Education and Employment Verification Trends in the APAC Region

Background screening is an essential process for achieving hiring success – finding the right person for the right job at the right time. The biggest investment today that a business can make is in their new employees, as with each new hiring, they invest time, training, and resources. Background screening is important because it protects the company’s reputation, brand, and biggest asset – its people. The trend of background screening is rising over the last few years in the APAC region, with an increased number of check types and a subsequent increase in discrepancy rates. Generally, there are six fundamental checks conducted by an employer for their employees, and according to ASD reports on Asia Pacific Employment Screening Services Market Forecast 2019-2027, the employment screening services market is promulgating at a CAGR- Compound Annual Growth Rate of 9.37% from 2019-2027.

Among many other background check types, education and employment checks continue to be preferred and are increasingly gaining importance.

Education Verification

Education Verification can be defined as verification, through authorized agents at educational institutes, of the stated education program(s) and educational history of the subject. Verification incudes:

• Name of candidate while enrolled
• Registration number
• Level of degree/ program/ diploma attained
• Major courses/ subject
• Dates of attendance and degree awarded

The check may also confirm whether the candidate did not complete a course, if the qualification was obtained from an unaccredited institution, or if the degree is bogus/fake.

Employment Verification

Employment Verification can be defined as verification of the candidate’s stated employment history. Verification incudes:

• Dates of employment
• Position held
• Employment type (permanent/ contractual)
• Reason for leaving
• Whether a subject could be rehired
• Authentic experience letter
• Any remarks

The reason for not rehiring reveals whether there is any misappropriation or fraud conducted by the subject. According to First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report: Asia Pacific, one in 11 employment verifications uncover a discrepancy in the subject’s last job designation, and one in 14 has revealed that the subject mentioned an incorrect reason for leaving their previous job.

According to HR.com, among 10 shocking HR statistics is that 53% of job applications contain inaccurate information. Resumes include exaggerated salaries, job titles, misrepresentation of dates and incorrect education credentials. Moreover, Brad Smart mentions in book Topgrading 201 – How to Avoid Costly Mis-Hiresthat the average cost of a mis-hire is higher than 15 times the annual salary of vice presidents. Therefore, employers run background checks on the candidates to avoid such risks associated with incompetent hiring.

In the First Advantage Background Screening Trends Report, the Asia Pacific graphs show results for overall and search-by-type discrepancies:

• Overall discrepancy: 17.93%
• Criminal: 3.01%
• Education: 21.36%
• Employment: 53.65%
• Database: 19.33%
• Financial Related: 2.64%

The data shows that the highest level of discrepancies found in the APAC region involve employment checks, and the second highest involve education checks.

APAC region Challenges of Education and Employment Verification

Despite the increasing trend of education and employment checks in the APAC region, there are many challenges faced by employment screening service providers in the region.

Some of the common challenges are mentioned as follows:

• Difficulty in locating institutes attended by the candidates, or the organizations where candidates worked.
• Difficulty in establishing contact with previous employers.
• Employers are reluctant to share their previous employee’s information with third parties.
• The complicated education verification processes of the institutes/ universities, as sometimes it takes several months to verify one degree.

Sometimes, the employers are reluctant to run background checks on their employees due to the lengthy and time-consuming process of verifications, which may lead to non-competent hiring. Education institutes and employers must cooperate with background screening service providers to verify education and employment credentials in order to make it easy for employers to make the right hiring decisions at the right time.

More importantly, background screening is not just a one-time process. If an employee passed the pre-employment screening test and has been hired, that does not mean that risk for the employer from employee has been eradicated. An employee’s criminal record, for example, could change at any time during their employment. Therefore, background screening should be conducted periodically, mitigating internal risks.

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Source list:

1. Asdreports
2. First Advantage Employment Screening Trends Report
3. Who Are You Really Hiring? 10 Shocking HR Statistics
4. Topgrading 201 – How To Avoid Costly Mis-Hires by Brad Smart 
5. First Advantage Background Screening Trends Report 2015: Asia Pacific