Is Document Verification More Important Than Ever?

With over 50% of CVs reported to contain falsified information, background screening and pre-employment verification have always been an integral part of the hiring process, particularly for companies within high-risk sectors. That said, due to the increased pressures of the pandemic on both companies and individuals, it’s more important than ever for hiring decisions to be made based on trust and authentic credentials.

Why verify?

Aside from untruthful CVs, verifying an applicant’s employment information can help reduce staff turnover while saving costs, time, and resources while mitigating the risks associated with employing an unqualified candidate. For some industries - such as healthcare - verifying professional information is a mandatory element in the recruitment process. However, the quality of professional verification checks varies significantly. For companies who are investing in the verification of their potential employees, it’s crucial to ensure that the solution or company they use verifies from the ‘primary source’. Primary Source Verification (PSV) entails going directly to the source of the information, a university for example, and asking them to provide written verification to confirm that all of the information provided by the applicant matches their records. Particularly for high-risk sectors or senior positions, verification is also recommended for previous employment certificates. When it comes to employment fraud, this is the most commonly fabricated area of a job application.

Unearthing employment fraud

So, why do candidates lie? Well, firstly, they think they won’t get caught and that a hiring manager probably won’t bother to check the information on a CV or job application. Secondly, if a candidate thinks that tweaking their experience or their degree will land them their dream job, the temptation can be all too appealing. However, HR departments are realizing that the constant churn of applicants who don’t live up to expectations is incredibly costly and a financial drain on the business. René Seifert, co-head of TrueProfile.io, a leading provider of blockchain-based primary source verification, says, “It used to be the case that document verification was utilized by businesses who simply had to verify new staff for compliance reasons. Now, we’re seeing savvy companies who really want to ensure they make the best hire, the first time around while protecting the company, it’s employees and it’s clients from the effects of employment fraud. Their best shot of doing this is by authenticating the professional information provided by a new employee.”

Fierce competition in the job market

Particularly in the current job market, which is fiercer than ever due to the aftershocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers need to focus on making precise, trusted hiring decisions.  With the outbreak of the pandemic wreaking havoc with employment and finances, it’s not hard to see why an incredibly competitive job market provides fertile ground for an increase in employment fraud rates. Couple this with the fact that this year has been a tough time for the majority of businesses - both financially and operationally -  and it’s clear that getting the right person on board, the first time around is more important than ever.

Fighting document fraud with blockchain  

It’s clear that verification paves the way forward for making the right hiring decisions. That said, verifications can be tampered with or fabricated entirely. The safest and most secure way to ensure the validity of verified documents is via blockchain technology. For context, a blockchain can be best defined as a shared, distributed database that records transactions. Each transaction is added as a block and is stored, decentralized in the chain. Importantly, this means that no central party has control over its content, and nobody can tamper with the records because every member has to agree to its validity and can check the history of record changes. When stored via blockchain, the validity of the verification can be checked in real-time. For example, a verification issued by TrueProfile.io can be uploaded and authenticated against the blockchain.

In such unprecedented times, employers need to ensure that their hiring processes focused on building a skilled, verified team that is well equipped with the skills and experience to carry out their roles to the highest standard. Quality verifications supported by the latest technology enables companies to do this with ease, saving time and resources while mitigating risk.