Many jobs require a level of education, professional certification, or licensure that can be verified by an educational background check. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for job applicants to embellish their qualifications.
Hiring employees who lie about their credentials can expose your business to negligent hiring lawsuits. It makes it even more important to screen candidates with education verifications.
Background Checks
When hiring, you must consider the qualifications of your candidates. For many positions, especially those in healthcare, education, law, and cosmetology, specific degrees and certifications are required to perform the job. Background checks can ensure that the education and credentials your candidates present you with are valid.
Job applicants often embellish or even lie about their educational background, professional certifications, and licensures on their resumes. This could cause your business to hire an employee who needs to be qualified for the role, potentially exposing your company to legal risks.
Many background check services are experienced in conducting education verifications and know how to spot phony diplomas and fake institutions used to dupe candidates into hiring them. They can also perform professional license verifications, which confirm that your candidate is licensed to work in their field.
How do employers verify education? Employers often verify the education of their potential candidates by contacting schools and requesting transcripts or proof of degree. This process may save them money, but it can be time-consuming and costly, particularly for large companies with multiple locations or if the candidates attended more than one school. In addition, the schools will require a release form from the candidate before releasing the records. Therefore, employers should consider alternate options, such as third-party education verification services that provide a more efficient and convenient solution. These services can verify education records quickly and accurately, saving employers time and resources.
Education Verification
Education verification involves obtaining records to verify an applicant’s claimed educational history. It can include high school, GED equivalency exams, colleges and universities, and professional certifications or licenses. In some industries, like healthcare, education, and finance, it’s important to ensure your candidates are properly qualified by confirming their credentials. You don’t want to be responsible for putting patients, students, or clients in harm’s way because of an underqualified employee.
A reputable third-party service can confirm the dates an applicant attended, the name of their institution, and the field of study in which they received a degree. This process can also help spot diplomas from unaccredited “diploma mills” which sell fake degrees for a fee. This fraudulent activity is more common in smaller, less-established schools and can be difficult to detect for small business hiring managers.
This background check can also provide the desired grade point average (GPA) and honors earned. However, it only sometimes verifies if an individual has a license to work in their field of employment, which requires a separate background check called professional licensing verification. It is vital to any hiring process to avoid negligent hiring claims and ensure you’re hiring licensed professionals.
Criminal Record Checks
Criminal record checks are the core of most employer background screening protocols. These searches use public, state, and province records to reveal convictions for felonies, misdemeanors, and traffic infractions. These can be used to decide whether a job applicant has a history that would make them unsuitable for the role, such as convictions for child abuse, assaults, and sex offenses. This type of check is important for positions that require a high degree of trust, such as those in healthcare and education.
However, some candidates may be more willing to pad their resumes by exaggerating or lying about their academic credentials. It can have serious consequences for a company’s reputation and the safety of its staff and patients.
An education verification check will verify a candidate’s claimed school names, enrollment dates, degrees received, and honors awards by checking with the relevant registrar or administration office. Professional screening companies also maintain a database of known diploma mills and other fake institutions to identify them as they come up during the process. It makes the service invaluable for both employers and candidates. The report will also include details about the qualification process and whether the degree was obtained through coursework or life experience. This information is vital for ensuring that an employee has the required level of education to do their job properly.
Reference Checks
It’s not uncommon for applicants to embellish or even lie about their education credentials. For some industries, this can be a serious red flag that could result in legal complications for employers and employees.
A reference check provides a third-party perspective on an applicant that an application or resume cannot offer. When conducted correctly, reference checks are a valuable tool to help companies make informed hiring decisions.
Typically, when a company conducts a reference check, they will ask a candidate to provide their educational transcripts to verify dates of attendance and degrees received. This is a quick and inexpensive way to obtain accurate information.
Employers may also want to contact the school to verify these details if a candidate is in a field that requires specialized training or certification. This allows the employer to ensure their candidates are qualified, saving time and money in the long run.
In addition to verifying a candidate’s education history, companies need to ask questions during the reference-checking process that will allow them to gain more insights about an individual.