diplomas
• In compliance with the law

Modes of verification

There are multiple ways of checking the applicant's records for an education qualification check.  

1. Online Verification: Only a few universities/granting authorities offer the option of checking academic credentials on their websites. 
2. Physical Visit Verification – This process involves a field executive visiting the source and getting the document authenticated manually from the concerned department, along with the source's stamp as verified. 
3. Email Verification – As part of the email verification process, the BGV provider sends the applicant's details along with relevant documents to the appropriate source (if the source authorizes the individual). The source validates the details and forwards the verification to the requestor via email. 
4. Letterhead Verification – The BGV provider requests that the source verify their official letterhead by paying a fee specified by the source. If the applicant's documents cannot be validated, based on the available records, the source would provide a letter of verification on their official letterhead. 
5. Tele Verification – The BGV provider requests verification by calling the authorized person at the source. Verification is requested based on the applicant's details or the documents provided. If these correspond with the records maintained by the source, the authorized person's details are recorded as part of the verification process.

Purpose of verification

Education and training are the keys to an employee's on-the-job success. The Education Verification search confirms that an applicant's claims about his education, training, or certification are valid. The employer has confidence that the employee will be able to perform his job duties.  

Conducting a background verification check is important to ensure that the organization hires the right resource. It's an important part of the information security management system (ISMS), especially if you want to achieve ISO 27001 certification. Screening of the employees comes under annex A.7.1 of ISO 27001:2013. 

Why a qualification check is important: 

• Skill Based Hiring 
• Healthcare sector – The hospital would be at risk of losing its license to operate if it hires an MBBS doctor and the degree isn't verified as it is fake in reality. 
• Human Resource Professionals – Human resources professionals across all industries are hired based on their specialization degree in Human Resources, which includes handling things like recruitment, grievances, payroll, compensation, and labor law displacer actions. Hiring an HR professional with a fake degree would result in a massive loss to the company in terms of attrition, non-compliance with payroll and compensation audits, and an increase in hiring costs. 
• Financial sector -Having the right resource on board is of utmost importance. The financial losses associated with making a single wrong hiring decision can be enormous for a company. 
• Aviation sector - Airlines transport millions of passengers each year around the globe. A single terrorist hired into the airline workforce could put hundreds to thousands of people at risk. Many people put their lives in the hands of airline employees daily. 
• A BGV provider needs to be knowledgeable about the laws and compliance requirements of the country or region where the verification is conducted. This is because we live in a world where privacy is of the utmost importance. BGV providers must be aware of every compliance that needs to be adhered to.

Scams

Counterfeit Documents: There are numerous instances where some non-authorized schools and colleges issue fake/illegitimate certificates. Some officials at the approved Universities/colleges forge the documents/certificates and give them to the applicants.

Illegal Certificates by Fraudsters: Many rackets or illegitimate organizations exist that issue fake certifications, diplomas, and other documents not issued by the respective authorities. 

Forgery of documents: In many scenarios, applicants falsify documents by changing the grades earned or the percentage obtained. This is done so that they can meet the job requirements. 

Identity theft: The applicant uses someone else's document or mark sheet and presents it as their own. 

Sources not following the rules: There are instances where sources are not allowed to open study centers or issue degrees through distance learning mode, but sources still issue degrees to their students.

Best practices

• In-Depth Research - BGV providers should not rely on the applicant's information, but they must conduct their research in respect of the source and the documents.  
• Physical Visit: The seeding process validates the authenticity of the physical visit. 
• Open Media: These searches can be run to check if the applicant's provided university/college details are affiliated and match the provided information. 
• Forging activity: It can be eliminated at different levels by comparing the documents with the original sample from the same source, such as the logo, stamp, color coding, etc. 
• Source Authentication: A verification process helps by verifying the credentials of the person providing the information, e.g., if the person is authorized to validate the requested information. 
• BGV Screening companies should check if the respective apex bodies of the relevant countries accredit the provided source. This will ultimately determine if the source is legitimate or not.

Conclusion
Background verification contributes to an organization's success. Inadequate hiring practices can be reduced by implementing a recruitment process that includes verification of education and qualification history. These checks thus enable the organization to hire the right skilled resources and filter out non-eligible candidates to save time and resources in the hiring process.

It also concludes with the above information that background verification is tedious and should be left to the company with the expertise. This is because the organization can work on other HR and operations tasks.