February 19th, 2015 | Sterling
Verify Employment and Education in Hours, Not Days
In a competitive job market, the temptation to exaggerate a job title, pad employment dates, or enhance education credentials to land a lucrative interview can outweigh a candidate’s morals. In fact, 33% of employers say that they’ve seen an increase in résumé embellishments since the recession. At SterlingBackcheck, approximately 30% of the verifications conducted contain red flags regarding past employment and education.
Keep Your Candidates Honest with Verifications
Verifications enable recruiters to make more informed hiring decisions by exposing which candidates have been truthful and which have exaggerated their qualifications. These verifications services validate candidates’ employment and/or education credentials with human resources, payroll departments, and/or school registrars. An employment verification will typically confirm a candidate’s job title, start date, end date, and reason for leaving. An education verification will typically confirm a candidate’s start date, graduation date, major, and degree earned.
The Sad Truth About Automated Phone Systems and Telephone Tag
Most verifications have been, and continue to be, conducted by phone, but navigating automated phone systems and trying to find the right contact person has made the process more complicated than it needs to be.
After several rounds of phone tag, when a verifier is finally able to reach the correct contact, this person may not have time at that particular moment to provide the verification. Each company stores its information differently, and while many companies have switched to computerized records, there are still employers who need to dig through paper copies to find the requested details. As a result, phone verifications often result in long turnaround times.
Fast, Accurate, and Exclusive to SterlingBackcheck Clients
Fortunately, times have changed and the business world has experienced a shift in communication media, with online interaction becoming predominant. While employment and education verifications have been widely used for many years, this shift in technology is changing how these services are conducted.
eVerifications, SterlingBackcheck’s newest verification service, uses a uniquely automated approach to obtaining verifications, which significantly reduces average turnaround time per transaction from 55 hours to 25 hours.
The difference between eVerifications and traditional phone verifications begins with the additional contact information gathered from the candidate; for eVerifications, candidates are asked to provide e-mail addresses for previous employers. To protect clients from obtaining false verifications supplied by a candidate’s friend or family member, each e-mail address provided by the candidate is validated using algorithms developed by Neustar, a leading data services provider. Assuming that an e-mail address is valid, the appropriate contact is sent an e-mail with a link to SterlingBackcheck’s online portal to complete the verification.
eVerifications are simple and easy for verification contacts to use. These verifications can be completed at the contacts’ convenience in half the time of phone verifications. As a result, eVerifications are typically completed with shorter turnaround times and fewer errors due to the elimination of human intervention. Moreover, there is a written record of all verification transactions for clients to review.
The Power of Numbers
To further improve the quality and turnaround time of our verification services, we are requesting that you, as a valued SterlingBackcheck client, provide us with the names, phone numbers and email addresses for the individuals in your organization who handle employment verifications at each of your locations. With over 20,000 clients, obtaining this information would drastically improve service and turnaround times for all clients.
Sterling is not a law firm. This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.