In short, almost all employers verify their applicants' degrees. To do this, they carry out educational control to ensure that the person they are hiring has the correct formal education necessary for the position. A Prospect survey found that half of UK employers have engaged in degree fraud, but many don't take steps to protect their businesses. According to new data from the CIPD, nearly three out of five employers (57 percent) are still primarily seeking degrees or postgraduate degrees when hiring staff.
Following an investigation into a multimillion-dollar “diploma factory” that may have deceived British companies for several years, employers are being urged to do more to analyze candidates' resumes and qualifications in particular. However, Danny Mortimer, chief executive of NHS Employers, said that all NHS trusts take their local hiring practices very seriously to ensure they meet NHS employment verification standards. The educational background check is not used to verify licenses to work in specific sectors; that type of verification is a professional membership check. This is why they often turn to employee background check companies, such as Eurocom CI, which carry out extensive educational checks on candidates.
For education checks, consumer reporting agencies (CRA) are free to check the applicant's educational background as much as they want. However, the revelation has raised wider questions about whether recruiters and human resources departments have done enough to check the veracity of the details included in resumes, from qualifications and experience to achievements in previous positions. It's becoming more common for employers to conduct pre-hire credit checks, even if they're not legally required to do so. Employers have a responsibility to ensure they have the skills, knowledge and experience to do the job.
Applicants are continuously competing to fill job vacancies, and most applicants eventually require an educational background check when applying. Educational controls identify and validate any possible discrepancies and confirm that they have obtained the correct degree. If employees or potential employees are found to have falsified information, employers may have a legal claim related to fraud. The providers of these documents usually offer a verification service, where you can confirm their origin online, by email or by phone, if employers want that.
